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cannabis plants are widely cultivated for licit industrial urposes, the possession of the seed should not create a presumption cf possession for illicit cultivation. Article 39 of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs permits a party to adopt stricter control measures than those provided for in the Convention. It is understood that from the UN Division of Narcotic Drugs that legislation to control cannabis seed exists only in New Zealand and the Philippines.
SUMMARY
11.
Cannabis seed has been used in the Chinese herbal Medicine Foh Ma Yan for hundreds of years. It has been listed in the Chinese Herbal Materia Medica since A.D. 1578 in the Ming Dynasty and as such is exempt from controls under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance (Chapter 138) of the Laws of Hong Kong. This exemption is in line with the policy pursued since the leasing of the New Territories in 1898, designed to preserve the customary way of life of the indigenous Chinese inhabitants. To place the seed under control would create difficulties for Hong Kong. There is no indication of the use of cannabis seed, imported as Foh Ma Yan, in the illicit cultivation of marijuana. Consideration has been given to enforcing controls over viable cannabis seed and allowing non-viable seed to be used as a Chinese herbal medicine. It has been found, however, that in practice it is not possible to distinguish viable seed from non-viable seed. To render viable seed non-viable by grinding or other process would reduce the medicinal value of the seed.