Beeonlotus

I'm leaving. Nothing of value's come from this. Mostly snarky questions or uninformed opinions.

That's missing the point. A judge can also sentence someone to no prison time and a fine, a day in prison, or completion of a drug rehabilitation program. Therefore, prison time is not mandatory for possession crimes of even hard drugs.

Quoting from Siam Legal: Category 1 – Heroin;Amphetamine; Methamphetamine; MDMA (Ecstasy); LSD Category 2 – Cocaine; Codeine; Methadone; Morphine Category 5 – Cannabis; psychoactive mushrooms; Kratom Plant For Category 1 Substances: Up to 10 years imprisonment or a fine of 20,000 – 200,000 Baht for possession. Note again that if the quantity of the substance or substances found exceeds prescribed levels in the act, then possession for the purpose of disposal will be inferred. It should also be noted that 'disposal' is defined in the act as meaning to 'sell, distribute, give away indiscriminately, exchange or give Up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine of 10,000 – 60,000 Baht for consumption For Category 2 Substances: Up to 5 years or a fine not exceeding 100,000 Baht or both for possession. If the quantity is 100 grams of a pure substance or more, this will be regarded as possession for the purpose of disposal Six months to three years or a fine of 10,000 – 60,000 Baht or both for consumption "Up to 5 years" in this case means that they can not sentence a person to any prison time. Judges sometimes allow prisoners to go to a drug treatment facility instead of going to prison or pay a hefty fine.

I read the law in Thai when it was first released. The THC limit is on extracts, not on flowers.

They did. You can read more here and here (for this last one, as far as I understand, the Narcotics Act replaced some of the sentencing for the Psychotropics Act). A lot of the law websites haven't updated the information on their websites, which is one of the reasons why there's so much confusion about this.

That's true, but they also revised and lightened the laws re: drug offenses in 2021 prior to Marijuana's legalization. Part of that was removing all mandatory prison sentences for possession, including hard drugs like heroine or meth.

To clarify, I wasn't busted for coke possession. It's a hypothetical example. What I want to know is whether or not the Immigration / Labor Department's views towards drug possession have lightened when considering criminal records / in-country convictions.

In 2021, Thailand lightened many of the drug laws, including removing all mandated prison sentences for possession. I'm curious: has this policy change had any effect on other areas of government? For example, if I was convicted of possession of cocaine five years ago, would this be viewed more leniently when applying for work permit/visa? Also, have there been any changes in cases of expats facing lighter repercussions for possession charges? I've heard some stories of people being banned for 20 years for being caught with a gram of marijuana. Thanks in advance.