Thailand Decriminalizes Marijuana

Thailand Decriminalizes Marijuana
The government has removed cannabis from the list of prohibited narcotics in an effort to help the country's struggling economy. However, the legality around the recreation use of marijuana remains entirely murky.


One gram of the cannabis strain UFO costs the equivalent of just over 10 euros. The price list of the "Highland Cafe" in Bangkok also promises the customer the effect of the drug: "Chill Alert".

The "Highland Cafe" in Bangkok is one of the first shops in Thailand to officially sell cannabis flowers. Others are likely to follow in the coming weeks and months.

On 9th of June, cannabis is no longer on Thailand's list of prohibited narcotics since the cabinet’s decision in December. The government aims for a special kind of economic stimulus programme - especially for tourism and agriculture.

Officials are trying to make cannabis popular as a crop: the state will now distribute one million plants to its citizens, Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul promised on his Facebook page.

While the German government is still discussing how and in what form cannabis should be legalised as a stimulant, Thailand is becoming a marijuana pioneer. Although officially only through consumption for medical purposes is allowed, the "Highland Cafe" certainly has other target groups in mind. One thing is clear; in the restrictive Southeast Asia Region, Thailand stands out with its relaxed policy on cannabis.

Further restrictions

In the future, citizens will be allowed to grow as much cannabis and hemp as they want. All they have to do is register via the app "Plook Ganja" (roughly: plant ganja) or through a government website. Only those who want to market their harvest commercially still have to apply for a permit.

However, it remains unclear how Thailand intends to regulate consumption: Anutin and his officials affirm that cannabis shall only be used for medical purposes - and for cooking. Where exactly does the distinctive usage lies, however, is not yet clearly defined.

Extracts, for example oils, that contain more than 0.2 % of the psychoactive substance tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is still classified as a prohibited narcotic in Thailand. By comparison, street-traded marijuana in Germany contains more than 10 percent THC on average. The cannabis-containing products now available in Thailand will therefore not cause intoxication. Products with a THC content of 0.2 percent are already available in Germany.

Thailand still has to decide, for example, whether the consumption of THC should only be allowed at home or also in cafés and restaurants. One thing seems clear: smoking the weed will probably not be allowed for the time being, at least not in public. Otherwise, the consumer can be held accountable for odour nuisance.



Person holding grass during daytime.© CRYSTALWEED cannabis

Cannabis expected to support medical tourism

Experts warn that the legal limbo could get consumers into trouble. "There is no mention of limits on use or drug-impaired driving laws", says Sarana Sommano, agriculture expert at Chiang Mai University. "This could be a mistake by the government in trying to rush out its policy to please voters without really planning the details and explaining to the public on what's going on."

At least regionally, the government is considering legalising recreational consumption. However, those places would still need to be specified, said Paisarn Dunkum, secretary-general of Thailand's Food and Drug Administration. Coffee shops such as those seen in the Netherlands are unlikely, however.

The government wants to prevent the use of cannabis as an intoxicant, but at the same time provide the desired economic impulses - after all, the relaxation is primarily for economic reasons. Cannabis advocates are proclaiming the plant a cash crop. At the forefront is Health Minister Anutin.

He toured Thailand's provinces for several days in March this year, promoting the cultivation and use of the long-banned plant. The highlight of the trip was Nakhon Phanom, capital of the province of the same name in north-eastern Thailand. Anutin wants to turn the provincial town into a model city - the "Cannabis City". In the future, Tourists in Nakhon Phanom will be able to learn about the plant and how it can be processed.

Thailand had already permitted the medicinal use of the plant in 2019. Then, at the end of 2020, the cannabis plant was removed from the narcotics list except for the so-called buds and flowers. Entrepreneurs quickly saw opportunities: products containing cannabis are now available in Thailand in many forms, not only as medicine but also in food.

The "Asian Cannabis Report" by the cannabis consultancy Prohibition Partners estimates that the legal cannabis market in Asia can grow to 12.5 billion USD by 2024. Cannabis could especially save Thailand's important economic sectors of agriculture and tourism.

Thailand's agricultural sector is not only struggling with labor shortages, but also with low profit margins from important jasmine rice exports. Competing cultivation countries like Vietnam have become strong rivals. Tourism is also in crisis. International visitor numbers have plummeted during the pandemic and are slow to recover. The relaxed cannabis policy is now intended to boost medical tourism in particular.

Germany plans law by spring 2023

According to Anutin, over 240,000 patients had been treated with medical cannabis by March 2022, generating nearly 200 million euros of revenue. In cannabis medicines, the THC content can also be higher than 0.2 per cent. Meanwhile, certain THC-containing medicines are even on Thailand's list for "essential medicine" and can be prescribed free of charge under public health insurance by hospitals or one of the now more than 1000 "marijuana clinics" to patients such as cancer patients.

Considering the conservative nature of Southeast Asian governments, Thailand stands out. In Singapore and Malaysia, long prison sentences are imposed for possession of small amounts of cannabis. Those who traffic in the plant and its products can even be executed. In Singapore, a man was sentenced to death as recently as 2021 for bringing a kilogram of cannabis into the country.

Germany plans to go further than Thailand in legalising cannabis use. Medical cannabis may already be prescribed by a doctor since 2017. Here, the health insurance also pays under certain conditions. The German government now plans the "controlled dispensing of cannabis to adults for consumption purposes in licensed shops", as it stipulated in the coalition agreement.

Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann is sticking to the plan: The sale of legal cannabis for recreational use is to become a reality. "It is realistically possible to implement the law by spring 2023. We are trying to get it done even sooner," he tweeted in May.



Leon Wiedenhöfer is an intern in the Friedrich Naumann Foundation's Thailand project. He is studying political science at Goethe University in Frankfurt.



A person holding a cannabis leaf in the midst of a breathtaking sunset

Thailand’s cannabis revolution reaches Hua Hin – but rules regarding legality still hazy

Southeast Asia, a region of 11 countries and some 680 million people, has long been infamous for having the strictest anti-drug laws in the world. But in a sign that regional leaders are mulling a new approach, Thailand became the first country in Asia last week to decriminalize marijuana for medical and other purposes. Smoking weed for fun is still illegal, Thai’s health minister clarified to CNN, but he expects legal cannabis production to boost the economy. Over 3,000 inmates incarcerated in Thai prisons for marijuana-related offenses were also freed.

This, coupled with changes to Thailand’s Narcotics Code last December to include alternatives to imprisonment for drug offenders, are signs that the country is slowly abandoning its strict drug policies, says Gloria Lai, regional director of the International Drug Policy Consortium. Lai tells TIME that Thailand’s government has recognized the problem of locking up so many people, most of them poor, for low-level offenses.

Thailand has the largest prison population among ASEAN countries—some 285,000 people—and more than 80% of inmates are there on drug-related charges. There are major issues of overcrowding at Thai prisons.

The business of legalizing marijuana

Economic benefits are also propelling Thailand’s reforms. The country has a climate conducive to growing cannabis and an established medical tourism industry. Martin Jelsma, director of the Drugs & Democracy project at the Transnational Institute (TNI) in Amsterdam, says the legalization will likely end the illegal trafficking of marijuana into Thailand, particularly from Laos.

“The hope is that Thai farmers and local companies will be able to benefit from the rapidly booming international medical cannabis market, but it will be a huge challenge to compete with established Canadian, U.S., and European companies who have already captured a large part of that global market,” he says.

Read more: Here’s What Science Says About Medical Marijuana

Global sales for medical cannabis were estimated at $37.4 billion in 2021, according to market intelligence firm Prohibition Partners’ Global Cannabis Report. The report says the market could be worth over $120 billion by 2026.

Whether or not other ASEAN countries will follow suit with Thailand remains to be seen, but Lai points out the emerging debates to decriminalize marijuana and other narcotics in Myanmar and Malaysia as a positive development.
A history of Asia’s war on drugs

ASEAN governments have tried to rein in the consumption and sale of drugs since the 1970s, but mainly through extreme punitive measures—despite studies providing evidence against its effectiveness. For instance, drug offenders have been sentenced to death in Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, including for the trafficking of cannabis.

In 2003, the Thai government under Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declared a war on drugs that was anchored on demonizing offenders. His campaign was popular, but saw more than 2,200 dead in the first three months, according to Human Rights Watch. It also became prone to abuse, as police conducted arbitrary arrests and intimidated human rights defenders.


The Philippines’ authoritarian leader Rodrigo Duterte has waged a similar bloody campaign in his country since 2016. Official data shows that some 6,200 were killed since then, though rights groups have pegged the figure at 13,000. Children were among the victims. Duterte’s approach has become so controversial that the International Criminal Court launched an investigation last year into alleged state crimes during the anti-narcotics drive.

Like in Thailand, the police engaged in the Philippines’ war on drugs have received U.S. equipment and training. And during the height of the Philippines’ war on drugs, then-U.S. President Donald Trump told Duterte to “keep up the good work—you’re doing an amazing job.”

Yet experts say that these approaches have not been able to stop or slow the region’s drug supply, with some markets even flourishing. “There’s been so much money, so much resources, and time that have been sunk into these responses that are so heavily brutally punitive, and they have caused so much harm to people and to communities, when they could have been investing all that into something that is proven by evidence to work instead,” Lai says.

Read more: Inside Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s War on Drugs
What happens next?

Taking a more laissez-faire approach to drugs would not be unprecedented in Southeast Asia. Much of the region’s harsh drug policies were drawn from the colonial era, only to be tightened further from the 1970s onwards as part of an American-style war on drugs.

Given this history, Thailand’s decision to decriminalize marijuana will intensify debates on the region’s drug policy, and resistance from some narcotics hardliners in ASEAN. Singapore has long defended the “drug-free ASEAN” dream—first announced in 1998 as a goal to be reached by 2015—and has actively lobbied the U.N. against legalizing cannabis in various parts of the globe.

Yet marijuana is only one part of Southeast Asia’s drug policy. Most of Thailand’s inmates on drug-related charges are methamphetamine-related offenses, and there are few signs of a softened approach against harder drugs.

A recent U.N. report said a record-breaking 171.5 tons of methamphetamine—including over a billion in pill form—were seized in East and Southeast Asia last year. This is seven times more than seizures made 10 years ago, with around three-quarters of the seizures in the five Southeast Asian countries traversed by the Mekong River: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

With this, Jelsma of the TNI believes a common Southeast Asian approach to regulating marijuana and other narcotics is unlikely to happen. But he believes that in a region “so plagued by excessively repressive drug policies, the positive influence of Thailand’s recent policy changes on the regional debate is most welcome.”

Thailand’s cannabis revolution reaches Hua Hin – but rules regarding legality still hazy





Despite the decriminalization, the authorities, including health minister Anutin Charnvirakul, have stressed that recreational use will continue to be illegal and that any use of cannabis must be for medical purposes only.

“Don’t use it and sit smiling at home and not get any work done. Those things are not our policies,” Mr Anutin told Reuters.

Officials had said the consumption of cannabis or cannabis products that contain more than 0.2% of THC without permission or without a medical prescription is illegal.

However, there is currently what police are calling a ‘vacuum period’.

It’s a grey area where next to no rules are in place with regards to cannabis.

This is because despite cannabis being decriminalized, Thailand is yet to pass new regulations under the Cannabis Act.

Until the Act is effective, the only powers police have to stop cannabis smokers are the laws regarding public nuisance.

For example, a smoker could be charged if the cannabis smoke they exhale is a nuisance to or upsets their neighbours. People have also been asked not to smoke in public places.

But until the Cannabis Act is passed, there are not any laws in place yet regarding smoking in Thailand.

With regards to growing cannabis, people have been asked to notify the authorities by registering via the Plook Ganja app. However, there is no legal requirement to do so.

As of Sunday, Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration said that 670,000 people had registered to grow cannabis, with the Plook Ganja app and website receiving 32 million hits in the first two days after its launch.

Thailand becomes 1st Asian nation to largely legalize marijuana

Thailand becomes 1st Asian nation to largely legalize marijuana

Bangkok — Thailand made it legal to cultivate and possess marijuana as of Thursday. It was like a dream come true for an aging generation of pot smokers who recall the kick delivered by the legendary Thai Stick variety.

The public health minister's plan to distribute 1 million marijuana seedlings, beginning Friday, has added to the impression that Thailand is turning into a weed wonderland.

The decision by the Food and Drug Administration to remove all of the plant from the category of narcotic drugs makes Thailand the first nation in Asia to decriminalize marijuana for medical and industrial use. But it is not following the examples of Uruguay and Canada, the only two countries so far that have legalized recreational marijuana on a national basis.A customer talks on his phone as he buys marijuana at the Highland Café in Bangkok, Thailand

So far, it appears there will be no effort to police what people can grow and smoke at home, aside from registering to do so and declaring it is for medical purposes.

Some Thai advocates celebrated on Thursday by buying marijuana at a café that had previously been limited to selling products made from the parts of the plant that do not get people high. The dozen or so people who turned up early at the Highland Café were able to choose from a variety of buds with names such as Sugarcane, Bubblegum, Purple Afghani and UFO.

"I can say it out loud, that I am a cannabis smoker. I don't need to hide like in the past when it was branded as an illegal drug," said 24-year-old Rittipong Bachkul, the day's first customer. Marijuana is also known as cannabis or ganja.

"Still risks" with unclear rules

"As far as the government is concerned, it's their job to promote medical use only. But it is pretty clear that we have come very far and finally are legalizing its use. The government understands that it's more pros than cons," said Rattapon Sanrak, the café's co-owner and a longtime legalization activist.

The country is known for its Thai Stick variety, which is named after the way its potent flowers are dried and tied into sticks. It is the origin of many strains now grown overseas.

A staffer at the Highland Café selects portions of marijuana for a customer in Bangkok, Thailand, June 9, 2022.SAKCHAI LALIT/AP

Thailand's government has warned that those eager to light up for fun that smoking in public could still be considered a nuisance, subject to a potential 3-month jail sentence and 25,000 baht ($780) fine. And marijuana extracts, such as oil, remain illegal if they contain more than 0.2% of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the chemical that makes people high.

Tourists should proceed cautiously until the rules become clearer, said Prof. Sarana Sommano of Chiang Mai University's Department of Plant and Soil Sciences.

"There are still risks. The problem is that cannabis is no longer considered a narcotic but there are no ministry regulations and rules governing the use of it," she said. "There is no mention of limits on use, drug-impaired driving laws. This could be a mistake by the government in trying to rush out its policy to please voters without really planning the details and explaining to the public what's going on."

Thailand mainly wants to make a splash in the market for medical marijuana. It already has a well-developed medical tourism industry, and its tropical climate is ideal for growing cannabis.

Thailand's Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul reacts during news conference, February 8, 2022, at the Public Health Ministry in Nonthaburi, Thailand, after signing a measure that drops cannabis from his ministry's list of controlled drugs.SAKCHAI LALIT/AP

"We should know how to use cannabis," Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, a marijuana booster, said recently. "If we have the right awareness, cannabis is like gold, something valuable, and should be promoted."

Get out of jail free card.  Some immediate beneficiaries of the change are people who have been locked up for breaking the old law.

"From our perspective, a major positive outcome of the legal changes is that at least 4,000 people imprisoned for offenses relating to cannabis will be released," Gloria Lai, Asia regional director of the International Drug Policy Consortium, said in an email interview.

"People facing cannabis-related charges will see them dropped, and money and cannabis seized from people charged with cannabis-related offenses will be returned to their owners," she said. Her organization is a network of civic groups worldwide advocating drug policies that incorporate human rights, health and development.

Weed windfall, or marijuana monopoly?

Predicted economic benefits are at the heart of Thailand's marijuana reforms, projected to boost everything from national income to small farmers' livelihoods. But there is concern over whether the benefits will be distributed equitably.

One fear is that large corporations could unfairly benefit from proposed regulations involving complicated licensing processes and expensive fees for commercial use that would handicap small producers.

A worker tends to cannabis plants at a farm in Chonburi province, eastern Thailand, June 5, 2022.SAKCHAI LALIT/AP

Taopiphop Limjittrakorn, a lawmaker in the opposition Move Forward party, said that under some proposed regulations, the cannabis industry could end up being controlled by a few big companies, as is the case with alcoholic beverages. His party wants the laws now being drafted to tackle the problem.

Small operators are eager to move into the marijuana business.

On a recent hot Sunday afternoon in eastern Thailand's Sri Racha district, Ittisug Hanjichan, owner of the Goldenleaf Hemp cannabis farm, led his fifth training course for 40 entrepreneurs, farmers, and retirees. They paid about $150 each to learn tips on nicking seed coats and tending the plants to get quality yields.


One of the attendees was 18-year-old Chanadech Sonboon, who said his parents used to scold him for trying to secretly grow marijuana plants.

He said his father has changed his mind and now sees marijuana as a medication rather than something to be abused. The family runs a small homestay and café and hopes to one day provide cannabis to its guests.­­­

Do You Truly Understand Thailand's New Marijuana Legalization Status?

Do You Truly Understand Thailand's New Marijuana Legalization Status?

You've undoubtedly heard the big news already. Marijuana, cannabis, ganja, weed, grass, whatever you choose to call it, has been legalized in Thailand.

The government removed cannabis and hemp plants from its narcotics list a few days ago (on June 9, 2022). The Public Health Ministry legalized all cannabis parts back in February after the Narcotics Code was modified December 9, 2021, but the new regulation didn't take effect until June 9.

The plant can now be used as a cash crop for medical purposes. However, the law permits only low-potency marijuana. Extracts containing over 0.2% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the plant's psychotropic component) are banned.

The bold move is part of an effort to capitalize on the growing demand for infused food and beverages and wellness treatments.

People can grow cannabis for personal use and companies for food, cosmetics, and other products. First, however, growers must notify authorities and obtain a permit to cultivate the crop for commercial use. For personal use, growers just have to register on FDA's Plookganja app (FDA).

In addition, food and beverage companies must follow the Food Act when introducing cannabis. cannabis-based cosmetics must conform with the Cosmetics Act; manufacturers of cannabis-based medicines fall under the Medicine Act.

The government started distributing 1 million cannabis seeds to encourage growers on Friday, June 10, adding to the perception that Thailand is becoming a pot paradise.




Agricultural Tourism: A Boost for the Economy

Thailand has loosened its cannabis restrictions to stimulate the agriculture and tourism sectors. It envisions a boom in high-end cannabis tourism, with farms, spas and other cannabis-supporting businesses strengthening rural economies and the country's suffering (from the pandemic) economy overall.

Carl K Linn, the author of a newsletter about cannabis in Thailand, sees foreign tourism potential in the delisting of cannabis. He said:


A lot of people come here to get their faces fixed with plastic surgery. A lot of people come to do dental work and oral surgery, and wellness retreats. Within that context, marijuana will integrate beautifully.

It became the first Southeast Asian country to legalize medical marijuana in 2018. Shocking as it is known for its strict no-drugs stance. Thailand has a long history of being an authoritarian country regarding drug crimes. Even cannabis, which the UN considers a "less dangerous drug," carried a 15-yearprison sentence. However, the recent announcement that it will be delisted as a narcotic will surely shift how the drug is used and perceived within the country.

Indeed, as of 2018, the number of cafes and eateries selling cannabis-infused food and drinks has been rising. These companies were granted permission to sell hemp and CBD-infused products that don't get users high. CBD is the non-psychoactive compound of marijuana with therapeutic benefits. They are banking on the resurgence of international travellers for customers, whose numbers dropped precipitously during the pandemic but have begun to pick up again.

Many envision cannabis as a boost for the medical and wellness industry, luring "Silicon Valley types" on business trips. The country's vision is not to turn the nation into a "stoner paradise" but a high-end retreat destination - somewhere for the luxury-seekers to unwind and enhance their wellbeing.



For example, A Thai central hospital's spa restaurant is now serving marijuana. The Abhaibhubejhr Day Spa at the Chaophraya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital in Prachin Buri serves patients dishes and drinks made with marijuana leaves.

Authorities are also considering a "cannabis sandbox" to allow tourists to use cannabis recreationally in specific regions. The aim would be to create centralized destinations synonymous with cannabis to contain its recreational use while supplementing the country's overall tourism industry.


Marijuana is Legal, but Smoking It is Not

After June 9, recreational cannabis use is still ambiguous. Thailand's government promotes cannabis for medical use but discourages smoking in public. Warnings have been made that doing so is considered a "smell nuisance" subjectable to a 25,000 baht ($780) fine and three-month imprisonment as a public nuisance charge under the Public Health Act.

Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, deputy permanent secretary of the public health ministry, told Thai media:

The department of health [will] issue an announcement determining that the smell and smoke from cannabis and hemp is a cause of nuisance under the Public Health Act.



Pol Gen Roy Inkhapairote, the Deputy National Police Chief in command of narcotics prevention and suppression, stated that smoking marijuana is no longer illegal if it doesn't disturb others.

He also said that possession of cannabis buds or plants is not illegal, no matter the amount. However, possession for personal use or commercial purposes of marijuana containing THC exceeding 0.2% by weight without approval from the Thai Food and Drug Administration, a permit or doctor's certificate is still illegal. In addition, possession of imported cannabis extracts is unlawful.


How the Law Revision Affected Those With Criminal Records from Cannabis

The removal of marijuana from Thailand's Category 5 narcotics list freed cannabis-related convicts and wiped their criminal records clean. Over 3,000 inmates were released on June 9, thanks to the decriminalization of cannabis.

Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin reported that 4,075 people were doing time for cannabis-related drug offences. Of these, 1,004 were also convicted of other charges and didn't benefit from the legislation reform; they must continue serving their other sentences. However, courts will amend their rulings to expunge the cannabis or hemp convictions.

Gloria Lai, the International Drug Policy Consortium's regional director for Asia, elaborated in an interview:


People facing cannabis-related charges will see them dropped, and money and cannabis seized from people charged with cannabis-related offences will be returned to their owners grounded in principles of human rights, health and development.

In addition, all pending cannabis or hemp cases with the court, prosecutors, or police must be dropped or dismissed.


Best Places to Find Cannabis on Koh Phangan and Surrounding Areas

Are you looking to take advantage of this new freedom but don't know where to find good cannabis products? If you live in Koh Phangan or plan to visit soon, check out the following locations for the best cannabis-infused goodies!


Mamma Mia



Mamma Mia's menu and items are delicious, and the staff is always delighted to see you. They bake daily with love and ganja, so everything is fresh and guaranteed to make you happy!


Chanabis (Found Exclusively at Kali in Thong Sala)



Chanabis owners Minsida and John are enthusiastic about tea and changing how people view cannabis. They make calming CBD-infused teas, cannabis terpenes, and spa goods.


Nira’s Bakery



Nira's Bakery and her family opened the island's first international and European bakery in 1985. Ever since, they've been serving the widest selection of cakes, pastries, breads, sandwiches, drinks, local handcrafted products, and now cannabis-infused baked goods.


The Bud Lounge



The Bud Lounge offers medical cannabis cuisine & drinks sourced from local farmers, leading the Thai cannabis business.


KD Koh Phangan Cannabis & Herbs Club



The Cannabis Club organized a ganja fair the day marijuana became legal. It took place at Phangan Community Garden. Locals and foreigners celebrated pot independence with live music and cannabis booths.


Sri Thanu Food Market and Big C Market

Both locations have stalls selling cannabis products. At Big C, you'll find one outside the front entrance every day and also on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during their night market. At Sri Thanu's Food Market, it's the first stall on the left.


Koh Phangan Coconut Farmer Group



Koh Phangan Coconut Farmer Group sold cannabis-infused coconut oil at the Cannabis Club's fair.


Anantara Spa (Koh Samui)

Anantara Spa launched a cannabis-infused treatment menu. Anantara Spa harnesses cannabis for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and pain-relieving qualities. It offers new exquisite spa treatments that showcase the plant's many advantages, from soothing the mind to relieving pain.

Thailand legalises growing cannabis and eases consumption rules

Thailand legalises growing cannabis and eases consumption rules

Thailand becomes first Asian country to legalise growing of the drug and its consumption in food and drinks.Thailand’s government says it is promoting cannabis for medical use only and smoking it recreationally remains illegal [Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo]
Published On 9 Jun 20229 Jun 2022


Thailand has legalised the growing and possession of cannabis and its consumption in food and drinks, the first Asian country to do so, with the aim of boosting its agriculture and tourism sectors – but smoking it recreationally is still against the law.

The public health minister is planning to distribute 1 million cannabis seedlings, starting Friday, to encourage farmers to take up its cultivation.

However, Thailand’s government has said it is promoting cannabis for medical use only, warning those eager to light up for fun that smoking in public could still be considered a nuisance, subject to a potential three-month sentence and 25,000 Thai baht ($780) fine.

So far, it appears there will be no effort to police what people can grow and smoke at home, aside from registering to do so and declaring it is for medical purposes. Thailand legalised medicinal cannabis in 2018.

Authorities aim to head off an explosion in recreational use by limiting the strength of the cannabis products that are legal. Products that contain more than 0.2 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the chemical that makes people high, are still illegal.

Shoppers queued up at outlets selling cannabis-infused drinks, sweets and other items on Thursday as advocates of the plant welcomed the reform in a country with a reputation for strict anti-drug laws.

Rittipomng celebrates after becoming the first person to legally buy cannabis at the Highland Cafe in Bangkok [Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo]

Among those at the front of the queue at one Bangkok shop was Rittipong, 24, who waited overnight to buy his first-ever legal cannabis.

“I took a bus here after I got off work,” Rittipong told Reuters news agency.

“We’re now able to find it easily, we don’t have to worry about the source, but I have no idea about the quality,” he said, referring to the strength of the products on offer.


Chokwan Kitty Chopaka, who owns a store selling cannabis sweets, told Reuters: “After COVID, the economy going down the drain, we really do need this,”

A man looks at a dried cannabis flower for sale at the Highlands café in Bangkok [Manan Vatsyayana/AFP]So far, only Uruguay and Canada have legalised recreational cannabis nationally.

Thailand’s tropical climate is ideal for growing cannabis, and the government wants to make a splash in the market for medical cannabis. It is projected to boost everything from national income to small farmers’ livelihoods.

“We should know how to use cannabis,” Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the country’s biggest cannabis supporter, said recently. “If we have the right awareness, cannabis is like gold, something valuable, and should be promoted.”

But, he added, “We will have additional Ministry of Health Notifications, by the Department of Health. If it causes nuisances, we can use that law [to stop people from smoking].”

He said the government prefers to “build an awareness” rather than patrolling to check on people and using the law to punish them.

Some immediate beneficiaries of the change are people who have been locked up for breaking the old law.

“From our perspective, a major positive outcome of the legal changes is that at least 4,000 people imprisoned for offences relating to cannabis will be released,” Gloria Lai, Asia regional director of the International Drug Policy Consortium, told The Associated Press in an email interview.

“People facing cannabis-related charges will see them dropped, and money and cannabis seized from people charged with cannabis-related offences will be returned to their owners.”




Cannabis growers have to register on a government app called PlookGanja (Grow Ganja).

Nearly 100,000 people have signed up to the app, said health ministry official Paisan Dankhum.

Suphamet Hetrakul, co-founder of Teera Group, which grows cannabis for medical use, told Reuters he was concerned about quality control among the many new cultivators.

“It will be hard to control the level of THC and other contaminants in their products and that could be dangerous for consumers,” Suphamet said.

The health ministry said it has approved 1,181 products, including cosmetics and food, containing cannabis extracts and it expects the industry to earn as much as 15 billion baht ($435.16m) by 2026.

Despite possible economic growth, there are concerns over the equitable distribution of benefits after the reform.

One fear is that giant corporations could be unfairly served by the proposed – and complicated – licensing process and expensive fees for commercial use, which would handicap small producers.

“We have seen what happened with the alcohol business in Thailand. Only large-scale producers are allowed to monopolise the market,” AP quoted Taopiphop Limjittrakorn, a lawmaker from the opposition Move Forward party, as saying.

“We are worried a similar thing will happen to the cannabis industry if the rules are in favour of big business,”

The Thai Government Wants Everyone to Grow Cannabis… But Not to Smoke It

The Thai Government Wants Everyone to Grow Cannabis… But Not to Smoke It

“Within Thailand, there's a lot of confusion and I don't know who we can trust right now.”





At a man-made beach tucked away in a small town just outside of Bangkok, an annual cannabis festival takes place within a pocket of legal limbo, just days after the partial legalization of cannabis in Thailand.

A dank smell wafts through the air as local musicians serenade the crowd, surrounded by booths selling cannabis products. As people stream in and cops patrol the area, they seem to ignore those who are outright puffing on joints, even though blazing up in public remains technically illegal despite the country’s recently-passed cannabis laws.

“Everyone smokes in Thailand. They’re just hiding,” Wathinee Belllomo, a festival goer, told VICE World News on Saturday. Like many others who gathered at the beach in Nakhon Chai Si district to celebrate the legalization milestone, Wathinee isn’t sure what the future holds for cannabis users in the country.

“The rules in Thailand, they change all the time,” she said.

Growing Cannabis Is Officially Legal in Thailand


Thailand has attracted global attention over the past 18 months for passing Asia’s most progressive weed laws, culminating on Thursday with the removal of all parts of the cannabis plant from the country’s narcotics list. Weed enthusiasts rejoiced at the milestone, and businesses immediately began cashing in on the opportunity, with shops selling cannabis buds and novel cannabis-based products.

But the reality on the ground is far less clear, confusing even, for cannabis users. While the government hands out a million free cannabis plants and people are free to grow unlimited amounts at home and purchase cannabis buds from stores, smoking a joint in public could land an offender with a public nuisance charge. Meanwhile, the sale of cannabis products with more than 0.2% THC (its main psychoactive compound) remains prohibited.

This is all part of a delicate balancing act, in which the military-aligned conservative government peddles the medical and economic benefits of cannabis—aiming to grow an industry potentially worth $661 million by 2024 to aid Thailand’s economy—all while discouraging the growth of a liberal culture around recreational cannabis use.

“We rushed into something without thinking,” said Sarana Sommano, an agricultural studies professor at Chiang Mai University who has researched cannabis cultivation in Thailand.

“Within Thailand, there's a lot of confusion and I don't know who we can trust right now.”

While festival goers partied away at a beach near Bangkok over the weekend, a more sober affair showing the other side of cannabis in Thailand was taking place about 300 kilometers away.

A government expo was held in the northeastern province of Buriram with the goal of educating the public on cannabis cultivation and its uses. Exhibitors displayed various cannabis products, ranging from standard CBD oils to the more adventurous cannabis-infused kimchi and ice cream, while the local government handed out 1,000 free cannabis seedlings.

 



VISITORS TO THE BURIRAM EXPO LINE UP TO COLLECT THEIR FREE CANNABIS SEEDLINGS. PHOTO: BOONYANIN PAKVISAL

In attendance at the Buriram expo was Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul of the Bhumjaithai Party (BP), which has been spearheading the legalization of cannabis as a member of Prayut Chan-o-cha’s military-aligned coalition government. He announced to the crowd that over 2.3 million people have already registered to grow cannabis on the government’s Plook Ganja app, with over 350,000 of these applications already approved.

The location of the expo was no accident—Buriram, a traditionally agricultural province and one of BP’s strongest voter bases, is now positioning itself to become a major player in the country’s burgeoning cannabis industry. It now finds itself in the thick of a green rush, as cannabis is being marketed to residents as a medical panacea and a golden economic opportunity to revitalize the province’s economy.
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Newin Chidchob, a revered ex-governor and the de facto leader of the BP, is at the heart of the province’s cannabis boom. Nan, his daughter, is helping to figure out how local farmers can grow cannabis commercially. Showing VICE World News around her cannabis farm, she said that her team of growers have experimented with different strains since 2019, when Thailand legalized medical cannabis. She hopes to find the best fit for the local climate, so that local farmers don’t have to go through the trial-and-error process themselves.



NAN CHIDCHOB AT HER CANNABIS FARM IN BURIRAM. PHOTO: BOONYANIN PAKVISAL

Cannabis is not a completely foreign crop to Buriram residents. The plant wasn’t criminalized until 1979 and is also traditionally incorporated into local cuisine as a flavoring ingredient.

“The local wisdom here that they have with growing in the backyard is still very much there,” said Nan, adding that some of the growers on her team were drafted from the previously underground cultivation scene.

But while there’s a local buzz in Buriram—with Public Health Minister Anutin saying last week that he’s confident that Thailand’s cannabis industry will “easily exceed $2 billion”—the laws surrounding cannabis use remain plagued with gaps.

With the government taking a conservative stance on recreational use, authorities have repeatedly emphasized that cannabis should only be used for medical and economic purposes, and cannabis products with a THC level above 0.2% remain outlawed. The result is a confusing and seemingly contradictory approach, in which people are allowed to grow tons of the plants at home, but lighting up a single spliff in the same house remains legally ambiguous.


“I think it's a big step towards unlocking recreational use here in Thailand… [The government] can't deny the fact that if you allow personal use, people are going to use it recreationally.”

The government is in the process of clarifying this ambiguity, as lawmakers passed the first reading of a draft bill just a day before June 9, legalization day. The bill, which is still being deliberated, seeks to clarify some of the ambiguity surrounding recreational cannabis consumption and sale. There remains no timeline on its passage, however.

“There are gaps that still need to be improved,” said agricultural researcher Sarana. “I don't think that’s going to happen immediately unless [the government is] trying to think about what's going to benefit the nation, not what's going to be beneficial to themselves.”


But while the focus is currently on medicinal use, Nan thinks that recreational cannabis use is on the horizon—“it just takes time for it to get to that point.”

“I think it's a big step towards unlocking recreational use here in Thailand,” she said. “[The government] can't deny the fact that if you allow personal use, people are going to use it recreationally.”

With the help of local cannabis-themed businesses springing up around the green rush, Thai society seems to already be warming up to that fact. In Instagrammable weed shops around Bangkok, cannabis buds—which could yield 15 to 25 percent THC if processed—are already legally sold on shelves since the plant was decriminalized.

Medical Marijuana Is Legal in Thailand, but People Are Sticking With the Black Market


WholeWeed House, a cannabis cafe located in downtown Bangkok, has been cautiously following the shifting regulations while exploring the new business frontier.

Boasting an Instagrammable cafe aesthetic, save for subtle weed references, the shop only sells CBD-infused food and beverages, along with their own brand of cannabis tea—all totally legal.

They understand that there’s still a level of uncertainty surrounding what’s legal and what’s not among Thai consumers. And until things become clearer surrounding cannabis in Thailand, their goal is to put their customers' minds at ease.

“We're very transparent with our customers, like where we got the cannabis from and why we choose to use this type from our supplier,” said owner Pongspat Sukhumalchandr. “We don't want anyone to come here and feel like it's illegal. We don't want people to feel shady.”

Thailand’s half-baked cannabis rule change makes drug legal for children

Thailand’s half-baked cannabis rule change makes drug legal for children
Country rushes to tighten laws that it recently relaxed as they inadvertently allowed young people to buy marijuana. 

“We legalised cannabis for medical use and for health,” he said. “Usage beyond this are inappropriate... and we need laws to control it.”
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Mr Charnvirakul’s Bhumjaithai Party campaigned on marijuana legalisation ahead of the 2019 election and is a main partner in the ruling coalition.

According to a recent BBC report, Thailand hoped that decriminalisation will benefit from the emerging Asian market of cannabis-based medical treatment and therapies.

It is also hoped that the relaxation of the laws may help to reduce overcrowding in the country’s prisons.




Thailand has hastily tightened its drug laws after a move to decriminalise cannabis caused a spike in its usage – and inadvertently made it legal for children to buy the drug.

Soon after the country became the first in Asia to legalise the growing and consumption of cannabisin food and drink on June 9, businesses began openly selling marijuana, with strains called “Amnesia” and “Night Nurse” on offer from a truck in Bangkok.

Restaurants were allowed to sell cannabis-infused dishes in restaurants, and some Thailanders took to social media to show off the cannabis cakes they had baked.

The rapid rise in cannabis sales sparked concern from Wantanee Wattana, a Bangkok city official. She said that at least one person had died and several were hospitalised last week after consuming or smoking marijuana.

A draft cannabis bill is making its way through the country’s parliament, but it could be months away from becoming law.

Promoters at the Thailand 420: Legalaew! festival in Nakhon Pathom, west of Bangkok, sell rolling papers to revellers CREDIT: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images

“There are no control measures other than word of mouth,” lamented Mana Nimitmongkol, the head of the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand, in an online post earlier this week.
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This week, Thailand’s government has been issuing piecemeal rules to try to bring some order to cannabis use.

On Friday, new regulations came into effect forbidding all public smoking of cannabis, as well as the sale of marijuana to people under the age of 20, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. The rules were published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette.

Several other rules included banning the drug from schools, a requirement for retailers to provide clear information on cannabis usage in food and drinks, and the application of a health law that defined marijuana smoke as a public nuisance punishable by jail time and a fine.

Critics said that the government rushed to remove criminal penalties on marijuana before passing a law to ensure that the substance is regulated.

Anutin Charnvirakul, Thailand’s health minister and a leading advocate for cannabis legalisation, defended the government’s approach.

“We legalised cannabis for medical use and for health,” he said. “Usage beyond this are inappropriate... and we need laws to control it.”
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Mr Charnvirakul’s Bhumjaithai Party campaigned on marijuana legalisation ahead of the 2019 election and is a main partner in the ruling coalition.

According to a recent BBC report, Thailand hoped that decriminalisation will benefit from the emerging Asian market of cannabis-based medical treatment and therapies.

It is also hoped that the relaxation of the laws may help to reduce overcrowding in the country’s prisons.

Latest Cannabis News around Asia

For decades, Thailand was one of America’s most resolute allies in the war on drugs. After zero tolerance policies left the Kingdom with the highest rate of incarceration in Asia and a methamphetamine (ya ba) epidemic that not even the most draconian measures could stop, Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya shocked the nation in 2016 when he conceded that “the world has lost the war on drugs.” Not only did he suggest legalizing methamphetamine, Koomchaya urged his countrymen to view the drug epidemic through the lens of public health, rather than law enforcement. Today, many hope that this new laissez-faire approach will lead to the legalization of the legendary marijuana that was once among the Kingdom’s most famous and valuable exports.

After the United States built military bases in Thailand during the 1960s and stationed tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers there, the marijuana industry exploded and cheap, powerful pot became as readily available as beer.

“They tie together. Put the stick. Make it nice. Sell for GI easy. One, two, or five for one dollar,” recalled a Thai smuggler who got his start selling pot to U.S. soldiers. “Whatever place GI go, it started whenever they need.”

“With an eighty-cent bottle of gin purchased at the PX,” one Vietnam veteran remembers, “you could trade for a pack of twenty Thai sticks.”
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Thai Sticks c. 1974. Photo Michael Ferguson

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The first Thai marijuana to reach the United States came in the 1960s via the Army Post Office. The difference between Thai marijuana and most Vietnamese and Cambodian cannabis, was the difference between bathtub corn whiskey and single malt scotch. In 1967, one amazed DEA agent to called it “the Cuban cigar of the marijuana world.”

“Who can forget the first strange-looking Thai Sticks a decade ago! Dense, seedless, stronger than a bull elephant. Years before sophisticated sinsemilla techniques were incorporated into the crop management of U.S. growers,” wrote High Times magazine, the journal of record for pot connoisseurs, “the Thais were, without effort, turning out a superior product.” What sold for $3 per kilo at the farm in Isan, easily fetched $4,000 a kilo in any city in the United States in the early 1970s.

The foreign demand for marijuana produced a boom in Thailand’s poorest region during the 1970s and 80s. North of Udorn on the banks of the Mekong sits Isan, a plateau as large as many American states (62,000 square miles) that floods during monsoon season and is arid and dusty during the dry season. Although rice fields are hard to irrigate and do not yield much, marijuana thrives thanks to the Mekong River, whose tributaries replenish the region with rich, silty soil. Farmers in Northeast Thailand take the same care with their cannabis plants that French vintners take with their grapevines.ADVERTISEMENT


“They know how to grow so nice, I mean how to take care of the flower, how to take out the male plant,” said one retired Thai marijuana broker. After they harvested and dried the cannabis sativa flowers (buds), the farmers and their families neatly and uniformly tied them to small bamboo sticks and secured them with threads of hemp fiber.

What made the criminalization of marijuana particularly difficult, not just in Thailand, but certain parts of Southeast Asia, was that it was considered little more than a medicinal or cooking herb with little or no local legal or moral stigma attached. The plant had grown in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam for centuries and various preparations were used to treat: migraine headaches, cholera, malaria, dysentery, asthma, digestion, parasites, and post-childbirth pain.

“Almost every corner, every house, they have it in the yard growing. The older people, they will like it. The working heavy guy, he will like it,” said one retired Thai grower, “but they use for medicine also, when you really feel fever. So if you have nothing there, you can get like one branch, and ground it up.”

Under Thailand’s 1934 Marijuana Act, penalties for any amount of the plant could not exceed one year in prison. When criticized by American officials for tolerating cannabis, Thailand leaders were quick to remind them that drug abuse was not part of their culture.

“The United States has been able to send men to the Moon. It has built sophisticated weapons for its own defense. Why can’t it do anything effective about narcotics getting to its shores,” Prime Minister Kriangsak Chamanan said in 1977. He reminded the Americans of the rules of capitalism, “Where there are markets, there is bound to be trade, either legal or illegal.” This point was echoed by Alfred McCoy, in his magisterial study, The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia, “Driven by myopic moralism, U.S. policy ignores the fundamental dynamics of the drug trade. Over the past two centuries, narcotics have become the major global commodities that operate on fluid laws of supply and demand not susceptible to simple repression.”


During the 1980s, the U.S. government was able to convince and coerce Thailand to partner with them in a war against marijuana. In 1988 alone, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted eight “motherships” that carried 463,000 pounds of Southeast Asian marijuana bound for American shores. However, in the end, the “victory” was Pyrrhic because Thai drug users replaced cannabis with methamphetamine that is today responsible for 90 percent of that nation’s drug arrests.

Recently, there have been signs that the Thai government is softening its stance on marijuana. A research team at Rangsit University received permission from Thailand’s Narcotics Control Board and made a cannabis extract spray for cancer patients. In April, Dr. Arthit Uraitat, the rector of Rangsit University, called on Thailand’s military leaders to legalize medical marijuana.

“Be brave. Let us use medical marijuana legally regardless of the method,” he said in a press conference, “Those who have cancer, they cannot wait. They need the help now, so I think we need to take every shortcut possible.”

Last week, a private company called the Thai Cannabis Corporation announced the start of a five-year cannabis project that will cultivate 5,000 hectares (12,355 acres) of the plant in the next five years. The Royal Project Foundation will oversee this effort and Maejo University will provide research support. Thai Cannabis Corporation’s objective is to establish a low-cost model to grow, harvest, and process cannabis plants into oils and extracts. Initially, they will focus on breeding high CBD (cannabidiol) cannabis strains that contain minimal amounts of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) in order to comply with the laws of Thailand. “The mission of the Royal Project Foundation is to research and develop appropriate technology to sustainably improve the quality of life for Thailand’s highland communities. I quite agree with the Thai Cannabis Project,” said the director of the Royal Project Foundation Dr. Vijit Thanormthin.


The Royal Project Foundation was established and funded by King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 1969. An early advocate of sustainable farming, the king sought to improve the quality of life of Thailand’s hill tribes by replacing opium with other crops and also revitalizing Thailand’s forests and safeguarding their water resources for future generations. Cannabis fits very neatly into the Royal Project Foundation’s mandate given that Thailand’s hill tribes were once the world’s premier marijuana growers. The nation is already exporting packaged food, beverages, essential oils, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and cosmetics. Why not marijuana?

While the Thai Cannabis Corporation hopes to include the marijuana that Thailand was once world famous for in their product line, they will only go as rapidly as the law and Thai government will allow. “The mission of the Thai Cannabis Corporation,” said CEO Timothy Luton, “is to provide an excellent return to shareholders by partnering with Thailand’s farmers and scientific researchers to make, at high volumes and affordable prices, cannabis products that are above reproach.”

Thailand’s slow shift towards marijuana legalization stands in stark contrast to America’s anarchic “Green Rush,” the greatest exhibition of human greed since gold was discovered in California in 1849. Unlike Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, a foreign army has never occupied Thailand and they have staved off foreign invaders for centuries. Generations of Western businessmen have been baffled by their unique and refined Buddhist sensibility that often seems to value mental equilibrium and social grace as much as profit.

However, behind the smile and behind the wai are some of the toughest people on earth. Rapacious western marijuana speculators looking to get rich quick would be wise to heed the words of Townsend Harris, the American envoy to Siam (Thailand), who wrote in 1856: “It is an old saying here [in Bangkok] that those who come here for business should bring one ship loaded with patience, another loaded with presents, and a third ship for carrying away the cargo.”