Public urged to monitor legalisation of cannabis

[webfact]

Public urged to monitor legalisation of cannabis

By PRATCH RUJIVANAROM 
THE NATION

 

In this file photo taken on August 1, 2018 cannabis flowers that were meant to be sold as herbal tea are pictured at a police station in Brest, western France. // AFP PHOTO

 

Activists warn drugs will become too expensive if big pharma not stopped now.

 

THE PUBLIC is being urged to keep a close eye on every detail in the legalisation of medical marijuana, so that big pharmaceutical firms can be stopped from monopolising the market and putting patients at a disadvantage.

 

In the past few months, there have been many positive signs that the use of cannabis for medical purposes will be legalised in Thailand soon. The government and the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) had announced that they were going to legalise medical cannabis as a New Year’s gift for Thais, and the NLA has already approved the amendment of the Narcotic Bill, which officially allows patients to use cannabis medically.

 

However, many academics and campaigners for consumer protection and health have warned that this legislation may not truly benefit patients. 

 

Panthep Puapongpan, a dean at Rangsit University, said the activists’ worry was not baseless, because not only was the issue of cannabinoid medicine patent applications still unresolved, also many new rules overseeing the use of medical marijuana were found to be obstructive for small-scale industry and household usage.

 

He said that even though Thailand has a long history of using cannabis medically and there is a lot of folk wisdom on growing and using cannabis, the government has issued many regulations that discourage small-scale traditional medicine practitioners from growing and using this plant for medical purposes. 

 

He pointed out that the biggest problem is the rule that only allows production of cannabinoid medicines on an industrial scale with tight quality control, which will discourage small-scale production and contribute to monopolisation by big pharma. 

 

Another problematic rule, he said, is the requirement that legal cannabis farming can only be done within enclosed facilities. He said greenhouse farming is not necessary because the climate is perfect for growing cannabis outdoors. 

 

Judging from these new restrictions, he said, it was clear that the government was ignoring public interest and had created these “unfair” rules to help big local and foreign pharmaceutical firms to monopolise the market. 

 

“I see an ongoing wrangle between international pharmaceutical corporations and their local counterparts over who will get the biggest share of profits from legalisation of medical cannabis. On the one side, there is an effort to keep the unlawful cannabinoid drug patent applications to ensure the profits of international firms, while on the other many unnecessary rules have been created to keep small businesses and traditional medicine away,” Panthep said. 

 

“Therefore, I urge people to keep an eye on every movement made in the legalisation process in order to protect the interests of the public and traditional Thai medicine practitioners.” 

 

Meanwhile, former Bangkok senator Rosana Tositrakul noted that based on an earlier discussion with the authorities about problems related to cannabis legalisation, it was learned someone high up had ordered the drawing up of these regulations and had said that further liberalisation of medical cannabis will not be considered. Rosana said unless the public is united against this planned takeover of the cannabis medicine market, Thai patients will end up having to rely on expensive medication in the future. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30361411

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-01-01

[YetAnother]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Public urged to monitor legalisation of cannabis

what idiocy, that is why we have a government

[PatOngo]

Thailand has had a thriving black market for dope since the early 60's, I don't see anything changing!

[Cadbury]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

the government has issued many regulations that discourage small-scale traditional medicine practitioners from growing and using this plant for medical purposes.........the biggest problem is the rule that only allows production of cannabinoid medicines on an industrial scale with tight quality control, which will discourage small-scale production and contribute to monopolisation by big pharma. 

Nothing surprising or new here. It seems the envelope exchange within the elite, government and pharma circles has already started so as to ensure the profits made from medicinal cannabis is only shared among the already filthy rich 1%. That helps secure the status quo of the wealth inequality between the 1% and the 99%. 

[ChipButty]

They leave no stone unturned in raping the general public, how to keep masses down, let the people who need it benefit from it, if it works for them

[Justgrazing]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

cannabis flowers that were meant to be sold as herbal tea are pictured at a police station in Brest, 

waiting patiently for the mandatory dabs and mugshot routine .. They might wanna do a illegal alien check as well as that looks more floret of Broccoli than bud' of 'erb .. 

[Khun Paul]

The GOVERNMENT has legalised use for medical reasons.

Thje Government wants the PUBL:IC to monitor companies and use. 

 

QUESTION: Why do we have a Government, lets pay the public what we waste on useless, inefficient, lazy and corrupt officials,  we might imp[rove the country without so-called Govt input 

[bluesofa]

57 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

4 hours ago, webfact said:

cannabis flowers that were meant to be sold as herbal tea are pictured at a police station in Brest, 

waiting patiently for the mandatory dabs and mugshot routine .. They might wanna do a illegal alien check as well as that looks more floret of Broccoli than bud' of 'erb .. 

Broccoli? Now if you said brussels, I'd have thought it was Nigel Farage as the illegal alien - he'd be keen on putting the lid on Brussels...

[NCC1701A]

Far out man. There was something I was suppose to do today. But I can't remember what it was. Monitor or something.

 

[PatOngo]

4 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

Far out man. There was something I was suppose to do today. But I can't remember what it was. Monitor or something.

 

Have you been eating broccoli???

[connda]

Translated: Foreigner Big Pharma will get the biggest piece of the patent pie as opposed to Thai Big Pharma.  Now if Thai Big Pharma got the biggest piece of the pie and can harvest wealth from Thai citizens, well, that will be Ok.

Just legalizing whole plant products for medical use?  Can't let that happen.  Only farmers and distributors make money.  Must make prohibitively expensive 'medicine' instead then monopolize the market by selling it to the government health care system for distribution. 

[seahorse]

Seems like there will be no place for budding entrepreneurs, then. 

[DrTuner]

Monitor how? Take a toke of every joint for QA? Dude I'm all in.

[chainarong]

Number one is that unless you know what you're doing household medical experts are not the answer, the body produces CDB so all you're doing is topping up an already feature, this in some cases will make a person ill if not administered properly , medical marijuana isn't the end cure to cure all it only helps some people not all people, don't get carried away, it doesn't have the high HTC effect so all the pot heads relax it isn't for you. Articles in this paper and in others about medical marijuana are at most not thought out and amateurish and damage the good work that researchers and the medical fraternity have established over the years..

[exparte]

Since when has the Government done something for the Thai People? I think you would have to go back to the 30 baht healthcare under Thaksin to find that. There is Big Money involved; and the only reason for doing it is to line the pockets of the current people in Charge. They should follow the way California did it when it legalized it for Medical use. Private Individuals could grow small quantities for them selves. Marijuana Collectives could grow on behalf of Medical users and was controlled by each county in the state.

[Broeno]

This is why 1 % is owning 58 %. 

[RocketDog]

On 1/1/2019 at 7:35 AM, YetAnother said:

what idiocy, that is why we have a government

Ah yes, but what if the government (s!) is corrupt! 

 

Not in Thailand of course, but pretty much every other gov on the planet is. 

 

[RocketDog]

23 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

waiting patiently for the mandatory dabs and mugshot routine .. They might wanna do a illegal alien check as well as that looks more floret of Broccoli than bud' of 'erb .. 

Me thinks you've been smoking too much broccoli my friend. That is most definitely the real thing. Look at the stem for starters. It's been trimmed a bit and is freshly green, totally unsmokable as is. 

[Nyezhov]

9 minutes ago, RocketDog said:

Me thinks you've been smoking too much broccoli my friend. That is most definitely the real thing. Look at the stem for starters. It's been trimmed a bit and is freshly green, totally unsmokable as is. 

Yeah I burnt a hole in my puter trying to light it up, guess you are right. Harsh.

[HerbalEd]

On 1/1/2019 at 7:35 AM, YetAnother said:

what idiocy, that is why we have a government

Sure. And we all know that governments are never corrupt and they never side with big-money businesses at the expense of the people. And this is especially true in Thailand, right?

[HerbalEd]

On 1/1/2019 at 1:37 PM, chainarong said:

Number one is that unless you know what you're doing household medical experts are not the answer, the body produces CDB so all you're doing is topping up an already feature, this in some cases will make a person ill if not administered properly , medical marijuana isn't the end cure to cure all it only helps some people not all people, don't get carried away, it doesn't have the high HTC effect so all the pot heads relax it isn't for you. Articles in this paper and in others about medical marijuana are at most not thought out and amateurish and damage the good work that researchers and the medical fraternity have established over the years..

Not true. First of all, it CBD (not CDB) and THC (not HTC). Also, the human body does not produce CBDs -- although it does have some receptor sites that CBDs can attach to, and thereby have pharmaceutical activity. As to the "good work that researchers and medical fraternity have established over the years." Actually, for many decades the vast majority of the medical research community has scoffed at those who advocate medical MJ, and they've had to be dragged, kicking & screaming into the reality that MJ does indeed have therapeutic properties.

 

BTW, not only do the non-psychotropic CBDs have therapeutic activity, but the psychotropic THCs do also -- especially for glaucoma and for the severe nausea of chemo-therapy. 

 

Fortunately cannabinoids are very benign, so your fears of people getting "ill" are "amateurish."  

[Chris Lawrence]

There is no THC in medical dope? So the article is about greed; who will be contracted to grow and sell the product. The control of the product would have to be under licence from the Government. https://sydneyspinepain.com/medical-cannabis/

 

Have a look at the above site. The doctor here is registered to supply by script medical Cannabis. 

[metisdead]

An offensive troll post has been removed. 

[ZeVonderBearz]

If the corruption boys take charge and make it unaffordable for most than the illicit trade will just continue.