Thailand’s federal government legalized the medicinal use of marijuana on Thursday, becoming the first country in Asia to do so, the news website Coconuts Bangkok reported.
“Just yesterday, the first reading of a bill to liberalize cannabis consumption sailed through [Thailand’s] parliament in a 370:7 vote with 23 abstentions,” Coconuts Bangkok reported on June 9.
The Thai government has legalized marijuana for medical purposes only, “warning those eager to light up for fun that smoking in public could still [be] considered to be a nuisance subject to a potential 3-month sentence and 25,000 Thai baht ($780) fine,” Time noted on Thursday.
Extracted content, i.e. cannabinoids extracted from cannabis, remains illegal in Thailand if it contains more than 0.2 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the plant’s psychoactive, high-inducing chemical. This amount of THC (0.2 percent) is roughly the same quantity found in hemp, which is a variety of cannabis grown for its fibers. Hemp fibers are used for a variety of industrial purposes, including in the textile sector.
“Making secondary products such as hash or oils above 0.2% THC potency requires approval. People can grow weed plants at home, though the authorities encourage them to register via an app called Plook Ganja (‘Grow Weed’),” Coconuts Bangkok reported.
Thailand’s Public Health Minister Anutin Chanvirakul shows off a bottle of extracted cannabis oil during a press conference at his ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019. Thailand on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022, became the first country in Asia to approve the de facto decriminalization of marijuana, as its anti-narcotics agency agreed to have the Health Ministry drop cannabis from its list of controlled drugs. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)
“Weed dispensaries cannot sell cannabis to people under 20 or pregnant women. Those who violate the law face up to a THB300,000 [$8661.76 USD] fine and three years in prison,” according to the news outlet.
Thailand, long known as a medical tourism destination, reportedly hopes to develop a medical marijuana tourism industry around the newly legal commodity.
“We should know how to use cannabis,” Thailand Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said recently. “If we have the right awareness, cannabis is like gold, something valuable, and should be promoted.”
“We will have additional [Thai] Ministry of Health Notifications, by the Department of Health. If it causes nuisances, we can use that law (to stop people from smoking),” he noted.
He said the Thai government prefers to “build an awareness” around the subject of marijuana rather than patrolling people’s use of the drug.
“Everything should be on the middle path,” Anutin said during a press conference this week.
Perhaps most remarkable about Thailand’s choice to legalize marijuana is the fact that thousands of Thai prisoners currently incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses will be freed in the coming days. Thailand’s federal government said it would grant the criminals amnesty following marijuana’s legalization.
“More than 4,200 inmates serving sentences for cannabis offences were initially eligible for release from prisons nationwide on Thursday [June 9], when the delisting of cannabis as a narcotic drug took effect,” the Bangkok Post reported.
“However, those also convicted and sentenced for other offences were not being freed,” the newspaper noted.
“A total of 3,071 prisoners serving jail terms in single cannabis offences woud be released from prisons nationwide on Thursday,” Thai Corrections Department deputy director-general Thawatchai Chaiwat said.