Hemp users are happy that they no longer risk penalties when using cannabis.
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire)
Bangkok The latest relief package, which is intended to support Thailand’s population in economically difficult times, brings neither tax cuts nor financial aid – but an intoxicating growth: the government wants to distribute one million cannabis plants free of charge to the citizens.
Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul sees this as the starting signal for a new growth industry, which he says should bring the Thais hundreds of millions of dollars in additional income.
Behind the project is a reversal in drug policy in Southeast Asia’s second largest economy. For decades, the country also relied on tough law enforcement for soft drugs. Up until now, anyone caught with marijuana could face several years in prison.
In the coming week, however, this will change fundamentally: From Thursday, the possession of hemp plants of all kinds will no longer be punishable. Thailand will become the first country in Asia to largely legalize cannabis.
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The government in Bangkok is counting on the fact that the release of the plant will open up new earning opportunities for the rural population – and give the ailing tourism industry a new boost.
A strong impulse would be urgently needed: Although the corona entry restrictions have largely been lifted, the local tourism authority expects a maximum of ten million visitors for the year as a whole – this corresponds to only a quarter of the number of visitors that the country recorded before the pandemic began. At the same time, the population is suffering from the highest inflation rate for 13 years and weak growth prospects of around three percent.
Thailand’s government has high hopes for hemp, but wants to avoid turning the country into a stoner’s paradise.
(Photo: AP)
Anutin, who promised cannabis legalization during the election campaign and then pushed ahead decisively in the cabinet, described the move in the past as a win-win situation that gives people access to the plant and at the same time boosts the economy.
But despite the new attraction to the previously banned plant, the socio-politically conservative government in Bangkok wants to avoid the impression that Thailand is becoming the new stoner’s paradise. The dichotomy is reflected in a series of ambiguities surrounding the start of hemp clearance.
Government advocates against marijuana use as a recreational drug
What is clear is that from June 9th, people in Thailand will be allowed to grow cannabis plants in any quantity. Only those who have commercial intentions still have to obtain approval for this, in all other cases a simple registration via the app is sufficient.
Only extracts from the plants – such as oils – with more than 0.2 percent of the psychoactive ingredient THC remain prohibited.
This active ingredient limit does not apply to the plants themselves. However, it is still not exactly defined how they may be used. Corresponding regulations still have to be passed by Parliament.
It is planned that private consumption will be permitted. However, the authorities emphasize that they oppose the use of marijuana as a recreational drug. Instead, cannabis is to be used for medicinal purposes.
The drug regulator announced that the plant – including its THC-containing blossoms – can also be used as a cooking ingredient. How exactly the authorities want to define and control the distinction between medical use and recreational use has so far been left open.
Proponents of legalization assume that the question is deliberately left in the gray area in order to reduce resistance from drug policy hardliners.
Tourists posed for photos with an activist protesting for the legalization of hemp in April. Now the time has come.
(Photo: IMAGO/Pacific Press Agency)
“As long as the use is private, there shouldn’t be any problems,” says Arun Avery, co-founder of the activist group Highland and a member of the cannabis research committee at a cancer hospital in northeast Thailand’s Udon Thani province.
However, he only considers the sales expectations set by Health Minister Anutin to be realistic if the government allows any form of private use. “The situation is probably still too unclear for investments by large companies,” he says. Cannabis retail chains like in parts of the USA will probably not exist in Thailand for the time being.
In the past few years, when Thailand was already taking the first legalization steps and allowing hemp products with a barely detectable THC content, companies and consumers were already showing great interest in the topic: bars are now selling “cannabis-enriched” lime juice, and coffee machines sell drinks like ” Order Iced Cannabis Americano”, restaurants serve local specialties such as green curry or shrimp soups with hemp added – but completely intoxicated due to the rules that have applied up to now.
The regulations, which will be relaxed in the future, were applied by some hemp growers in the past few weeks before they officially came into force – but not without legal risk: A 56-year-old woman was temporarily arrested at the end of May for possessing a cannabis plant.
The police later classified the arrest as inappropriate – with a view to the upcoming legalization in a few days, the officers should have shown better judgment, it said.
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