The use or sale of cannabis is banned in Hong Kong under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, which came into effect in 1969. If a police officer catches someone with a substance they suspect is cannabis, they may send the sample off for testing by a government chemist before charging the individual. But with larger amounts of the substance, a suspect may be brought before the courts while a sample is being tested.
Manufacturing marijuana or any other drug included in the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is deemed the most serious of all drug-related offenses, while trafficking the drug to Hong Kong can also result in a prison sentence.