Meanwhile, among the coalition is the Bhumjaithai Party, who succeeded in materializing its flagship campaign of cannabis legalization during the previous government.
Though Anutin Charnvirakul, the Bhumjaithai leader, stated multiple times his intention to amend the Narcotics Act to ensure strict control over cannabis use, he strongly opposes the idea of re-categorizing marijuana as a controlled substance. Such an act could see people jailed or fined heavily for marijuana use and Anutin and Bhumjaithai is strongly against this.
Following the removal of marijuana from the list of controlled substances by then-Minister of Public Health Anutin, cannabis use in Thailand fell into a state of complex and vague legality.
Currently, there are nearly 6,000 cannabis retail shops nationwide. Thai farmers are also freely permitted to cultivate marijuana only if they seek a permission from the Food and Drug Administration beforehand.
Furthermore, the only clear rules governing the plant use appear to be only the ban on smoking marijuana in public areas, an age restriction, and the prohibition of the cannabis shops operating near schools, not addressing the elephant in the room-its illegal recreational use and thousands of dispensaries clearly focused on tourists and recreational use versus strict medical applications.
Several times, ideas have arisen in the new government to clarify the vague regulations.
The recently appointed Public Health Minister, Cholnan Srikaew, stated that the Bhumjaithai party has the option to reintroduce its Cannabis Bill in parliament for deliberation.
He emphasized that despite cannabis being delisted, it is still classified as a narcotic although that has been debated by some.
He underscores the necessity of amending the Cannabis Act to limit its use. Furthermore, he suggested that the cultivation of cannabis plants, especially the allowance for households to grow up to 15 plants in their backyard, should be restricted.
Meanwhile, cannabis leaders in Phuket and Bangkok in reaction to the announcement have been mostly unfazed, stating it will be impossible to clearly define medical and recreational and that they feel a compromise will be made. They also cautioned that trying to reinstate fines or penalities for recreational use as Cholnan suggested would see broad corruption as with the bar industry and another large elephant in the room, prostitution. Officially, the former Thai governments have previously said prostitution doesn’t exist in Thailand but in reality is widespread in many areas, despite not being fully legal. Pushing recreational marijuana underground, warn cannabis leaders, will cause even more problems.
That being said, many cannabis business operators welcome reasonable regulation, especially to stop illegal smuggling of marijuana from the US to Thailand and to help protect and promote locally grown marijuana from Thai farmers.
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