The Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday indicted a 37-year-old US man for violating the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) by growing nearly 300 marijuana plants in a house in Changhua County’s Yuanlin Township (員林).
The authorities said the man, whose first name is Mark, was an English-language teacher.
The case came to light when police were tipped off in April. After searching a Yuanlin house and finding 286 marijuana plants, they detained him for questioning.
According to the indictment, Mark obtained 12 cannabis seedlings in 2008 from a South African friend living in Taiwan.
The prosecutors said the American at first planted the seedling on the balcony of his apartment in Yuanlin.
In 2009, he built a greenhouse at his Taiwanese girlfriend’s house after researching online for tips and techniques for growing cannabis.
The police said they found a greenhouse on the third and fourth floors of the house, which had 24-hour ambience control to keep the temperature at a constant 21?C, with air-conditioning and humidity regulation, sun lamps, pH meters, electric fans and professional agricultural implements.
On the man’s computer, the police said they found figures that they suspected were accounts for customer sales.
However, they could not establish if actual sales had taken place.
The suspect has been quoted in Chinese-language media reports as saying that he grew the cannabis for his personal use, because he suffers from severe back pain and insomnia.
“I have tried many other medications, but none of them is effective. Only marijuana worked the best. That is why I started to grow the plants,” the United Daily News quoted him as saying, adding that he said he had not sold cannabis to anyone.
Yet the newspaper reported that after receiving the tip-off, Changhua police had put the house under surveillance before raiding it.
They observed that a significant number of people and cars came to the house on some weekends.
The police said they also suspected the man of selling the marijuana to people at nightclubs and bars, and plan to continue to investigate the possible sales.
Marijuana is classified as a Category II narcotic, along with mescaline, coca leaf, opium and amphetamines.
Article 4 of the act states that people found guilty of manufacturing, transporting or selling Category II narcotics can be sentenced to a prison term ranging from seven years to life.
They may also be fined up to NT$10 million (US$333,400).
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS