World Cannabis Day: ‘Flying leaves’ defy stigma to soar to new heights
Friday, April 21, 2017
Ironically, in Asia where cannabis cultivation first began, cannabis laws remain the strictest. China will probably be the last country to relax such laws because of its painful history with drug use. But even here, the story is not straightforward. China is by far the world’s largest cultivator of industrial cannabis, or hemp, and a leading researcher on the medicinal use of cannabis, accounting for more than half of the patents filed globally last year. In 1985, China became a signatory of the International Drug Control Conventions. Under the heavy influence of the US, cannabis was included as one of the major banned plants. The Chinese government followed suit and started to crack down on marijuana. (See also: How difficult is it to get cannabis in China?)
