Thailand health minister says weed smoking tourists are not welcome

Tourists looking to get high in Thailand are not welcome, according to the country's health minister. Photo / Unsplash

If you're looking to get high on holiday, Thailand is not the place to visit according to the country's health minister

Two months after the country passed laws to decriminalise marijuana, health minister Anutin Charnvirakul made it clear that he did not want the country to become a destination for weed smokers.

"We don't welcome those kinds of tourists," Charnvirakul told reporters last Wednesday when asked about recreational marijuana use among foreign visitors.

Despite these comments, Thailand has been a trailblazer when it comes to cannabis.

In 2018, it became the first country in Southeast Asia to legalise the drug for medical use. Then, in June the plant was decriminalised entirely.

This has since led to widespread recreational use from locals and visitors.

However, the country is far from being as relaxed in law and attitude as cities like Amsterdam.

Those caught smoking in public in Thailand still risk a three-month jail sentence or a fine of up to 25,000 baht (NZ$1115).

Charnvirakul seems to have timed his comments as international tourism picks up in Thailand.

As Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, they expect 8 to 10 million international arrivals in 2022.

It is a fraction of the foreign arrivals they welcomed in 2019 (almost 40 million) but is a huge improvement on the 428,000 they had in 2021.

The cannabis industry in Thailand

To date, Thailand has focused on cannabis' health and medical benefits, and invested 28 million baht into the industry.

Its policy has incited interest from nearby neighbours like Malaysia, which is studying the use of cannabis for medical reasons.

As for recreational use, Charnvirakul said that would be considered "in the near future".

Cannabis Tourism

Elsewhere around the world, cities are all too happy for tourists to pay a visit and light up while they're there.

This has resulted in "cannabis tourism", whereby people visit certain destinations because of their lenient laws around the drug.

The most iconic destination to experience this kind of tourism is Amsterdam. Here, you can walk into a "coffee shop" and purchase marijuana from an extensive menu and enjoy it in the store.

Oregon has also become a popular spot after making recreational marijuana legally available at licensed dispensaries.