Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-29
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan recorded the highest quantities of combined drug seizures

Taiwan drug seizures on the rise: MOJ. Central News Agency

last year worth 4,339.5 kilograms in total, the Ministry of Justice said Sunday.

Beginning from January to August this year, local authorities already seized 3,577.1kg-worth of narcotics in the country, six times higher than the same period in 2014, it said, revealing that “Category 4” drugs alone accounted for 2,243.5kg in total.

The nation’s justice ministry has a four-tier system with which to classify illicit drugs. For instance, opium is rated as a “Category 1” narcotic drug, along with morphine, heroin and cocaine. Meanwhile, marijuana is rated as “Category 2”, along with amphetamines, MDMA, and Lysergide (LSD), where offenders can be sentenced to a prison term ranging from seven years to life, and subjected to a fine of up to NT$10 million. Category 4 drugs include 5-MeO-DIPT, Zolpidem, Alprazolam (Xanax), and Diazepam (Valium).     [FULL  STORY]