SeaBee

Eventually, indeed, but for now big California growers benefit from scale economy, experience and better climate. Thai production is not stabilized yet, far from it, and farms are failing some harvests (which is expensive). Even for California experienced growers it takes several harvests to get the production right in any new operation, plus tropical climate creates some serious challenges many have yet to overcome.

She's not talking about people/companies like you organizing and investing in local production, quite the opposite. She's going after illegal imports (incidentally, mostly low quality PGR sold here as top shelf with huge profit for illegal importer), and rightly so. From what I see in the shops it must be close to 80% of the current supply.

Could you post a - names blurred - photo of any such valid import license?

She's operating on the BKK/national market and I suspect she's talking more about major foreign companies like Cookies who did enter the Thai market with big foreign paws, indeed probably importing their own weed illegally from the US or somewhere (local production is just not here yet), than the local shop in Phuket owned by Falang Joe and Thai wife. https://coconuts.co/bangkok/lifestyle/us-weed-giant-cookies-gets-opening-date-for-bangkok-store/

If there was indeed a case in 2015 already, the actual total might be staggering.

Nice change, all those non-violent fights and shootings were getting quite boring.

Tiger Temple is all about pacing your effort, you have to take it slower than you feel like, in order to save your energy for the whole trip. People fail the climb because they go for it like they'd go on a couple stories' house stairs, but of course they run out of energy after a couple hundred steps. Then it does become difficult... Reasonable pace there is about 25 min for the climb which is just a bit slower than 1 step/second, so it's relatively easy to count. With the right pace you don't have to stop in the middle (because you don't run out of energy).