Student held over claims of growing marijuana in dorm
An overseas student alleged to have grown marijuana in his dormitory and selling it has been arrested, prosecutors in the Pudong New Area said.
The student was referred to by prosecutors as H, a 25-year-old medical student from Venezuela.
H admitted buying five marijuana seeds from a foreign website, they said, and falsely claiming that the package contained just credit cards so as to pass Customs checks. After he received the seeds, he set up a small greenhouse in his dorm.
H planned to “enjoy his fruits” by himself, prosecutors said, but met some overseas students with the same habit, so decided to sell some to them.
Police caught H on January 30. Prosecutors said he had made 4,740 yuan (US$700) from the illegal trade.
The amount of marijuana said to have been grown by H was not revealed.
Under Chinese law, people who trade small amounts of drugs, including marijuana, face up to three years behind bars. If the crime is considered severe, they face jail terms between three and seven years. Trading a large amount can merit at least seven years.
In 2016, a university graduate was sentenced to four years in prison for conspiring with a Malaysian man to grow marijuana for sale in several fields in Beijing. Police seized 71 bags of marijuana and related equipment.
In 2014, a university student in Ji’nan, capital of Shandong Province, was sentenced to three years and three months for growing marijuana at home and selling to others.
He had spent 5,000 yuan on seeds. Within a month, he made more than 20,000 yuan profit from sales through WeChat. At his home, police seized 400 grams of marijuana.