Taiwan: driving, medical and hemp corrections, tables and 18 history entries

Taiwan makes its largest cannabis seizure-growing bust as the rally grows

over 0 g · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 2 years · fine 200000 · note Ordinary Category 2 possession; the separate pure-narcotic threshold below increases the sentence, label More than 20 g pure Category 2 narcotic · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 6 months · prison 5 years · fine 700000 · note Pure narcotic weight, not 20 g of flower

over 0 plants · treatment criminal · term Personal growing · prison min 1 year · prison 7 years · fine 1000000 · note Minor personal-use cultivation un … ion with intent to manufacture outside the minor personal-use tier · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison min 5 years · prison 15 years · fine 5000000 · note Five-year minimum under article 12(2); ordinary fixed-term ceiling under Criminal Code article 33

Strictly enforcedEnforcement remains strict. Prosecutors reported 2, with arrests rising493 kg of cannabis and little political appetite13,917 plants seized in 2024, with 1,305 people prosecuted for reform despitecannabis use; the 2025 annual report recorded 1,469.1 kg, and a single Taichung seizure in June 2026 reached 766 kg.[@hpo25,report25,tt26] Border interceptions rose even as the annual total fell, so the series are not directly comparable.[@mof26] Annual 4/20 demonstrations in Taipeirallies continue, but no reform has passed.[@green26]

tshpo25, ajreport25, tt26, mof26, green26

Selling can bringManufacturing, transporting or selling a Category 2 narcotic carries life imprisonment; or at least ten years, with a fine up to NT$15 million.[@moj] Possession with intent to sell carries at least five years, and transferring or giving it to others is alsoanother person six months to five years.[@moj] Sale or transfer to a serious offenceminor or pregnant woman can be increased by up to one half.[@moj] A public official who uses their position for the same conduct can face death or life.[@moj]

tsmoj

Use isof a crime withCategory 2 narcotic carries up to three years.[@moj] First-time users are normally sent to observation and rehabilitation instead of beingfor up to two months, then compulsory treatment for six to twelve months, with non-prosecution after completion; a repeat within three years is prosecuted.[@moj] The 2004 procedure set the earlier five-year rule.[@report25]

tsmoj, report25

A narrow patient route exists for one CBD medicine: Epidyolex was licensed on 19 January 2024 and reimbursed from 1 April 2024 for Dravet syndrome and tuberous sclerosis complex, with strict prescribing criteria.[@epidyolex,nhi24] Individual prescription imports of CBD medicines are also possible; with a prescription, and specified hospitals may apply for controlled cannabinoid preparations for two rare epilepsy syndromes. Routine operating[@moh2020] No general THC or flower supply was not verified, so the access score stays at zero.[@moh2020]

epidyolex, nhi24, moh2020

None;No lawful cannabis production. Cannabis plants remain Category 2 narcotics even for fibre or seed, and no industrial-hemp cultivation is not permittedexception exists.[@moj] Article 12 makes cultivation with intent to manufacture an offence of at least five years, or one to seven years for minor personal use.[@moj]

ajmoj

A patient route exists for one CBD medicines have a prescription-medicine. Epidyolex was licensed on 19 January 2024 and reimbursed from 1 April 2024 for Dravet syndrome from age two and tuberous sclerosis complex from age one, after at least three anti-import routeepileptic drugs have failed.[@epidyolex,nhi24] Only paediatric or neurology specialists may prescribe it, with individual approval required for personal importsannual review.[@moh2020nhi24] The Health Ministry also describesIndividual CBD imports and a special hospital application route for controlled cannabinoid preparations for Dravet and Lennox–Gastaut syndromes.[@moh2020] This is a narrow authorisation framework; routine patient dispensing ofremain available, but no general THC preparationsor flower dispensing was not established in the reviewed evidenceverified.[@moh2020]

epidyolex, nhi24, moh2020

A conviction is a criminal record; rehabilitation orders are recorded.[@moj] A foreigner convicted can also be deported and banned from re-entry.[@customs2024]

tsmoj, customs2024

The Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act names cannabis seeds directly.[@moj] Possessing them carries up to one year in prison, possessing or transferring them with intent to sell up to two years, and transporting or selling them for cultivation at leastup to two years.[@moj] (Articles 13 and 14). Growing the plant is a crime under Article 12, with one to seven years where the case is minor and for personal use.[@moj]

No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@moj,tn]

tnmoj, tstn

zeroconsumption

The Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act punishes a driver found by a test to have taken drugs, narcotics or similar controlled substances, with no level set. Car drivers are fined 30,000 to the maximum statutory fine: NT$120,000 New Taiwan dollarsfor a motorcycle and motorcyclists 15NT$150,000 to 90for a car,000; with the vehicle is removedimpounded and the licence suspended for one to two years, or revoked for good after a crash causing serious injury or death.[@rtmpa35] Refusing the drug test costs 180NT$270,000 dollars and the licence, and officers may take the driver for samplinga person confirmed by forcepolice to have used drugs can lose the licence without driving.[@rtmpa35] The Criminal Code separately sets a urine THC-COOH threshold of 15 ng/mL and an impairment route, with fatal drug-driving carrying three to ten years.[@crim185]

rtmpa35, crim185

The Taiwan High Prosecutors' Office reported in October 2024 that seizures of cannabis reached 2.3 tonnes in 2023, 9.7 times the 240.5493 kg of 2021,cannabis and that 1513,360917 plants were seized in the first eight months of 2024. It described, with 1,305 people prosecuted for cannabis as one ofuse; the most popular narcotics in Taiwan and increasingly used by young people. Prosecutors said they would keep offeringannual drug users deferred prosecution with addiction treatment, after which 22.5 per cent reoffend,report gives a slightly lower rate than after2,323.3 kg for the other measuressame year. The[@hpo25,report24] In 2025 the annual report gave no count ofrecorded 1,469.1 kg, 48 drug labs and 13 cultivation sites, while a September sweep arrested 245 people charged over.[@report25,newtalk25] The figures combine herbal cannabis and derivatives and do not give a resin-only series.[@report25]

tt24hpo25, report24, report25, newtalk25

The Taiwan High Prosecutors' Office reportedReported cannabis seizures reached 2.3 tonnes of cannabis seized in 2023, against 240.5 kg in 2021, and 15the High Prosecutors' Office counted 2,360493 kg and 13,917 plants in the first eight months of 2024. Prosecutors called[@tt24,hpo25] The 2025 total fell to 1,469.1 kg, but Taipei Customs alone intercepted 1,602 kg of cannabis oneand derivatives that year.[@report25,mof26] A single Taichung case in June 2026 found 766.09 kg of dried flower, the most popular narcoticslargest in Taiwana decade.[@tt26] No herb/resin split is published.[@report25]

tt24, hpo25, report25, mof26, tt26

strictnone

CBD is regulated separately from cannabisNo hemp cultivation regime and no THC as a medicinethreshold for growers. Cannabis plants remain Category 2 narcotics even for fibre or seed.[@moh2020moj] Product-specific exceptions need separate reading:CBD is regulated as a medicine, and the 2026 cosmetics guidance allows hemp-seed oil ingredients only with a final-where the finished product THC residue ofhas no more than 10 ppm.[@cosmetics2026] That cosmetic threshold THC; that residue limit is not a permission to grow cannabis plantshemp.[@moj,cosmetics2026,moj]

moh2020, cosmetics2026, moj

Taiwan — 2024 national drug report Taiwan — 2025 national drug report (25 February 2026) Newtalk — 245 arrested in nationwide cannabis sweep (1 October 2025) Taiwan Ministry of Finance — Customs intercepted 1,602 kg of cannabis in 2025 (22 January 2026) Taipei Times — 766 kg cannabis seizure, largest in a decade (6 October 2026) New Bloom — Eighth Green Wave rally (25 April 2026) Taiwan FDA — Epidyolex (cannabidiol) oral solution licence 衛部罕藥輸字第000094號 Taiwan NHI — reimbursement for cannabidiol medicines (Epidyolex), effective 1 April 2024 Taiwan Criminal Code, article 185-3 13 unchanged

TWD

label Manufacture, transport or sale (article 4) · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 10 years · fine 15000000 · note Life imprisonment is the maximum, label Possession with intent to sell (article 5) · treatment criminal · term Possession for sale · prison min 5 years · fine 5000000, label Transfer or gift (article 8) · treatment criminal · term Supply · prison min 6 months · prison 5 years · fine 700000, label Public official using office (article 15) · treatment criminal · term Official trafficking · death true · note Death or life imprisonment; the only capital cannabis route

TWD

label Use (article 10) · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison 3 years · note First use normally leads to observation and treatment rather than prosecution

Ordinary cannabis possession, use, cultivation, transfer and sale are not capital; the maximum for sale or transport is life imprisonment.[@moj] The only capital route is article 15(1): a public official who uses their position to manufacture, transport or sell a Category 2 narcotic may receive death or life.[@moj] No cannabis death sentence or execution was found.[@moj]

moj

licensed

Article 18 permits possession of controlled drugs for medical, research or training purposes, and the Controlled Drugs Act licenses institutions.[@moj] No cannabis research programme, licence or clinical trial was found.[@moj]

moj