Thailand will soon allow residents to grow cannabis for medicinal use. Smoking pot recreationally still carries harsh penalties.<\/p>\n
Thailand has said it plans to give away a million cannabis plants to households across the nation, in an effort to generate enthusiasm for a law taking effect next month that will allow residents to grow weed for their personal medicinal use or as a small-scale commercial enterprise.<\/p>\n
The project, announced by the country\u2019s health minister this week, is the latest move in Thailand\u2019s effort to position itself as a leader in Asia\u2019s nascent cannabis industry, coming as\u00a0the United States\u00a0and\u00a0other major economies\u00a0are liberalizing laws on marijuana amid growing evidence of its medical benefits.<\/p>\n
Industry analysts say the moves could help lure more international visitors to Thailand and strengthen medical tourism, in a country where a\u00a0sprawling tourism sector\u00a0accounted for as much as a fifth of the pre-Covid economy.<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t expect California-style cannabis retailers on your next trip to\u00a0Bangkok\u00a0or any of Thailand\u2019s postcard-perfect tropical islands. Under current Thai law, the recreational use of highly potent marijuana is still forbidden, and tourists convicted of possessing the drug can face up to 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n
Thailand\u2019s campaign started with a 2019 law that\u00a0allowed the use of marijuana for medical purposes<\/a>, a first for Southeast Asia. The rules now allow for the sale of cannabis with a low percentage of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, weed\u2019s main psychoactive compound.<\/p>\n The mass plant distribution project is scheduled to take place starting next month and will allow residents to grow medical-grade (that is, low-THC) marijuana without government permission. Large-scale businesses will need a permit.<\/p>\n The plant giveaway was intended to coincide with the new law on cannabis growing, which takes effect after June 9, and a recent government decision to remove cannabis from the list of drugs considered illegal under its Narcotics Law, starting the same week of June. News of the project was reported earlier this week\u00a0by CNN and other news outlets.<\/p>\n Thailand\u2019s vice health minister, Sophon Mekthon, said this month that the government planned to promote the idea of a wellness industry that includes recreational cannabis use, the Bangkok Post newspaper\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n But it is still unclear whether the part of the cannabis plant that people smoke to get high \u2014 its dried flowers \u2014 will be taken off the government\u2019s list of forbidden drugs when the Narcotics Law is updated next month, Carl K. Linn, the author of a\u00a0newsletter\u00a0about cannabis in Thailand, wrote on Thursday.<\/p>\n If only Cannabidiol, or\u00a0CBD<\/a>, and hemp are taken off the prohibition list, he wrote, the government\u2019s plans for promoting recreational pot will be \u201clittle more than a dream of what might be \u2014 someday \u2014 down the proverbial road.\u201d<\/p>\n Either way, Thailand\u2019s slow but steady push to decriminalize marijuana is notable because the country sits in a region where governments have long imposed harsh penalties on people who use the drug. In nearby Singapore, for instance, possessing it carries a jail term of up to a decade, and trafficking it is punishable by death.<\/p>\n Thailand\u2019s decriminalization push has a political dimension. The country is run by a military government that\u00a0seized power in a 2014 coup<\/a>, and when the military-appointed National Legislative Assembly voted unanimously in 2018 to allow marijuana use for medical purposes, some thought that might help military-backed parties win support in parliamentary elections the following year.<\/p>\n One such party, Bhumjaithai, is led by Anutin Charnvirakul, who\u00a0said on the campaign trail\u00a0in 2019 that small-scale cannabis farming could bring each household an extra $13,000 a year. He was later appointed health minister.<\/p>\n Writing about the plant-distribution measure on Facebook this week, Mr. Charnvirakul presented the country\u2019s new marijuana policies as a business opportunity, projecting the nation could generate more than $300 million a year in revenue from marijuana and hemp.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a free market,\u201d he wrote. \u201cJust follow the law.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"