Thailand Leading Asia Cannabis Revolution

Cannabis discover this week ; Asia is on the rise of the cannabis revolution and set to present significant opportunities where the outdated and harmful drug control policies are receding in favor of more sensible, supportive and economically sound policies, Thanks for Thailand successfully blazing the trail for cannabis legalization in Asia after a 7-month trip of legal weed in the kingdom, which can be inspired following countries such as South Korea, Japan and Malaysia to paving the way for pharmaceutical applications, While Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Nepal are expected to legalize unlicensed medical cannabis imminently, China also responsible for around 70% of global hemp fibre production, All of these nations have the chance to be at the forefront of the Global cannabis revolution.

Thailand plans to introduce a curriculum to promote the cannabis industry including consumer goods, food and cosmetics as the South Asian nation seeks to ride a wave of growing demand for cannabis to lure foreign tourists. Thai government signed an agreement in January 2021 to create a module that will impart training in recipes and methods to produce meals and products from marijuana.

The land of smile made it surprise cannabis legalization in 2018 turning the plant from ‘narcotic ’ to ‘economic cash crop’ along with the government’s supportive policies, since then medical cannabis has the rapid rise in the number of prescriptions across the country as well as dispensaries were popped up in many big city’s corners as over 7,000 registered dispensaries recently. Around the same time, many neighboring countries have also taken steps in the direction of legalization. Thailand recognizes that it is a first-mover beneficiary and seeks to make fast changes to the jurisdiction in order to protect its edge in the cannabis sector’s growth. This indicates their aspirations for the area to become a key player.

According to the “Asian Cannabis Report” conducted by Prohibition Partners, the market value for the legal cannabis industry in Asia is projected to reach US$12.5 billion (392 billion baht) in 2024. While the value of the cannabis industry in Thailand is estimated to be $661 million, with $237 million from medical cannabis and $424 million from the recreational cannabis market.

Nevertheless, the report also found that Thailand is of particular importance due to being at the leading edge of cannabis liberalisation in South East Asia. The region decriminalised medical cannabis in 2018 and the country then decriminalised cannabis plant parts in a push towards commercialization in June 2022 as allowed to register and grow cannabis at home for medical purposes as well as private consumer

Additionally, University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) forecasts Thailand’s cannabis market is expected to grow by about 15% a year between 2023 and 2025, with the market value forecast to reach up to $1.2 billion in 2025, Generate income more than 100 times higher for the local farmer when comparison with rice crop

Mr. Thanavath Phonvichai, the UTCC’s president said Thailand’s cannabis market to tally 28.1 billion baht this year including 9.61 billion from upstream products (dried flowers, dried leaves, seeds and other parts), 14.7 billion from midstream products (extracts, oils and fabric), and 3.75 billion from downstream products such as medicines and supplementary foods, food and beverage, apparel and personal care items, The market is expected to grow to 31.8 billion baht in 2023, 36.5 billion in 2024 and 43 billion in 2025, according to the study.

“Cannabis is expected to generate more income for farmers as high as 800,000 baht to 1.2 million baht per rai per year which is much higher than rice crop that fetches farmers only 10,000-15,000 baht per rai per year”

Although the history of cannabis on a global scale is rooted in Asian cultures from the numbing medicines of 大麻 (dà má) in Ancient China to God Shiva’s holy plant भांग (Bhāṅg) in India, but cannabis in Asia may not sound nice toward legalization progress, the big doubt is the negative stereotype

Peter Su, Asian Cannabis Roundtable member, a group focused on representing and promoting Asian voices in the marijuana industry explained that the negative stigma of cannabis in the American society is very strong, but the stigma in the Asian community is even stronger. In English, you have the word “drug,” which could be medicinal or could be narcotic. In Mandarin, the word that we use for narcotics is actually “poison.” In other words, if you’re a Mandarin speaker, you would grow up referring to marijuana as poison. So the stigma is huge

“We’re hoping to convince our own community that the negative stigma does not need to be there, especially the older generation that has a very heavy negative stigma against cannabis.”
Peter