Three years after opening the door to a cannabis industry maelstrom, Thailand reverses course

Thailand, which decriminalised marijuana in 2022 - a first for the region - has reimposed restrictions on the drug. Photo / Supplied

Thailand, which decriminalised marijuana in 2022 - a first for the region - has reimposed restrictions on the drug.

Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin signed an order last week to bar sales of cannabis without a medical prescription.

“Cannabis will be classified as a narcotic in the future,” Thepsuthin said of the measure, which has since come into effect, in a statement cited in local outlets.

The Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine, charged with enforcing the measure, offered guidance last Friday that shops selling marijuana would have to become medical dispensaries and face other restrictions, the Associated Press reported.

The Thai Government had signalled in February that marijuana would be illegal by the end of the year.

Efforts to implement the change were accelerated after a pro-cannabis party left Thailand’s governing parliamentary coalition on June 18, giving the ruling Pheu Thai Party a freer hand - albeit with a much reduced majority - to pursue the full recriminalisation of weed.

Thailand legalised medical cannabis in December 2018 and recreational cannabis in September 2022 under a previous government, becoming the first country to do so in Southeast Asia, a region known for its harsh drug penalties.

Following legalisation, Thai entrepreneurs established some 18,000 cannabis shops across the country.

Soon after decriminalising marijuana, the country was awash in newly legalised and grey area businesses, from glitzy dispensaries to farm tours.

Yet the brief but burgeoning era of decriminalisation was marred by divided public opinion and criticism that cannabis shops faced few regulations and little oversight in practice.

In defending the new policy direction, the Thai Government has cited high rates of dependence and concerns over the risk of children using the drug. (The legal age to buy marijuana was 20.)

“Many shops opened to sell cannabis both for recreational and medical purposes, allowing easy access for children and general people, which contradicts the Government’s purpose to crack down on drugs,” Thai government spokesman Jirayu Houngsab said in a statement, the AP reported.

While several countries have legalised or decriminalised marijuana in recent years, Thailand appears to be the only one to have reversed course so drastically.

Thailand’s Health Ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the new policies.

Writing Thailand’s Cannabis Future Network, a pro-cannabis advocacy group, called for a public protest outside the Ministry of Public Health on July 7 in response to the ban, according to local media reports.