Thailand is set to once again make the recreational use of cannabis illegal, just two years after decriminalising the drug and giving away marijuana plants to encourage its cultivation.
The policy U-turn has provoked protests from activists, farmers and business owners — some of whom claimed to have invested heavily in cannabis-related operations since decriminalisation in June 2022.
A health ministry committee on illegal drugs voted last week to reclassify cannabis and hemp as narcotics, with new rules expected to be enforced from January next year. Cannabis leaves or buds containing more than 0.2 per cent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient, will be classified as narcotics.
Dr Surachoke Tangwiwat, deputy permanent secretary at the ministry, said that a majority of the committee agreed that cannabis could be used for medical treatments but not recreationally.
Protesters against the reversal of the law staged a demonstration on Monday outside Government House, the prime minister’s office.
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Prasitchai Nunual, secretary-general of the Writing Thai Cannabis’ Future group, called for a study comparing the impact of cannabis on health and society with that of alcohol and tobacco. “A committee should study the issue. The facts should be established and laid out for the public to see,” he added.
Also at the protest was Pock Pechthong, a cannabis farmer, who said: “Everybody’s spent a lot of money already. I’m a grower, so our main concern is not being able to grow or use it.”
The moves to recriminalise the drug are a stark shift from the government’s position in 2022, when Anutin Charnvirakul, then public health minister, proclaimed: “We should know how to use cannabis. If we have the right awareness cannabis is like gold, something valuable, and should be promoted.”
Anutin is now deputy prime minister as part of a coalition that took power last September, led by the conservative Pheu Thai Party, which ran on a platform of clamping down on recreational marijuana.
Thailand was the first Asian country to legalise cannabis and became a true outlier in southeast Asia, where draconian drug laws are common. Singapore hanged two people in separate cases last year for smuggling cannabis.
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After legalisation, Thailand released more than 4,000 people imprisoned on cannabis-related charges and announced plans to hand out a million plants to boost private cultivation and stimulate the economy.
Legalised marijuana has since helped drive tourism, given a lift to the farming sector and created a large retail industry, including about 6,000 weed dispensaries. The reforms in 2022 were intended to promote medicinal marijuana and smoking in public remained illegal. However, enforcement against recreational use has been minimal and there has been public pushback over the alleged abuse of the drug and links to crime.
Nevertheless, punishments for illegal use under the laws are expected to be far less harsh than under the pre-2022 regime: a maximum prison sentence of one year compared to 15 years.
The domestic cannabis market had been projected to grow to a value of 336 billion baht (£7.2 billion) by 2030.
