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Thailand To Reconsider Cannabis Decriminalization Amid Thriving Market Dario Sabaghi Forbes Monday 02 Oct 2023 Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has recently vowed to roll back 2022 cannabis legislation amid a hardline anti-narcotics campaign pledged during the latest election campaign. In an interview with Bloomberg Television in New York while attending the UN General Assembly, Srettah made clear that cannabis in the country will be used for medical reasons only. "It's just for medical reasons. We need to rewrite the law. We have an agreement among all the 11 parties that this will be the government policy because the problem about drugs has been widespread lately, he said. Asked whether Thailand will regulate cannabis for "leisure" use, Srettha peremptorily answered, "No." The shadow of a potential reconsideration of the current policy on adult-use cannabis materialized following August's elections, resulting in the formation of an 11-party coalition government to rule the country. Thailand decriminalized adult-use cannabis in 2022 after the country legalized the substance for medical use in 2018, becoming the first Southeast Asian country to do so. Under current legislation that removed cannabis from the list of narcotics, individuals can consume cannabis but not in public spaces and can cultivate plants at home, but only after notifying their local government. Growers are also allowed to grow cannabis after registering with Thailand's Food and Drug Administration. However, no regulations have been implemented in terms of the cultivation and sale of cannabis. Therefore, this regulatory vacuum has created an industry that wasn't supposed to be put in place, with shops popping up across the country. Thai growers supply almost 6,000 stores that have boomed in the country, selling thousands of cannabis products, according to the data provided by Thailand's cannabis directory Weed.th. This has created a flourishing market in Thailand, which also attracted many tourists from the region and beyond due to the current legal status of cannabis. Thailand's cannabis market is expected to generate up to $1.68 billion in 2025, according to the latest study by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, as reported by Bangkok Post. But the ongoing situation may experience a definitive stop from the new government if it decides to turn back the decriminalization of cannabis and only allow its use for medical purposes, although how exactly the current government plans to proceed remains unclear. Meanwhile, inside the coalition government, Anutin Charnvirakul, the former health minister who supported cannabis decriminalization and is now serving as minister of interior in the current government, is trying to submit for approval a new bill in parliament that would tighten the control on adult-use cannabis as he opposes to classify the plant as a drug again. Srettha's pledge to eradicate drugs from Thai society aims to crack down on the broader illegal drug trafficking economy, estimated to be worth $130 billion in Southeast Asia, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, with Thailand considered the main narcotics transit hub in the region. Thailand's decriminalization of cannabis has made the country an outlier in Asia in terms of drug policy, as several countries still have the death penalty for some cannabis offenses, such as Singapore, which has recently executed a man over cannabis trafficking, sparking international criticism. Reclassifying cannabis as a narcotic may lead to recreational use underground, where there will be even less control, as well as potentially going up in smoke the country's promising industry. https://www.forbes.com/sites/dariosabaghi/2023/10/02/thailand-to-reconsider-cannabis-decriminalization-amid-thriving-market/
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