I’m disappointed in you MT – usually your posts are spot on. Nobody has said that the situation in Taiwan is comparable to the US (at least not that I’ve noticed). All I’m trying to show is that a problem exists. Not all problems are equal! I estimate that 2-3% of Taiwan’s population are users. I think the percentage in the US is around 10%.
Not by you it wasn’t. You seemed ignorant of the history of drug smuggling in Taiwan
Many! Most of them go to China afterwards. Read the Taiwanese newspapers. Rehab in Taiwan is jail, though. And you don’t define what a drug is.[/quote]
In fact, there was a famous Taiwanese signer who died in China this summer. He went to China after being caught with drugs in Taiwan. I’ll ask my wife his name later.
Not by you it wasn’t. You seemed ignorant of the history of drug smuggling in Taiwan[/quote]
I accepted the point when it was initially presented. Did you re-post it just so you could call me ignorant??
Are you going to keep throwing insults around or can you come up with ANYTHING that shows there isn’t a drug problem here? (I thought the government report would have ended this pages ago…)
I agree with you on this point. But to be fair, did you know that the largest drug addiction crisis took place in China? Culture changes, of course, but just saying. Read the 2008 report I mentioned. It goes through it very well. (Even though I agree with you, that doesn’t mean there is not a drug problem in Taiwan. 
And like I said before, not all problems are equal…)
Not by you it wasn’t. You seemed ignorant of the history of drug smuggling in Taiwan[/quote]
I accepted the point when it was initially presented. Did you re-post it just so you could call me ignorant??
Are you going to keep throwing insults around or can you come up with ANYTHING that shows there isn’t a drug problem here? (I thought the government report would have ended this pages ago…)[/quote]
I didn’t see you accept any points, just being snarky. Relatively, Taiwan does not have a drug problem compared to other countries. I think we’ve put that argument to rest now.
Every country DOES have a drug problem of some sort, otherwise drugs and humans wouldn’t exist.
Taiwan’s drug problems is much less then in the USA is my understanding. However, among the younger set, its becoming more and more of a problem.
youtube.com/watch?v=h39r0nNn … re=g-all-u
This is a young lady who got into an argument with her boyfriend on the morning of the 18th and left the house and took a cab to get some air. Upon arriving to her destination, she used a stun gun to shock the driver causing the driver to leave the cab and she took off in the cab. The cab was later found near an HSR station. She was tracked down and arrested at home. Where police found HEROIN and AMPHETAMINES .
Not by you it wasn’t. You seemed ignorant of the history of drug smuggling in Taiwan[/quote]
I accepted the point when it was initially presented. Did you re-post it just so you could call me ignorant??
Are you going to keep throwing insults around or can you come up with ANYTHING that shows there isn’t a drug problem here? (I thought the government report would have ended this pages ago…)[/quote]
I didn’t see you accept any points, just being snarky. Relatively, Taiwan does not have a drug problem compared to other countries. I think we’ve put that argument to rest now.
Every country DOES have a drug problem of some sort, otherwise drugs and humans wouldn’t exist.[/quote]
Me to Muzha Man:
Do we need to frame this in comparative terms? Things get very complicated, then. For example, the 2008 UN report has Taiwan at the top of the list in East and South East Asia in consumption of cocaine and ecstasy. South Korea / Japan do not top any of the lists. Secondly, is there a correlation between drug smuggling and drug use in organized crime? If so, the problem here could be bigger than we imagine and largely under the radar. Don’t get me wrong, I think Taiwan is far above the US in this and many other areas, but I don’t like generalizations that make everything out to be so clean and nice.
@ Tommy – the Taiwanese government has stated that drug use is increasing and is a serious problem. They have been holding meetings and are reworking prevention tactics. I wish I had the article I read in June; it had all the stats. I do remember that Keelung has the highest drug use rates on the island, which gives support to the idea that smuggling and drug use correlate.
Or it could be that is rains almost everyday in Keelung. Just having fun 
.
[quote=“tommy525”]Taiwan’s drug problems is much less then in the USA is my understanding. However, among the younger set, its becoming more and more of a problem.
youtube.com/watch?v=h39r0nNn … re=g-all-u
This is a young lady who got into an argument with her boyfriend on the morning of the 18th and left the house and took a cab to get some air. Upon arriving to her destination, she used a stun gun to shock the driver causing the driver to leave the cab and she took off in the cab. The cab was later found near an HSR station. She was tracked down and arrested at home. Where police found HEROIN and AMPHETAMINES .[/quote]
Done and dusted folks, Tommy has surpassed us all by going straight to the source…Youtube!
Many! Most of them go to China afterwards. Read the Taiwanese newspapers. Rehab in Taiwan is jail, though. And you don’t define what a drug is.[/quote]
In fact, there was a famous Taiwanese signer who died in China this summer. He went to China after being caught with drugs in Taiwan. I’ll ask my wife his name later.[/quote]
His name was Da Bing or Xiao Bing, I can’t remember which. The brothers are comedians famous for impersonating public figures. (IIRC) He was a meth user. Got caught in a motel with a bunch of drugs. A bunch of singers and actors were busted for pot. Two of them admitted to using, the other 2-3 were exonerated after passing a drug test. They all cried on tv apologizing to the public. They were all given a slap on the wrist. Maybe had to go to rehab. Started doing Tv shows a few months later. There was also the case of that singer/actress/ hostess bar girl (her name currently escapes me) She got caught with a gang of shit in her system. Her career is over. Many more cases. If they show remorse and go to rehab, the public is somewhat forgiving.
i only read page 1 and last one so far, apologize if this has been said. Taiwan has a massive drug problem though. The biggest being that Taiwan is into all the wrong drugs. natural ones are not too common aside from weed. mushrooms grow her eas do many others but they are seldom used. Amphetamines are HUGE here, as are other chem lab specials. It cant be compared to the states as the entire way of life is different here. first people here in general are higher strung and prefer stimulants, hence coffee, tea, betel nut etc being so popular as well as the narcotic ones like meth, K, E and a bunch of other chemical soups. They are huge here and FAR more easy to find labs etc than in the states. i have had a meth lab next to me and multiple dealers come and go. i have had preteen students addicted, getting knocked up etc. that shit is the same worldwide. whats different is the system here doesnt bring it out in the open as its embarrassing. families are, although seemingly less gentle, more supportive in general as they tend to put up with more abuse and keep in the family. so there is less street life like many other places for drugs.
not a week goes by now i dont see what i call the parade go by. Some fancy “american” style pickup followed by a line of little blue trucks hauling various barrels of chemicals to deliver to the labs. or the old tattered 2nd hand delivery trucks secretly delivering boxes fast inside little seemingly unlined in houses. That kind of stuff is common here, street drug abuse is not.
Also, if you are wondering what some of those crazy fucking truck drivers are doing, think about what they sprinkle on their cigarettes. illegal gravel hauling aint the only reason cops keep hassling them…
given how uptight people are here, their medicine cabinets seemed filled with all the wrong meds. if they started sprinkling hippy luv dust on those smokes instead of meth maybe they would let up and hug someone instead of lead piping them.
I dont know if asias drug problems are any worse or better than the west, but they are certainly different. but one consistent thing i see is getting involved with the people that tend to do these kinds of things is really a bad idea, and proves difficult dealing with them when they have their next temper tantrum on you.
Edit, also in many SE asian places things like weed are more considered an old timer past time kind of like pipe tobacco in north america is often thought of more as a geezer pastime than cigs.
At least many aboriginal villages have some interesting things growing aside from grains for ethanol. not sure if they use them or but interesting nonetheless.
The usually good Commonwealth mmagazine ran a piece on drug addiction in Taiwan this past May. Good stats from bureau of health and courts. Drug rates about half world average but also the issue is considered verys serious by a lot of people.
english.cw.com.tw/article.do?act … 8&offset=0
[quote]Drug abuse is a severe problem around the globe. In comparison, the situation in Taiwan is not particularly serious. Citing statistics by the Bureau of Health Promotion under the DOH, Chen Mei-shia, professor at the Department of Public Health of National Cheng Kung University, points out that the prevalence of drug use in Taiwan stood at 1.43 percent in 2009, which in comparison to a global prevalence of 3.5 percent is on the low side.
But if Taiwan is compared against itself, it is obvious that drug abuse is becoming more common. And for many among the general public, this is a worrying trend.[/quote]
[quote]“Drug abuse” came in fourth place on a top ten of public concerns, according to a survey by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission.
In a major survey of Taiwan’s 22 counties and cities, CommonWealth Magazine found that islandwide more than 20 percent of local residents feel the drug problem is severe in the place where they live. The only exceptions were the offshore isles of Matsu, Jinmen and Penghu.
The areas perceived as most “heavily hit” are Taichung City, Kaohsiung City and Yunlin County, where one out of every two residents feels that drug abuse is a severe problem in his or her community. In New Taipei City and Taoyuan County, perceptions are only slightly better – 40 percent of residents consider the drug problem to be serious.[/quote]
How do you know they are making meth and not doing something else? It seems relatively easy to produce meth from what I have read so I wouldn’t be too surprised and Pingdong county is far from central government concerns. I assume it is not the done thing to ‘rat’ on these type of neighbors. There are a lot of old run down farmhouses, factories and little valleys where these guys can hide out and do their thing.
I don’t think I would comfortable with that type of environment , there are safer rural areas in Taiwan too.
interesting read mucha. one things with those kinds of studies though is the social atmosphere. in Taiwan parents and families actively try and hide the fact a family member is addicted, and sometimes it gets hardcore especially with teens. so of the people i know 2 have checked into a clinic leaving a lot flying under the radar for stats. Same everywhere, but here far more so than places like states, canada and much of western europe. although as far as drugs go, narcotics seem like a far less hazard to public health here compared to ethanol which kills and injures untold amounts of people and the gov has/had a monopoly on that biz.
head honcho, its easy to spot when you live near it. i poke my nose places and people gossip to no end here. its almost comical how many people know exactly who, where and roughly the scale of the operation. police often know as well, its about the thickness of red envelopes more than anything more likely. as long as no one rocks the boat, no one falls off it. I cannot say i enjoy living around it either, and the general attitude of drop out idiots turn wannabe gang members who end up just going around with scooter posies solving issues with crowds and bats is just flat depressing. that said, with such high amount of crime, it kind of becomes a way of life to just live and let live, which i really like. no nanny state BS nosy neighbor like back home. Although i am pro freedom of choice when it comes to drug use, i must say the problem here is education. generally these guys have a pretty negative outlook and are out to prove something. The entire society is based on showing off wealth/power/heart/kindness etc, and if anything that causes more trouble than any drug issue here. in my opinion anyway.
i guess what i was saying was the drug scene here is just as big, but different and every aspect of it is pretty different than back home for most of us. Although i like the aspect of more open minded things in some other places, here has its pros too. i mean the rehab here is frankly nothing, but for people using there is sometimes less punishment in the form of sever jail sentences you see in other Asian countries and places like the USA. all the good drugs suck here it seems, and all the crappy drugs are probably quite clean here compared to the west as you can buy pure chems here easy and the west you have to use tainted crap which they intentionally spike to prevent people from using them as they control simple things like alcohol so strictly. all in all, as far as organized crime goes, drugs are probably the least of Taiwan’s worries as there are more serious things done commonly which would probably serve the country better if stopped. 2% junky rate is probably not nearly as hard on the country as here the family tends to take the blow more than the gov, whereas in the west there is more of a tendency for addicts to go to public run institutions for help and less family “help”. As good or bad as Taiwanese are to each other in certain aspects, family bonds here are stronger than steel.
i feel there is a good middle ground somewhere between asias general attitude and the wests. Maybe its Europe in 10 years?
edit again. For an interesting read on the logic behind the war on drugs and how corrupt and basically fucked governments are towards their people, read about why kratom was made illegal in Thailand in the 40s… Its no lie when people say the war on drugs is probably the biggest single most destructive war in human history, perhaps second to religious wars of the past. in regards to loss of life, money and freedom.
giving the laws here though, one might consider the fun times out of country. Personally i dont think its worth the risk here for something so small and insignificant.
oh and at my company in san diego my boss - the owner - would sit in his van in the parking lot and smoke weed and everybody knew about it. i’d like to see a taiwanese boss do that and get away with it 
That’s interesting because you lots of companies over there have mandatory drug testing. It hasn’t got that bad here, yet.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]The usually good Commonwealth mmagazine ran a piece on drug addiction in Taiwan this past May. Good stats from bureau of health and courts. Drug rates about half world average but also the issue is considered verys serious by a lot of people.
english.cw.com.tw/article.do?act … 8&offset=0
[quote]Drug abuse is a severe problem around the globe. In comparison, the situation in Taiwan is not particularly serious. Citing statistics by the Bureau of Health Promotion under the DOH, Chen Mei-shia, professor at the Department of Public Health of National Cheng Kung University, points out that the prevalence of drug use in Taiwan stood at 1.43 percent in 2009, which in comparison to a global prevalence of 3.5 percent is on the low side.
But if Taiwan is compared against itself, it is obvious that drug abuse is becoming more common. And for many among the general public, this is a worrying trend.[/quote]
[quote]“Drug abuse” came in fourth place on a top ten of public concerns, according to a survey by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission.
In a major survey of Taiwan’s 22 counties and cities, CommonWealth Magazine found that islandwide more than 20 percent of local residents feel the drug problem is severe in the place where they live. The only exceptions were the offshore isles of Mazu, Jinmen and Penghu.
The areas perceived as most “heavily hit” are Taichung City, Kaohsiung City and Yunlin County, where one out of every two residents feels that drug abuse is a severe problem in his or her community. In New Taipei City and Taoyuan County, perceptions are only slightly better – 40 percent of residents consider the drug problem to be serious.[/quote][/quote]
That’s the the English version of the article I mentioned. The Chinese version, which isn’t free, is a bit longer, I think. I’m going to see if I can find it in a tea shop or something.
yes but its a small company not a corporation and he owns it. and hes not about to give himself a drug test just so he can fail it. 
I admit one time when I went to Berlin I stayed at a hostel there. Lots of people smoke weed there and it seems in Berlin you won’t get in trouble if you have less than 12 grams. I tried a few puffs myself but didn’t feel anything (maybe I was doing it wrong?). One guy smoked some while I was chatting with him and after smoking the stuff his way of speech changed remarkably. Instead of just talking normally he started talking faster and faster like someone flicked a switch or something. Walked around görlitzer park and got black guys in dreads trying to sell me weed… I declined though.
That would never ever happen in Taiwan.