I made bags while incarcerated in Taiwan

Naaah. Never hurts to write.

I usually like the Guardian, but jaysus that’s a lot of stupid.

:roll_eyes:

he took the risk of selling drugs due to economic difficulties

have to pay an NT$10 million (US$328,663) fine

Irony detector status: overload

Isn’t that sentence a bit harsh for cannabis/mj? I mean, I know in some other places people could be sentenced to death, but still…

Especially considering the kid had one plant and one gram. Not exactly Pablo Escobar level.

More than one plant. Look at the picture. Nice little crop he got going there. Says he only imported one seed, dude has a serious green thumb.

by the way, wouldn’t this thread be better suited under Living in Taiwan… 's prison?

The heavy punishment on drugs in China and related countries may be due to Opium War.

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Actually, that photo wasn’t of his plant. The article says, “Police later confiscated a cannabis plant at Wu’s house”. Cheeky bastards at Taiwan News as usual. Look at the caption of the photo:

“Marijuana (Photo courtesy of the Aviation Police Bureau)”

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I think they were just quoting the law; the guy hasn’t been sentenced yet and he might end up with a lesser charge.

Thing is though, in all these cases (including the woe-is-me blogger in the OP), people know what the law is. As per Norman Stanley Fletcher, if you choose to earn your living outside the law, then arrest and imprisonment is merely an occupational hazard. If you go to the Middle East to work as an Arab Han Solo smuggling craft beers to thirsty expats, you might indeed be doing a good and noble thing, but you still know what the likely outcome is going to be.

It’s weird how people’s minds work though. Back in the days when they did horrible things to you for relatively trivial crimes, people still did the crimes. Thai jails are still full of Thai drug smugglers. I guess some people either have a very high tolerance for risk, or have something wrong with their heads that makes them unable to assess the risks correctly.

@the_bear: the photo is just a photo of MJ, not his MJ. I suppose the principle is the same one that led to a stock image of an American airport appearing in a Taiwanese passport.

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it’s weird to think of the boss of the company who was using dodgy stuff and had an impact over the health of possibly millions of people was sentenced (iirc) to 2 years, and a kid growing some drugs may get from 7 years to +infinity.

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The sad thing is that the war on marijuana is a foreign import. Cannabis has been used in Chinese medicine for 2,000 years. They don’t call it “herbal” medicine for nothing.

As Dylan said: “Steal a little and they throw you in jail
Steal a lot and they make you king”

Dylan probably stole that line from some Russian poet.

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Yeah, it’s stupid. One useful lesson the kid has now learned is that the world isn’t logical, sensible, or fair.

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An apt description of Travis & the Uberers! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

7 years to Life? TN Please. You are no better than Fox News with your sensationalism. What a rag. Their last attempt at this type of story features a very eye-catching headline claiming English Teachers were busted, but they were locals who once worked at an English mill.

I would like to see a site-wide ban on Taiwan News links.

As for this young dummy’s sentencing: our own late Flobber only got 4 years for 400 plants. This kid is likely getting 35 days in the hospital where you can barely see the barbed wire.

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if people can link salon, buzzfeed and the huffpost, then i don’t see a problem with TN

Ya, fair enough. These douchebags just cut a little deeper as it is home.

i think TN in the last year or so must have hired a new marketing manager/editor or whatever who decided to follow the clickbait rote. it wasnt this bad a couple of years ago

We were taught this saying in school as well. But they used the word kill not steal from. I guess in some places the 2 are interchangable.

That all said its amazing how little (not deeply) people think. Prisoners are shit, story over. I pitty the people who think lynch mob style. But they are a reality :frowning: that is until their govetnment changes and/or makes new rules and they themselves become a criminal overnight for no logical reason. Then they become a sob story. But wait, no pitty for criminals in jail. Right?

And repeat (retarded).

Education is key. Not talking about the prisoners…

This was not a good prediction.