r/CannabisThailand Newsletter - Issue #63

Medicinal?

Sep 17, 2023

Sawadee Everyone,

The big news this week seems to be that PM Srettha said that he only supports cannabis for medicinal use.

Of course, people are freaking out that the end is coming but keep in mind that no Thai government official has promoted cannabis for recreational use.

Even Bhumjaithai and Anutin never promoted recreational use and kept repeating over and over again that cannabis was intended for medicinal use only.

So, Srettha isn’t saying anything we haven’t heard before.

The new Minister of Public Health has formed a working group to review cannabis and make recommendations on a new cannabis law. He has already said that they will begin by reviewing the previous cannabis bill submitted by Bhumjaithai last year to see if they should resubmit it, make some minor edits, or rewrite the whole thing.

So don’t despair just yet.

A good rule of thumb for being a spectator of Thai politics is to never listen to what people say but watch what they do and what their economic and political incentives are.

I saw a recent estimate that there are over 14,000 cannabis related businesses in Thailand now. That means at least 14,000 Thais are employed in the cannabis industry with the number probably being twice or triple that amount.

That’s not even counting the landlords and other businesses making money off the cannabis boom.

There’s just way too much money at stake and too many very powerful people who have dipped their toes in the cannabis waters.

Likewise, what is the political will of the Pheu Thai Party to stamp out cannabis use? Do they really want international media broadcasting video of cops kicking in dispensary doors? Do they want to be a laughing stock for legalizing weed and then killing it just when the industry was beginning to take off?

Or, is there an easier path?

Can they pretend to crack down while actually doing very little?

The real mission here is to give the impression to conservative Thais that they’re keeping Thai kids safe from weed.

Do they need to kill an entire industry to do that?

Cheers,

u/CannabisThailandMod

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