Only certified personnel can prescribe cannabis drugs

By PUANGCHOMPOO PRASERT 
THE NATION

 

File photo

 

ONLY certified alternative-medicine practitioners with special training will be permitted to prepare and prescribe cannabis-containing medicines to patients, regulatory authorities insist. Preparations and prescriptions must be done at hospitals only.

 

Dr Pramote Stienrut, deputy director-general of the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine, said last Thursday that the first round of the two-day training would be provided on April 29 and 30. 

 

At present, there are 16 approved formulas of cannabis-containing medicines in Thailand. 

 

“These medicines have already established clear proof of their effectiveness and that they are rooted in local wisdom,” he said. 

 

Pramote said that if alternative-medicine practitioners wish to prepare other cannabis-containing medicinal formulas, they must first seek prior approval from his department. Records of Thai traditional medicines list 96 formulas with the herb. But further research or solutions to legal constraints are required for 80 of them.

 

“So if anyone wishes to work on any of these 80 formulas, we need to review their applications first. We need to make sure that they are safe and are fully in line with the knowledge of Thai traditional medicine before granting an approval,” Pramote said.

 

Once endorsed as being Thai traditional medicine, such formulas have the potential for widespread use if research is conducted on them based on scientific procedures. Thailand has only recently legalised medical marijuana and it is still classified under law as an illegal narcotic. Anyone who possesses or uses “pot” is liable to a jail term. 

 

Early this month, an official at the Kwan Khao Foundation was arrested for marijuana possession. The case caused a public uproar as the foundation, led by prominent folk-remedy doctor Decha Siriphat, has a reputation for helping people. Decha has had about 5,000 patients and won acceptance from many respectable institutes.

 

 

Cannabis conditions for folk doctors

 

TOTAL number of folk-remedy doctors in Thailand: 59,414 What are the requirements for them to qualify to legally 

administer medical marijuana?

 

1. Being certified as folk-remedy doctors by the Public Health Ministry;

2. Having received special training in medical-marijuana use;

3. Having received licences from the Food and Drug Administration;

4. That they prepare and dispense only the approved 16 traditional formulas; and

5. That they seek permission if they wish to prepare and dispense other formulas.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30368231

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-04-24

Nice to see further recognition of cannabis' medical qualities by Thai officials. I think any procedure to legally get it into the hands those who can benefit is a good move forward, as long as the qualifying steps for those authorized to prescribe and dispense are reasonably achievable. Hopefully, by now, we all know that it's a perfectly safe substance and has proven medical qualities in its raw form, so the wider the doors of exploration of its cannabinoids and terpenes are open, the better for us all.

 

There has already been a lot of study of those components done in other areas of the world, so I hope the gov't is sincere in wanting to develop good cannabis-based medicine and gets on board with the progress that's already been achieved in other countries around the world, rather than showing its usual isolated approach to things.  

 

I predict that cannabis-based medicine will eventually outperform opiate-based formulas in providing effective pain relief without the severe physical addiction that has plagued so much of the world.

 

 

Edited April 23, 20197 yr by Inn Between

All research is good if it leads to some life saving medicine.

 

But I lose some confidence when I read things like

 

“These medicines have already established clear proof of their effectiveness and that they are rooted in local wisdom,”

 

"Being certified as folk-remedy doctors by the Public Health Ministry"

 

"Local wisdom" and "folk remedy" doctors (of which there are 59,000) in the context of Thailand just doesn't quite feel right.

Edited April 24, 20197 yr by DLock
dyslexic

Not withstanding any health benefits that this may have I am quite certain that the Thai certification process for personnel able to supply cannabis will be evaluated based soley on the durability capacity and longevity of the brown envelope cure.

"ONLY certified alternative-medicine practitioners with special training..."

 

Shoot...What can be more special than 50 years of expert training through real life experiments? However, it's all a blank now, but when I regain my memory I am sure I can provide expertise beyond anyone's imagination.

Edited April 24, 20197 yr by jaltsc

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Being certified as folk-remedy doctors by the Public Health Ministry

What kind of hocus pocus profession is this? Or maybe it's an university degree in Thailand? Or even a specialty branch of internal medicine?????

Edited April 24, 20197 yr by RotBenz8888

8 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

What kind of hocus pocus profession is this? Or maybe it's an university degree in Thailand? Or even a specialty branch of internal medicine?

 

Given there is 59,000 of them...it's clearly not a University degree.

 

I would say some self-proclaimed crusty voodoo, juju, witchdoctor village man who uses incense, herbs and chanting to cure cancer and guess this weeks lottery.

I did Some hopes. I guess it is a wait and see again.

Why not make it more straightforward?
Everything is so complicated...
Sell flowers or oil extract through GPO pharmacies with prescription.
Just look how other countries doing it.


Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

I have been 'certified' Send me your request along with $500 Oz; and I will send you a certificate.

Don't bother me with the details, I just want to know where I can find these certified personal, and where I can buy my prescriptions. 

The country is moving ahead at a snail’s pace in informing their own doctors. I went to three hospitals in Ubon, one where the chief of staff is a personal friend, and I was more informed on the Thai medical cannabis laws than any of them.  A lot of MD’s haven’t received the “memo”, if there even was one. 

15 hours ago, DLock said:

 

Given there is 59,000 of them...it's clearly not a University degree.

 

I would say some self-proclaimed crusty voodoo, juju, witchdoctor village man who uses incense, herbs and chanting to cure cancer and guess this weeks lottery.

And knows how to roll a fatty ????

"Only certified personnel can prescribe cannabis drugs"

 

Unless you are a faded Thailand beauty queen, a self proclaimed "Kanja Witch", you are selling outside Thailand and you call them "sweets" instead of drugs...then Thailand doesn't really care...

 

 

On 4/24/2019 at 9:08 AM, DLock said:

All research is good if it leads to some life saving medicine.

 

But I lose some confidence when I read things like

 

“These medicines have already established clear proof of their effectiveness and that they are rooted in local wisdom,”

 

"Being certified as folk-remedy doctors by the Public Health Ministry"

 

"Local wisdom" and "folk remedy" doctors (of which there are 59,000) in the context of Thailand just doesn't quite feel right.

 

If it were only the life saving medicines which were considered good enough to research we would not have many medicines.

19 minutes ago, DLock said:

"Only certified personnel can prescribe cannabis drugs"

 

Unless you are a faded Thailand beauty queen, a self proclaimed "Kanja Witch", you are selling outside Thailand and you call them "sweets" instead of drugs...then Thailand doesn't really care...

 

 

 

She was once a beauty queen and she has been called the Kanja Queen by the press, is that interesting to you?

 

She has 5 PhD's and has practiced herbal medicine in the US for the past 12 years where she works as a professor of naturopathy.  She has already been supplying edibles in the US for several years and recently has been intrumental in Thailand's cannabis reform, serving as the go between for the universities and other institutes who are farming and producing cannabis products, sourcing their seeds and growing equipment from US suppliers.  Now she is working with those same institutes in Thailand to market their products to her clients in the US.

On 4/24/2019 at 9:41 AM, DLock said:

 

Given there is 59,000 of them...it's clearly not a University degree.

 

I would say some self-proclaimed crusty voodoo, juju, witchdoctor village man who uses incense, herbs and chanting to cure cancer and guess this weeks lottery.

 

You can study it at degree, masters and doctorate level, the Thai Traditional Medicine program is very popular as the entrance is easier than the doctor of medicine route, I've had at least 20 pupils take up the degree.