Green Party (綠黨) member Zoe Lee (李菁琪) on Tuesday said a survey presented by education groups that purportedly indicates 93.5 percent of Taiwanese are opposed to the legalization of cannabis use is misleading, as its questions were specially framed to receive responses opposing decriminalization.
During an interview, Lee said the online survey was conducted by the Action Alliance on Basic Education and the Common Good Taiwan Association, which commissioned Cheng Wei (鄭威), head of the Anatomical Pathology Department at Keelung Hospital.
Known as the “Weed Lawyer,” Lee is an advocate for the decriminalization of cannabis and takes on cases to defend people charged with its possession. She is also a legislator-at-large candidate for the Green Party.
Photo courtesy of the Action Alliance on Basic Education
The online survey results are not scientific, as the questions and issues were presented to elicit negative answers that the two organizations wanted to obtain, she said, adding that the survey was likely disseminated through the two organizations’ affiliated networks, and that there is no way to check which groups promote such surveys.
“If the survey targeted the older generation and conservative groups, then of course you would obtain very biased answers, with very high percentage opposing cannabis decriminalization,” Lee said.
The questionnaire included information taken from from US organizations presented misleadingly as facts, including the so-called effects of cannabis on fetuses, decline of intelligence among young people and how it could lead to the use of other drugs, although there are contrary medical evidence and observations, she said.
“On the other hand, if another organization designed a survey with fair questions and focused on getting young people participate, then it could get a result in favor of decriminalization,” Lee said.
Lee and other advocates said that Taiwan should join the decriminalization trend of developed countries, with Canada, Uruguay, Thailand, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, South Africa and many states in the US legalizing recreational or medical use of cannabis.
The poll results released at a news conference by the two organizations on Monday said that “93.5 percent of the public is opposed to the legalization of cannabis use” as the two organizations urged the government to implement more “anti-narcotic drug” education programs for schools.
Action Alliance on Basic Education chairman Wang Han-yang (王瀚陽) said: “When asked: ‘Do you agree that Taiwan should legalize cannabis?’ 36,011 respondents, or 93.5 percent, opposed it; with 1,970 respondents, or 5.1 percent, agreed with legalizing it, and 521 respondents, or 1.4 percent, had no opinion.”
The online survey received 38,502 online responses from Feb. 15 to March 1, Wang said.
“It is clear from the survey that the vast majority of people in Taiwan do not support legalized use of cannabis,” Wang said, mentioning news of Internet celebrity Weng Chuan-ming (翁雋明), popularly known as Joeman, getting arrested for smoking marijuana, then sharing a video apologizing.
“The incident got young people curious and they asked online: ‘Is smoking marijuana really harmful to one’s health?’ It seems most young people are not aware of cannabis’ dangers and that it is illegal in Taiwan... This shows that the government must enhance efforts to educate students on cannabis and other narcotic drugs,” Wang said.
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