BANGKOK, Thailand — Perhaps the path to legal pot — in a country with a global reputation for the quality and potency of its local weed — was destined never to be a smooth toke.
Two years after Thailand’s military-led government decriminalized cannabis, the country’s elected civilian prime minister abruptly announced last week he wants to end legalized recreational use by the end of the year, shuttering thousands of licensed weed shops and imposing new punishments on anyone involved with marijuana unless for medical use.
Thailand was the first Asian nation to legalize cannabis for medicinal use in 2022, but pot’s critics say there has been virtually no real regulation of the market, amid concerns the move has spurred drug abuse and crime rates.
The about-face could have political consequences: The sudden reversal threatens the popularity and survival of an already squabbling coalition government elected in May 2023 under Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and his influential Pheu Thai (For Thais) Party.
“We’re all doing everything by the book but then suddenly the book is going to change,” Rattapon Sanrak, owner of Bangkok-based dispensary Highland Cafe, told Bloomberg News after the prime minister’s announcement. “We’re gearing up to protest and preparing to file lawsuits in the event it happens.”
While the legalization drive excited marijuana advocates and connoisseurs the world over, the shift isn’t a total surprise. Key members of the Srettha governing coalition are staunchly anti-marijuana, while some powerful parties in the coalition favor regulated recreational use and production, similar to alcohol or tobacco, to boost Thailand’s struggling economy.
Cannabis currently is characterized as a “controlled herb,” with no outright ban on its recreational use.
The prime minister is proposing to re-classify cannabis as a Category 5 narcotic, making it a crime to “produce, sell, import, export, or possess” the plant and use it.
Pro-cannabis investors, farmers, sellers and consumers expressed outrage and said if weed becomes illegal again, it would destroy Thailand’s rapidly expanding, multi-million dollar cannabis industry, one which attracts international tourists seeking to sample the most expensive buds.
Pro-cannabis supporters held small rallies on Thursday at the Health Ministry, and tourist-packed Phuket island’s Provincial Health Office, demanding Mr. Srettha‘s health minister prove recreational cannabis is a greater public health risk than alcohol and tobacco, both of which are legal here.
The Cannabis Future Network said it will rally supporters to protest in front of the Health Ministry until that proof appears.
“Just search on the internet and you will find there has been no research which shows cannabis has a serious negative impact on mental health,” said Cannabis Future Network’s Secretary-General Prasitchai Nunual. “On the other hand, there are countless studies which demonstrate the health benefits of cannabis, which are sufficient to conclude that cannabis plants have medicinal properties.”
“The government has suddenly said that cannabis will be placed back in the narcotic list, making it illegal again and making millions of people criminals overnight,” Assadet Nongsang, a pro-cannabis activist told The Phuket Express news.
Long legacy
For centuries, cannabis sativa has been considered a traditional medicine in Thailand. After decriminalization, its properties were taught in several universities’ government-backed schools of traditional medicine.
Cannabis is currently allowed for anyone over 18 years old and not pregnant, but smoking in public can still result in a fine.
Despite heading a conservative, military junta-installed government, former Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha removed cannabis from the Narcotics Code in 2021, ending a ban imposed by a law passed in 1935. The plant at first became legal for medical use only, but in 2022 those restraints were dropped as well, effectively allowing recreational use.
Marijuana’s hazy legal status means there are no fines or punishment for possession and use, while sales, production and other aspects are licensed.
Mr. Prayuth’s pro-legalization health minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, told Thais they could earn fortunes by growing marijuana at home or on farms instead of other crops, and he handed out live plants to eager recipients. Mr. Anutin’s push to legalize cannabis proved a popular issue for the campaign for his Bhumjai Thai (Proud to be Thai) party in the 2019 election.
Mr. Anutin, now a powerful interior minister and a deputy prime minister in the coalition government, said an official study of cannabis was needed and panel discussions aired before changing marijuana’s legal status.
But many supporters of Mr. Srettha‘s PTP fear cannabis is distorting the minds of Thai teenagers who go online to buy from farms which make deliveries.
Pro-cannabis campaigners meanwhile want regulations ensuring recreational weed is not contaminated with insecticide or mold.
Various coalition factions offered two draft bills to parliament, but the PTP wants a fresh draft to be agreed on by December.
“Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin may mean well in attempting to re-list cannabis as a narcotic, but his aim only attests to his mediocre knowledge about the plant and the dilemma facing the country,” the Bangkok Post said in an editorial.
Mr. Srettha is widely considered a pliant proxy for the convicted, jailed, and currently paroled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist whose administration unleashed a “war on drugs” in 2003 which killed more than 2,500 people in uninvestigated circumstances, and was one of the reasons cited by the coup leaders for toppling him in 2014.
Mr. Thaksin is helping Mr. Srettha and their PTP increase their power, but the party’s anti-cannabis stance is dividing the governing coalition that took power last year after a decade of military-dominated government.
Critics say the prime minister’s demand that only medical cannabis be permitted could spawn a corrupt new black market, and charge that the country’s powerful alcohol industry lobby opposed legal marijuana as a potential competitor.
The lack of regulations meanwhile has created an uneven market for Thais trying to legally grow and sell marijuana, resulting in a current oversupply and low prices.
Marijuana with high tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, which produces the drug’s effect, sells for $2 to $25 per gram, often for the same strain and strength.
U.S. and other foreign investors have also been involved in opening legal shops with Thai partners, such as San Francisco-based Cookies’ upmarket showroom, located on the lane behind the American Embassy in Bangkok.