Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/11
By: Hsio Po-wen and Flor Wang
Taipei, Oct. 11 (CNA) The Investigation Bureau has warned of a sharp rise in the
consumption of illegal drugs in Taiwan, urging relevant agencies to tackle the problem and proposing law enforcement cooperation with other countries to combat increased cross-border drug trafficking.
The bureau made the call in its annual work report released on Wednesday, in which it detailed its anti-drug prevention efforts in 2017 and analyzed the new trends in the drug market.
According to the report, the amount of illegal drugs, such as the first-grade drug heroine and the second-grade drug marijuana, seized by all levels of authorities across Taiwan grew markedly last year.
For instance, it said, 499.1 kilograms of marijuana were seized throughout the country in 2017 — 22 times higher than the 22.6 kilograms confiscated in 2016. This indicates a sharp rise in demand for marijuana in Taiwan, the report pointed out. [FULL STORY]