Cannabis Businesses Still on The Road to Nowhere

Currently it’s estimated that some 20,000 registered dispensaries have opened since the country became the first in Southeast Asia to decriminalise the recreational use of marijuana but the legal loophole made by this government would lead cannabis businesses nowhere else to turn.

Mr Rattapon Sanrak, the founder of Highland Cafe, has been a leading voice for the cannabis industry for a decade gave interview with CNA stated that businesses and the industries has remain frozen in place, unable to make plans for their future or invest more in cultivation, research, staffing or infrastructure.

“We are all getting stuck in the middle of nowhere. It’s hurting people. It’s not regulated yet and we don’t have the future Bill yet. Anything could happen, so that’s why I cannot see the future or invest in it either as this is going to be a disaster for sure.”

“You need to have a Bill which is focusing on managing everything around cannabis. But what the government is trying to do is tightening too much, which will kill a lot of businesses,” he said.

Meanwhile a leading player in the medical cannabis industry itself said that blurring the lines between recreational cannabis consumption and medical use of the drug would be a risky strategy.

Mr Noah Levit Ades is the director of cannabis operations at Thonburi Healthcare Group, the country’s first cannabis facility to be built by a hospital for its own use and research.

“I think throwing it all under the idea of ‘medical’ is a bit rudimentary. That makes no sense. It’ll defeat the purpose of what we’re trying to do and it will do more damage for those people actually seeking medical care,” he said.

He also urged the government to consider how destabilising the industry could allow the black market for recreational marijuana to thrive once more.

Associate Professor Paul Chambers, a scholar in Southeast Asian politics from Naresuan University says it may already be too late to enforce any strong law against cannabis, given the heft of the industry and the potential revenue to be made. It is projected to be worth up to US$1.2 billion by next year.

“The government is weighing the profits that have been made through the decriminalisation of cannabis versus the perceptions of Thailand’s majority that cannabis is unethical,” he said.

“Pheu Thai will likely simply make cannabis a bit harder to access but still accessible enough to continue generating profits for those who can pay a bit more for licences to produce it, sell it, and (with a doctor’s note) consume it. This is all about paying more money.”

Data origin at channelnewsasia.com