Thailand set to make non-medical weed illegal again after political turmoil
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A new health ministry notification requiring medical prescriptions for cannabis was signed earlier this week and should become effective imminently.
PHOTO: AFP
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BANGKOK – The Thai government is moving to recriminalise cannabis – except for medical use – after a pro-weed party quit the coalition, with political turmoil becoming the latest threat to the massive and largely unregulated industry.
A new Health Ministry notification requiring medical prescriptions for cannabis was signed earlier this week and should become effective imminently, Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin said on June 24.
A failure to formulate cannabis regulations following its 2022 decriminalisation has led to the mushrooming of more than 10,000 dispensaries and widespread recreational use, he said.
“It’s a festering problem and we have received so many complaints,” Mr Somsak told reporters before a Cabinet meeting. “Today, it is classified as a strictly regulated herb for medical uses, but in the future it will be a narcotic.”
Recriminalisation will be a significant move for Thailand, which was the first country in Asia to decriminalise cannabis
With no cannabis law in place, dispensaries have opened nationwide, flourishing in popular tourist areas and even in Bangkok’s business districts.
There has also been a surge in cannabis smuggling across borders.
The threat to put cannabis back on the list of illegal narcotics is nothing new. The issue had long been a flashpoint between the ruling Pheu Thai Party of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and its then ally Bhumjaithai Party, which spearheaded the decriminalisation policy.
The parties had tussled over cannabis since forming a government together in 2023, with Pheu Thai on several occasions attempting to bring the plant under its hardline anti-drug policy, only to withdraw those plans after Bhumjaithai pushed back.
But Bhumjaithai is now no longer able to defend its flagship policy after it exited the ruling coalition a furore over Ms Paetongtarn’s handling of a border dispute with Cambodia
The new ministry notification, which was open to public feedback from May 22 to June 15, will limit cannabis use to medical purposes while the government prepares a wider recriminalisation policy, according to Mr Somsak.
The Health Ministry will also draft regulations requiring a doctor on site at every dispensary as part of licensing criteria, he said.
Meanwhile, a full-fledged cannabis Bill, which was previously a preferred alternative to complete recriminalisation, will likely be scrapped.
The draft Bill – to regulate the wider use, sales, exports and production of the plant – was unveiled in September 2024 but has not been approved by the Cabinet or reached Parliament for deliberation.
Bhumjaithai earlier this week accused Pheu Thai of stalling the Bill and urged Mr Somsak’s ministry to expedite it through the Cabinet and Parliament.
“That’s just a daydream,” Mr Somsak said. BLOOMBERG
