Annexure
Difficulties for Hong Kong with regard to international
control on Cannabis Seed
BACKGROUND
Cannabis seed, known as Foh Ma Yan, or hemp seed of the genus Cannabis Sativa (commonly referred to as marijuana), is used in Hong Kong as a traditional Chinese herbal medicine for treating constipation. It is boiled with other herbs and the medicine is then drunk. It can be bought in Chinese medicine shops at an averaye retail price of $1.50 per 100 grams ($9.075 per catty). Foh Ma Yan is also available as a drink in Chinese herbal tea shops in many parts of Hong Kong, at an average price of $2.00 per cup: The bulk of the cannabis seed imported into Hong Kong is, however, used to feed birds, mainly pigeons, because the seed stimulates the development of good plumage. It is sold in bird seed shops at a price of $2.50 - $4.00 per kilogram ($150 - $250 per picul).
2.
As a Chinese medicine, Foh Ma Yan has been listed in the Chinese Herb-1 Materia Medica since A.D. 1578 in the Ming dynasty. The various herbs listed in this Chinese pharmacopoeia are exempted from the provisions of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance (Chapter 138) which prescribes controls over the procurement; sale and distribution of the substance listed in it. Provision for exemption is made in section 37 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance which stipulates that
"Nothing in this Ordinance shall apply to the sale, manufacturing, dispensing or compounding of traditional. Chinese medicines as listed in the Chinese Herbal Materia Medica or which are made from herbs customarily used by the Chinese people."
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.
3.
Cannabis seed is thus exempt from controls under the provisions of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance. Cannabis seed is not only widely used as bird seed and in Chinese herbal medicine but large quantities of the seed (about 1,400 tonnes per annum) are being re-exported through Hong Kong from China and North Korea, destined mainly for Spain, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Holland, Belgium, France and West Germany. Control of viable cannabis seed
4.
The definition of "controlled substances" in Article 1(e) of the draft convention would appear to make no distinction between viable and non-viable cannabis seed. It is the viable seed which could be used to grow cannabis plants but non-viable seed would appear to have no potential for abuse. We have found that cannabis seeds which have been ground or boiled yield no detectable amounts of the active ingredient T.H.C. and of course could not
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