Thailand Aims to Ban Recreational Cannabis

Thailand vows to end the ‘Free Use’ of cannabis as Bloomberg published the interview with a new Thailand’s prime minister, Mr. Srettha Thavisin stated that he vowed to restrict the use of marijuana for medical purposes after thousands of weed shops opened across the country since the nation became the first in Asia to decriminalize cannabis a year ago.

“The law will need to be rewritten, It needs to be rectified. We can have that regulated for medical use only, there can’t be a middle ground for recreational use, The problem of drug has been widespread lately, and we don’t need another issue added on top of that.” Srettha Thavisin said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin on Wednesday in New York.

The government will seek to rectify its cannabis policy and rampant sprouting of dispensaries that freely sell the drug within a six-month time frame, While he admitted that there was a broad agreement among the 11-party coalition he heads about the need to restrict cannabis use, how exactly his administration will proceed remains unclear.

Mr. Poonwarit Wangpatravanich, president of the Phuket Cannabis Association said that the cannabis industry was unfazed by the move to reimpose controls. The medical benefits of cannabis already blur the lines between health and recreational use, effectively rendering any ban on leisure unfeasible

“More regulation will be good as we don’t want a free-for-all anyway, Cannabis is here to stay, but in what status is not yet clear.” Poonwarit said.

While Mr. Rattapon Sanrak, founder of cannabis advocacy group Highland Network and member of Thailand’s Cannabis Association said that classifying cannabis as a narcotic again, as opposed to regulating the industry, will risk pushing recreational use underground where there will be even less control.

Bloomberg also reported that Srettha’s Pheu Thai Party promoted a hard-line anti-drug campaign ahead of the May election and vowed to undo the landmark policy to decriminalize cannabis. It’s now in a coalition with Bhumjaithai Party led by Anutin Charnvirakul, who has vowed to press ahead with a plan to reintroduce a cannabis bill in parliament that seeks tighter monitoring of the industry but opposes classifying the plant as a drug again. An ongoing regulatory vacuum, following the move to declassify marijuana as a narcotic, has led to a mushrooming of nearly 6,000 dispensaries all over the country.

Picture and Data origin at Bloomberg and Bangkokbiz