Cannabis Freedom Index

Changelog bfc7cd4tree

Hong Kong: hemp, driving and arrest sections, 11 history entries

Add hemp, planting, zero-tolerance driving, black-market and arrest sections, with the Customs and UNODC seizure figures kept separate and all-drug arrest counts labelled. Fill the trafficking and cultivation guideline bands, clarify the THC/CBD medical distinction, and replace the Wikipedia death-penalty source with the 1993 Hansard. Add 11 entries from 1932 to 2026.

1 history entry edited1 country profile edited1 file of code, design or docs +133 −18 lines

History changes.yaml

Edited 1

Macau’s colonial drug law jails users and requires medicine prescriptions

description

Portugal published a consolidated drug law for Macau under which illicit use and personal possession carried six months to a year in prison plus a fine; cannabis, resin and preparations were expressly listed.[@1] Doctors and pharmacies had a controlled prescription route, while giving drugs away and selling them carried separate prison penalties.[@1] The A 1965 decree brought earlier local controls together; later amendments reducedreplaced this law, and the 1969 amendment cut the personal-use prison term.[@1 in that replacement,2] not in the 1962 text.

Countries and states 1 file

Hong Kong countries/hk.yaml

segments › possession › penalties

label Possession (indictment) · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 7 years · fine 1000000, label Possession (summary conviction) · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 3 years · fine 100000 · note FirstNo amount threshold; first offenders with very small quantities often get fines, probation or community service

segments › cultivation › penalties

label Cultivating a cannabis plant · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison 15 years · fine 100000, upto 5 kg · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison 2 years · note Estimated annual yield below two years' custody under the; 2023 guidelinesguideline band, over 5 kg · upto 50 kg · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison 7 years, over 50 kg · upto 150 kg · treatment criminal · note Estimated annual yield above tenterm Cultivation · prison 10 years' custody under the 2023 guidelines, over 150 kg · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison min 10 years

segments › sharing › penalties

label Trafficking (including giving away any amount) · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · fine 5000000 · note Life imprisonment and HK$5 million maximum, label Trafficking, summary conviction · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison 3 years · fine 500000, upto 2 kg · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 1 year · prison 2 years · note Herbal cannabis and resin starting band of; 2023 guideline range up to sixteen months since January 2023

segments › consumption › penalties

label Consuming a dangerous drug (indictment) · treatment criminal · term Consumption · prison 7 years · fine 1000000, label Consuming a dangerous drug (summary) · treatment criminal · term Consumption · prison 3 years · fine 100000

context not applicable › death penalty › text

Hong Kong formally abolished's Legislative Council passed the bill abolishing the death penalty on 2321 April 1993, replacing it with life imprisonment; no cannabis offence carries a capital sentence.[@wikipdp]

context › medical › text

Cannabis and cannabis resin are excluded from the ordinary professional and pharmacy authorities in the ordinance, so a doctor cannot supply THC cannabis merely as a doctor.[@law] CBD is a listed dangerous drug but not excluded in the same way; CBD pharmaceutical products have been subject to prescription-only controls since December 2019;, and the government reported no registered CBD medicine in October 2022.[@cbdbrief,law]

sources

UNODC Data Portal — Drug seizures, reported seizures in kilogram equivalents Hong Kong — Road Traffic Ordinance, Cap. 374, section 39K and Schedule 1A Hong Kong Government — Drug abuse and drug situation in 2024 (7 March 2025) Hong Kong Government — Drug situation in the first half of 2026 (15 September 2026) RTHK — Customs cannabis seizure figure for 2024 Hong Kong Customs — 500 kg cannabis buds in a Canadian soybean shipment (9 October 2024) Hong Kong Customs — 138 kg cannabis buds in a frozen-pork container (17 March 2025) Hong Kong Customs — record 535 kg cannabis-bud seizure (19 September 2026) Hong Kong Legislative Council — Hansard, 21 April 1993 Wikipedia — Capital punishment in Hong Kong (formally abolished 23 April 1993) 10 unchanged

context › hemp › status

none

context › hemp › text

No hemp exception and no THC threshold. "Cannabis" covers any plant or part containing THC and its viable seeds, and cultivation is prohibited except for the Government Chemist.[@law] Industrial hemp therefore cannot lawfully be grown.[@law]

context › hemp › sources

law

context › planting › seeds

illegal

context › planting › seeds trade

banned

context › planting › clones

illegal

context › planting › clones trade

banned

context › planting › text

Viable cannabis seeds are expressly part of the legal definition of cannabis, so possessing, supplying or importing them is illegal, and germinating them is cultivation.[@law] Clones are living plants and fall under the cultivation offence.[@law] The status of non-viable seeds is unclear.[@law]

context › planting › sources

law

context › driving › status

zero

context › driving › text

Road Traffic Ordinance section 39K makes it an offence to drive, attempt to drive or be in charge of a vehicle with any concentration of cannabis in blood or urine.[@road39k] Indictment carries three years and HK$25,000, summary conviction six months and HK$10,000 for a first offence, and disqualification for at least two years, or five on a repeat.[@road39k] The medical defence covers a drug prescribed or supplied by a healthcare professional; cannabis is not prescribable, so it does not help a recreational user.[@road39k]

context › driving › sources

road39k

context › black market › text

UNODC records 4,086 kg of herbal cannabis and 296 kg of resin seized in 2024, against 3,069 kg of herb and 296 kg of resin in 2023; the government-reported herb figure is much higher than the "about 2,800 kg" Customs figure quoted by RTHK, so the two are not one series.[@unodc_szr,rthk24] Major cases include 500 kg of buds in a Canadian soybean shipment in September 2024, 138 kg in a frozen-pork container in March 2025, and a record 535 kg from Thailand in September 2026.[@customs24b,customs25, customs26]

context › black market › sources

unodc_szr, rthk24, customs24b, customs25, customs26

context › arrests › text

All-drug arrests were 3,243 in 2024, 4,108 in 2025 and 1,749 in the first half of 2026; the conviction rate for drug prosecutions was 86% in 2025 and 87% in the first half of 2026.[@nd24,nd25,nd26h1] Reported cannabis users were 678 in 2024, 705 in 2025 and 364 in the first half of 2026.[@nd24,nd25,nd26h1] No cannabis-only arrest count is published.[@nd25]

context › arrests › sources

nd24, nd25, nd26h1

Code, design and documents 1 file

docs/research/expansion-2026-10-28-asia-2.md +3 −1
@@ -9,5 +9,5 @@ None was marked busy.
 |---|---|---|---|
 | China | penalty tiers corrected, driving/planting fixes, 11 history entries | exact 2025 THC cutoff unread; no plant-cannabis death case verified | this commit |
-| Hong Kong | in progress | | |
+| Hong Kong | hemp/planting/driving/black-market/arrests sections, 11 history entries | cannabis-only arrest counts not published; non-viable seeds unclear | this commit |
 | Macau | in progress | | |
 | Taiwan | corrected driving/medical/hemp, sharing/consumption tables, 18 history entries | 1910s and 1980s empty; access stays 0 because Epidyolex is CBD-only | this commit |
@@ -17,2 +17,4 @@ Taiwan validation: `profile-audit tw` zero errors/warnings; `country-gaps tw` ha
 
 China validation: `profile-audit cn` zero errors/warnings; `country-gaps cn` has no missing sections, tables or citations. The penalty tables now separate small trafficking (up to three years), serious (three to seven), relatively large (seven or more) and the 150 kg leaf/10 kg resin/5 kg oil tier where death is discretionary, and add the 150 kg possession and 30,000-plant cultivation tiers. Driving moves from `zero` to `unknown` pending the exact GB 45248-2025 THC table, with the predecessor 2 ng/mL blood and 1 ng/mL saliva values noted. The planting text now names the Narcotics Control Law and distinguishes medicinal plants from licensed industrial hemp. Eleven history entries cover 1942–2026, including the 2025 PSAPL revision, HHC scheduling and 2026 maritime seizure.
+
+Hong Kong validation: `profile-audit hk` zero errors/warnings; `country-gaps hk` has no missing sections, tables or citations. The profile now adds hemp, planting, zero-tolerance driving (any concentration in blood or urine), black-market and arrest sections, with the 2,800 kg Customs and 4,086 kg UNODC figures kept separate and the all-drug arrest counts labelled. It fills the 2023 trafficking and cultivation guideline bands with prison fields, distinguishes THC cannabis from CBD in the medical section, and replaces the Wikipedia death-penalty source with the 21 April 1993 Hansard. Eleven entries cover 1932–2026.
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