Do you smoke marijuana? Thailand, despite legalizing it fairly recently, is going to ban recreational use by the end of the year. That doesn't mean they're going to wait that long to do it, but apparently that's the deadline.
Banning recreational use of certain drugs is not unprecedented. Once there were opium dens. Once heroin and cocaine were perfectly legal and even used in commercial products and medicines. We'll see how making marijuana illegal once again is going to work. Many shops currently sell it. I guess most will be forced out of business. Meanwhile, when it was still illegal it was readily available and people who wanted it had no problem getting it.
My own guess is all banning recreational use will truly accomplish is raising the price . . .
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Thailand Plans Year-End Ban on Recreational Cannabis
March 1, 2024
In a bid to assert greater control over recreational cannabis consumption, Thailand is set to impose a ban by the end of the year, according to statements from the country's health minister in an exclusive interview with Reuters.
Since blazing the trail in Southeast Asia with the legalization of medicinal marijuana in 2018, followed by the nod to recreational use in 2022, Thailand has witnessed a rapid proliferation of the cannabis market.
The landscape now boasts an abundance of tens of thousands of cannabis outlets, with industry projections soaring to a monumental $1.2 billion valuation by the upcoming fiscal year.
However, amidst this exponential growth, concerns have surfaced regarding the swift implementation of regulations, which were swiftly introduced within a week of decriminalization.
In response to these apprehensions, the Thai government is moving forward with drafting a comprehensive law designed to oversee cannabis consumption, slated for enactment by year-end.
Health Minister Cholnan Srikaew disclosed during a Wednesday briefing the urgency of establishing robust regulations, stressing the imminent risk of cannabis misuse, particularly in recreational contexts.
The proposed legislation is expected to undergo meticulous scrutiny within the cabinet next month, followed by parliamentary review, with the aim of securing final approval before the year's end.
"The detrimental effects of cannabis misuse on Thai children are concerning," he emphasized. "In the long term, it could potentially pave the way for involvement with other substances."
The preceding administration failed to pass legislation through parliament prior to the general election last May, leaving Thailand without a comprehensive law to regulate cannabis use, reported Reuters.
Cholnan further stated that cannabis shops operating unlawfully will not be permitted to continue, and domestic cultivation of cannabis will also be discouraged. He noted that currently, there are approximately 20,000 legally registered shops.
"In the forthcoming law, cannabis will be classified as a controlled plant, necessitating permission for cultivation," he explained. "We will encourage cannabis cultivation for medical and health-related purposes."
Under the proposed legislation, penalties for recreational cannabis use could include fines of up to 60,000 baht ($1,700).
Individuals involved in selling cannabis for recreational purposes or engaging in the promotion or marketing of cannabis products could face imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to 100,000 baht ($2,800), or both.
Furthermore, the draft law imposes harsher penalties for unauthorized cannabis cultivation, including prison sentences ranging from one to three years and fines ranging from 20,000 baht ($560) to 300,000 baht ($8,000).
The minister also emphasized that permits will now be required for the import, export, cultivation, and commercial use of cannabis.
Acknowledging the economic potential of the cannabis industry, the government intends to provide businesses with a transition period to adapt to the new regulations, Cholnan noted.
Existing shops will be allowed to operate until their licenses expire and have the option to convert into legal cannabis clinics if they comply with the new regulations. He also reassured that the new regulations would not adversely affect tourism.
https://aseannow.com/topic/1321241-thai ... -cannabis/
Enjoy it while you still can . . .
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Gaybutton
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Re: Enjoy it while you still can . . .
This implies that lawful shops would be allowed to continue but presumably only those selling it for "medical" purposes would be fully legal?
In Pattaya, I guess the shops will be allowed to do whatever they like, just as long as the police are paid off.
It would make more sense to make all the cafe type establishments illegal and make the stuff prescription only from pharmacies. Except there's less tea money in that.
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Gaybutton
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Re: Enjoy it while you still can . . .
I've been comparing making recreational use illegal again to trying to put toothpaste back in the tube once it has been squeezed out. In my opinion trying to make it illegal again is one of the most absurd ideas I've seen yet in Thailand.
My first question is WHY? I have yet to see a sensible argument for making it illegal again. I know of no serious problems that have occurred that can even be remotely attributed to recreational marijuana use. Come to think of it, I also know of no minor problems either that involved marijuana use. So, what's the big problem? If they want to ban something that easily can be attributed to causing serious problems, then ban alcohol. Try that!
I believe if they really do make recreational use illegal again, it simply won't work. Do they truly believe that will stop marijuana users from obtaining and smoking it? Who knows, if they're lucky they might actually find a few people who are going to obey that law, but I doubt they'll find any more people obeying that law than obey the prostitution laws. And I doubt it will be any more rigidly enforced than the prostitution laws.
I just see no sense in what is perfectly legal today, tomorrow could get you arrested, fined, and jailed.
I see this as yet another example of an idea that simply has not sufficiently been thought through.
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Gaybutton
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- Location: Thailand
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Re: Enjoy it while you still can . . .
It looks like they are really going to do it - make marijuana illegal again. In another article I read that the Prime Minister wants all the marijuana shops to close by April 2025. Making criminals again of marijuana users and sellers is not going to be easy and certainly not popular among those who partake. It already is controversial.
The part on my "I Don't Get It" list is that they want to criminalize it again without first trying to strictly regulate it. My guess is unless they want to fill the prisons, even if they make it illegal I have a feeling the penalties are more likely to be fines rather than prison. Perhaps the police will pay about as much attention to is as they do about prostitution.
It reminds me of Prohibition in the USA when alcohol was banned. It didn't work. All that was accomplished was giving rise to the gangsters - but at least they had great names - Al Capone, Bugs Moran, Legs Diamond, Bugsy Siegel, Ice Pick Willie, Joe Bananas, Dutch Schultz, etc.
We'll see what happens in Thailand.
See also: https://www.gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic ... 36#p113436
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Cannabis U-turn could bring protests, lawsuits
Thousands of dispensaries and related businesses face bleak future if plant is re-criminalised
May 9, 2024
The future of thousands of cannabis dispensaries and related businesses is unclear now that the government is moving to re-criminalise the plant.
The government’s move to reclassify cannabis as a narcotic threatens to trigger street protests and class-action suits by owners of thousands of dispensaries that have sprung up across the country since decriminalisation two years ago.
A complete re-criminalisation ordered by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday will also push the cannabis trade underground, said Rattapon Sanrak, owner of the Bangkok-based dispensary Highland Cafe.
Writing Thailand’s Cannabis Future, an advocacy group, said it would hold a protest against the move in Bangkok on May 16.
Cannabis currently enjoys the status of a “controlled herb” and there is no outright ban on its recreational use, which has allowed nearly 8,000 dispensaries to open since it was removed from the narcotics list in June 2022.
Mr Srettha’s directive to re-label cannabis as a Category 5 narcotic will make it a crime to “produce, sell, import, export or possess” the plant and use it, according to drug laws.
Cannabis for medical and health purposes would still be allowed, according to the premier.
“We’re all doing everything by the book but then suddenly the book is going to change,” Mr Rattapon said. “We’re gearing up to protest and preparing to file lawsuits in the event it happens.”
The policy about-face is another blow to the country’s nascent cannabis industry after decriminalisation was pitched as a way to boost agricultural income and wellness tourism.
Liberal use of cannabis became a hot-button political issue ahead of the election last year. With efforts to establish regulations around the marijuana industry failing, concerns grew about the social impact of addiction from easy availability of the drug.
The policy reversal is part of ruling Pheu Thai Party’s hard-line anti-drug campaign. Earlier this week, Mr Srettha gave a 90-day deadline for law enforcement and local authorities to crack down on drugs in 25 provinces considered as “red zones”.
“We’re all doing everything by the book but then suddenly the book is going to change,” says Rattapon Sanrak, owner of the Bangkok-based dispensary Highland Cafe.
Rules for recreational use?
The Bhumjaithai Party, which spearheaded decriminalisation under the previous administration and is now part of the current coalition, said a bill to regulate recreational use would be more effective than outlawing the plant entirely.
But Mr Srettha defended the move on Thursday saying “whatever we decide to do, we do it for the people”.
The country’s nascent cannabis industry has battled legal uncertainties since inception as lawmakers could not agree on how to regulate it. The first attempt to pass a bill to control cannabis use last year was blocked in parliament as part of political jockeying ahead of the election.
The most recent attempt under the Srettha government to outlaw recreational use and tighten licensing rules on planting, sales, exports and imports has been stalled by the bureaucratic process. A change in ministers last week could lead to further delays.
Once the Ministry of Public Health wraps up the process of classifying cannabis as a Category 5 drug, possessing it could land a person a jail sentence of up to 15 years and a maximum fine of 1.5 million baht.
Cannabis advocates are urging health authorities to weigh the pros and cons of cannabis in comparison to alcohol and cigarettes and use science and facts to determine what should be drugs.
The constant policy flip-flop will not only risk damaging foreign investor confidence but also create “wide ripple effects” across the industry, causing legitimate cannabis businesses to shut down, workers to lose jobs and growers to lose income from the cash crop, said Mr Rattapon of Highland Cafe.
“Instead of regulating the industry properly, you’re choosing to close it up and make it worse by pushing it underground,” he said.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... s-lawsuits
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Deputy Prime Minister Anutin, who was a strong advocate of legalizing marijuana, is not pleased.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Raises Concerns Over Proposal to Reclassify Cannabis as an Illegal Narcotic Drug in Thailand
By Kittisak Phalaharn
9 May, 2024
At 10:45 AM, on May 9th, 2024, Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, publicly mentioned the case of a proposal to reclassify cannabis into a type 5 illegal narcotic drug.
Previously, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin addressed narcotic issues and advocated for the reclassification of cannabis as a type 5 narcotic illegal drug.
In response to Srettha’s statement, Anutin voiced his opinion that in order to reclassify cannabis into a narcotic drug, the Thai Ministry of Public Health needed to study further as the decriminalization of cannabis was originally announced by the National Narcotics Prevention and Suppression Commission in the previous government in 2022.
Cannabis had clear reasons for decriminalization by the previous government when Anutin was the Minister of Public Health, however, there were no legal regulations followed to control the use of cannabis. Anutin had proposed the legal regulations which the first agenda passed in Parliament but the second agenda did not pass. Anutin reportedly told the public that not passing regulations for marijuana was based on politics, not logic or health reasons.
Since the first time cannabis was decriminalized, more than 6,000 convicts on cannabis-related charges were released and some of them were traditional doctors and patients who used cannabis for medical and health purposes.
Anutin added that if cannabis were to be re-criminalized Public Health Ministry doctors would need to show peer-reviewed medical evidence that clearly explained what had changed since 2022 and why cannabis should be a narcotic drug again and not to base decisions on politics or personal moral, religious, and ethical views.
Anutin also questioned if putting people who had done no other crime back in jail for cannabis usage was wise. Millions of people, notes TPN, are now reportedly growing cannabis at home and making the plant a narcotic again would instantly make all of them criminals with the potential to face major fines and jail time.
Whether the resolution to make cannabis a narcotic again would pass or not, it would be according to the Thai laws, said Anutin, and not on one person’s opinion or politics.
Thai national media inquired of Anutin whether the reclassification of cannabis into a narcotic drug would affect the Bhumjaithai Party’s popularity or not (Anutin is the leader of this party, which pushed decriminalization of cannabis as their main platform in 2022).
Anutin publicly revealed that the party members did as they promised to decriminalize the use of cannabis. However, it was the current government that was a policymaker.
The Bhumjaithai Party was betrayed by the government and people were greatly affected, remarked Anutin.
Anutin told the public that the party would inform the government that cannabis had advantages over disadvantages based on logic and information.
Clearly, any path to making cannabis an illegal narcotic again in Thailand will be a very rocky road with passionate feelings and arguments on all sides.
https://thepattayanews.com/2024/05/09/d ... -thailand/
The part on my "I Don't Get It" list is that they want to criminalize it again without first trying to strictly regulate it. My guess is unless they want to fill the prisons, even if they make it illegal I have a feeling the penalties are more likely to be fines rather than prison. Perhaps the police will pay about as much attention to is as they do about prostitution.
It reminds me of Prohibition in the USA when alcohol was banned. It didn't work. All that was accomplished was giving rise to the gangsters - but at least they had great names - Al Capone, Bugs Moran, Legs Diamond, Bugsy Siegel, Ice Pick Willie, Joe Bananas, Dutch Schultz, etc.
We'll see what happens in Thailand.
See also: https://www.gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic ... 36#p113436
_______________________________________
Cannabis U-turn could bring protests, lawsuits
Thousands of dispensaries and related businesses face bleak future if plant is re-criminalised
May 9, 2024
The future of thousands of cannabis dispensaries and related businesses is unclear now that the government is moving to re-criminalise the plant.
The government’s move to reclassify cannabis as a narcotic threatens to trigger street protests and class-action suits by owners of thousands of dispensaries that have sprung up across the country since decriminalisation two years ago.
A complete re-criminalisation ordered by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday will also push the cannabis trade underground, said Rattapon Sanrak, owner of the Bangkok-based dispensary Highland Cafe.
Writing Thailand’s Cannabis Future, an advocacy group, said it would hold a protest against the move in Bangkok on May 16.
Cannabis currently enjoys the status of a “controlled herb” and there is no outright ban on its recreational use, which has allowed nearly 8,000 dispensaries to open since it was removed from the narcotics list in June 2022.
Mr Srettha’s directive to re-label cannabis as a Category 5 narcotic will make it a crime to “produce, sell, import, export or possess” the plant and use it, according to drug laws.
Cannabis for medical and health purposes would still be allowed, according to the premier.
“We’re all doing everything by the book but then suddenly the book is going to change,” Mr Rattapon said. “We’re gearing up to protest and preparing to file lawsuits in the event it happens.”
The policy about-face is another blow to the country’s nascent cannabis industry after decriminalisation was pitched as a way to boost agricultural income and wellness tourism.
Liberal use of cannabis became a hot-button political issue ahead of the election last year. With efforts to establish regulations around the marijuana industry failing, concerns grew about the social impact of addiction from easy availability of the drug.
The policy reversal is part of ruling Pheu Thai Party’s hard-line anti-drug campaign. Earlier this week, Mr Srettha gave a 90-day deadline for law enforcement and local authorities to crack down on drugs in 25 provinces considered as “red zones”.
“We’re all doing everything by the book but then suddenly the book is going to change,” says Rattapon Sanrak, owner of the Bangkok-based dispensary Highland Cafe.
Rules for recreational use?
The Bhumjaithai Party, which spearheaded decriminalisation under the previous administration and is now part of the current coalition, said a bill to regulate recreational use would be more effective than outlawing the plant entirely.
But Mr Srettha defended the move on Thursday saying “whatever we decide to do, we do it for the people”.
The country’s nascent cannabis industry has battled legal uncertainties since inception as lawmakers could not agree on how to regulate it. The first attempt to pass a bill to control cannabis use last year was blocked in parliament as part of political jockeying ahead of the election.
The most recent attempt under the Srettha government to outlaw recreational use and tighten licensing rules on planting, sales, exports and imports has been stalled by the bureaucratic process. A change in ministers last week could lead to further delays.
Once the Ministry of Public Health wraps up the process of classifying cannabis as a Category 5 drug, possessing it could land a person a jail sentence of up to 15 years and a maximum fine of 1.5 million baht.
Cannabis advocates are urging health authorities to weigh the pros and cons of cannabis in comparison to alcohol and cigarettes and use science and facts to determine what should be drugs.
The constant policy flip-flop will not only risk damaging foreign investor confidence but also create “wide ripple effects” across the industry, causing legitimate cannabis businesses to shut down, workers to lose jobs and growers to lose income from the cash crop, said Mr Rattapon of Highland Cafe.
“Instead of regulating the industry properly, you’re choosing to close it up and make it worse by pushing it underground,” he said.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... s-lawsuits
__________________________________________________________________________________
Deputy Prime Minister Anutin, who was a strong advocate of legalizing marijuana, is not pleased.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Raises Concerns Over Proposal to Reclassify Cannabis as an Illegal Narcotic Drug in Thailand
By Kittisak Phalaharn
9 May, 2024
At 10:45 AM, on May 9th, 2024, Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, publicly mentioned the case of a proposal to reclassify cannabis into a type 5 illegal narcotic drug.
Previously, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin addressed narcotic issues and advocated for the reclassification of cannabis as a type 5 narcotic illegal drug.
In response to Srettha’s statement, Anutin voiced his opinion that in order to reclassify cannabis into a narcotic drug, the Thai Ministry of Public Health needed to study further as the decriminalization of cannabis was originally announced by the National Narcotics Prevention and Suppression Commission in the previous government in 2022.
Cannabis had clear reasons for decriminalization by the previous government when Anutin was the Minister of Public Health, however, there were no legal regulations followed to control the use of cannabis. Anutin had proposed the legal regulations which the first agenda passed in Parliament but the second agenda did not pass. Anutin reportedly told the public that not passing regulations for marijuana was based on politics, not logic or health reasons.
Since the first time cannabis was decriminalized, more than 6,000 convicts on cannabis-related charges were released and some of them were traditional doctors and patients who used cannabis for medical and health purposes.
Anutin added that if cannabis were to be re-criminalized Public Health Ministry doctors would need to show peer-reviewed medical evidence that clearly explained what had changed since 2022 and why cannabis should be a narcotic drug again and not to base decisions on politics or personal moral, religious, and ethical views.
Anutin also questioned if putting people who had done no other crime back in jail for cannabis usage was wise. Millions of people, notes TPN, are now reportedly growing cannabis at home and making the plant a narcotic again would instantly make all of them criminals with the potential to face major fines and jail time.
Whether the resolution to make cannabis a narcotic again would pass or not, it would be according to the Thai laws, said Anutin, and not on one person’s opinion or politics.
Thai national media inquired of Anutin whether the reclassification of cannabis into a narcotic drug would affect the Bhumjaithai Party’s popularity or not (Anutin is the leader of this party, which pushed decriminalization of cannabis as their main platform in 2022).
Anutin publicly revealed that the party members did as they promised to decriminalize the use of cannabis. However, it was the current government that was a policymaker.
The Bhumjaithai Party was betrayed by the government and people were greatly affected, remarked Anutin.
Anutin told the public that the party would inform the government that cannabis had advantages over disadvantages based on logic and information.
Clearly, any path to making cannabis an illegal narcotic again in Thailand will be a very rocky road with passionate feelings and arguments on all sides.
https://thepattayanews.com/2024/05/09/d ... -thailand/