QUJING, China-In China, marijuana is seen as a dangerous narcotic, and possession is strictly punished. That hasn't stopped the country from trying to become a powerhouse in the fast-growing industry for cannabis products.

China has grown hemp, a strain of cannabis, for thousands of years to use in clothing and traditional medicine and is one of the world's largest hemp producers. The country is using that foothold to churn out cannabidiol, or CBD, a loosely regulated chemical related to marijuana that is finding its way into products as diverse as bath bombs and pet food.

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An association between weed and the dead turns out to have been established long before the 1960s and far beyond a certain ur-band's stomping grounds in San Francisco.

Researchers have identified strains of cannabis burned in mortuary rituals as early as 500 B.C., deep in the Pamir mountains in western China, according to a new study published Wednesday. The residue had chemical signatures indicating high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant's most psychoactive, or mood-altering, compound.

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SHANCHONG, China - China has made your iPhone, your Nikes and, chances are, the lights on your Christmas tree. Now, it wants to grow your cannabis.

Two of China's 34 regions are quietly leading a boom in cultivating cannabis to produce cannabidiol, or CBD, the nonintoxicating compound that has become a consumer health and beauty craze in the United States and beyond.

They are doing so even though cannabidiol has not been authorized for consumption in China, a country with some of the strictest drug-enforcement policies in the world.

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State-run Chinese media have expressed skepticism that the country is a key source of fentanyl, despite an agreement with the RCMP that was seen as a tacit admission of China's role in fuelling the unfolding overdose crisis in Canada.

A Globe and Mail investigation last year revealed how fentanyl is manufactured in China and how easily it is shipped to Canada, and border officials here have intercepted dozens of such shipments.

Last November, the RCMP announced an agreement with the Chinese Ministry of Public Security to stem illicit fentanyl exports, citing recent seizures of fentanyl and carfentanil, an even stronger opioid, that originated in China.

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Forced Recuitment?

With China developing an appetite for marijuana, methamphetamine and other illicit substances, Chinese authorities are looking to stars as front-line soldiers in the battle against drugs.

BEIJING - Imagine if, after arresting a wave of celebrities on drug charges, U.S. government officials pressed the heads of major Hollywood studios, A-list actors, recordlabel chiefs and chart-topping singers to sign promises that they would stay away from vices such as drugs, pornography and gambling.

Simultaneously, substance-abusing performers found their films shut out of cinemas, forcing producers into hasty reshoots and re-edits, and news media began running editorials criticizing top directors for failing to inform on associates they had seen smoking pot or taking Ecstasy.

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Imagine if, after arresting a wave of celebrities on drug charges, American government officials pressed the heads of major Hollywood studios, A-list actors, record-label chiefs and chart-topping singers to sign promises that they would stay away from vices like drugs, pornography and gambling.

Simultaneously, substance-abusing performers found their films shut out of cinemas, forcing producers into hasty re-shoots and re-edits. And news media began running editorials criticising top directors for failing to inform on associates they had seen smoking pot or taking ecstasy.

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Beijing Turns Blind Eye to Chemists Whose Drugs Mimic Banned Substances

At midnight in a Shanghai laboratory, a Chinese chemist who called himself Terry was eager to close the deal. In the lab itself, a bright yellow liquid whirred around in a flask, an intense smell of fumes leaving a bitter aftertaste.

"Let's just be quick," he shouted. "Tell me what you want, how much you want, then we can talk about price, we can talk about shipment."

"Terry" is not the only rogue Shanghai chemist looking to make a living from the surging global trade in "legal highs". China has long been the workshop of the world, for everything from iPhones to Christmas tree lights. So it was only a matter of time, perhaps, before it filled the same role for drugs, churning out huge quantities of the synthesised products for recreational use in clubs and streets across the western world.

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BEIJING - The son of action comedy star Jackie Chan pleaded guilty Friday to providing a venue for drug users, one of thousands caught up in a widespread crackdown on illegal drugs in the capital.

Jaycee Chan was sentenced in a courtroom in the Chinese capital to six months in prison and a fine of about $322.

The 32-year-old was detained in his Beijing apartment in August, along with 23-year-old Taiwanese movie star Ko Chen-tung, known as Kai Ko, among others. Ko was released after a 14-day administrative detention for drug use.

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With his son's drug charges generating headlines, Chinese star Jackie Chan said he felt shamed by his son's behaviour and hoped he will behave in the future.

On Monday, Jackie Chan's son Jaycee Chan was prosecuted in Beijing for allegedly providing a venue for drug users, according to the People's Procuratorate of Beijing's Dongcheng District.

The prosecution came three months after he was formally arrested following a drugs bust at his residence in the capital.

"I hope that in the future, he could become an anti-drug spokesman and tell his experiences to young people," Jackie Chan said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua Wednesday.

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BEIJING: A number of Australians are facing the death penalty in China after being charged with serious drug offences.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said an unspecified number of Australians had been detained, but it would not reveal any further detail on specific cases.

"We are aware that a number of Australians have been detained in China on serious drug charges," it said. "These individuals are receiving appropriate consular assistance."

Government sources would not say how many Australians had been arrested but that a "number" of Australians have been charged over drug offences since late last year, although they had not yet been through the full judicial process.

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As Legalisation of Marijuana Spreads, Chinese Companies Have the Patents Ready to Exploit New Markets

Almost 5000 years ago, Chinese physicians recommended a tea made from cannabis leaves to treat a wide variety of conditions, including gout and malaria.

Today, as the global market for marijuana experiences an unprecedented boom after moves to legalise, it is China that again appears to have set its eyes on dominating trade in the drug.

The communist country is well placed to exploit the burgeoning cannabis trade with more than half of the patents relating to or involving cannabis originating in China.

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Hong Kong's ' happening' crowd may not see why it should be banned from smoking a joint, but the city's drug boss sees things another way

On a quiet beach, as night deepens, a group of campers kick back, relax ... and commit a crime that could cost them a HK$ 1million fine and seven years in prison. The campers are no Bill and Ted-style loveable losers. The Hollywood archetype of the stoner doesn't fit this group of Hong Kong twenty- and thirty-somethings. They move in a world full of fellow high- achievers and respectable contributors to society: teachers, bankers, lawyers, doctors, insurance salesmen, mothers, jewellery designers, who all like to toke.

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Addicts learn to help themselves by helping and supporting each other

Members of the public got a rare insight on the weekend into how the capital rehabilitates its drug addicts.

It was the first time that the public security bureau had opened the doors to the Sunflower community center within the Compulsive Addiction Treatment Center of Beijing.

"The capital used to follow compulsive drug treatment, but Sunflower community center tries to explore humanized treatment," said Xu Benshu, head of the center.

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Drug trafficking and use among young people has been rising in recent years, in particular with new drugs such as ketamine and ice, the Government Information Bureau acknowledged in a statement released yesterday - a day before International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking.

According to a report by the Judiciary Police, heroin, ice, ketamine, cannabis, cocaine, nimetazepam, midazolam and ephedrine are the drugs most frequently seized.

Of the 626 registered drug users in the system, 221 - about one third (35.3 percent) - are aged under 21 years, with an average age of 17.4 years. On the other hand, the average age for the first experience of drug use is 14.8 years, points out the report.

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A top narcotics advisor says expanding the school drug testing scheme to all districts would be too costly.

Action Committee Against Narcotics chief Daniel Shek Tan-lei said schools themselves, rather than the government, should take the lead if the scheme is to be extended.

He also called for more attention to be focused on drug abusers in other age groups.

His comments follow a report by the Narcotics Division which said projections based on its 2008-09 survey suggest that as many as 3,000 upper primary and three times as many secondary students could be abusing drugs.

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Fu Lixin, emotionally exhausted from caring for her sick mother, needed a little pick-me-up. A friend offered her a "special cigarette" -- one laced with methamphetamine -- and she happily inhaled.

The next day, three policemen showed up at her door. "They asked me to urinate in a cup," Fu said. "My friend had been arrested and turned me in. It was a drug test. I failed on the spot."

Although she said it was her first time smoking the drug,

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According to press reports, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was furious over the death sentence given by Chinese courts to Akmal Shaikh, a British national who was arrested with 4 kg of heroin in his possession.

A few countries grant death sentence for drug offences. The execution of Shaikh is in accordance with Chinese law so there is absolutely no need for Brown to raise too much fuss over it.

I have seen what drugs can do to people, to families and to communities and I strongly feel that the drug trade is one offence that should carry a mandatory death sentence.

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China yesterday urged the United Kingdom to "properly settle" differences that arose after the execution of a British drug trafficker late last year, and "avoid impairment of bilateral relations".

Addressing the first regular press briefing of the new year, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: "The two countries may hold different opinions on the issue, but we should follow the principle of mutual respect, and refrain from damaging our relationship."

Jiang said that no one had the right to point a finger at the judiciary, which she said was an independent authority whose sovereignty should be respected.

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BEIJING -- Fu Lixin, emotionally exhausted from caring for her sick mother, needed a little pick-me-up. A friend offered her a "special cigarette" -- one laced with methamphetamine -- and Ms. Fu happily inhaled.

The next day, three policemen showed up at her door.

"They asked me to urinate in a cup," she said. "My friend had been arrested and turned me in. It was a drug test. I failed on the spot."

Although she said it was her first time smoking meth, Ms. Fu, 41, was promptly sent to one of China's compulsory drug rehabilitation centers. The minimum stay is two years, and life is an unremitting gantlet of physical abuse and forced labor without any drug treatment, according to former inmates and substance abuse professionals.

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SHANGHAI -- A British man convicted of drug smuggling was executed in China early Tuesday, despite appeals for clemency from his family, human rights groups and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, according to British officials.

The man, Akmal Shaikh, 53, was executed in the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang, where he had been convicted in 2008 of entering the country carrying a suitcase stuffed with heroin. It was not clear how the execution was carried out.

Mr. Brown immediately released a statement on Tuesday saying that he condemned the execution "in the strongest terms" and that he was "appalled" that the court did not grant Mr. Shaikh clemency.

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