Thai hospitality players move in on cannabis tourism

[bendejo]

36 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

If you get a medical marijuana certificate in Massachusetts you do not have to pay the 20% tax and you can always pay with a debit card for a small fee.

In Oregon, prior to recreational being legal, it was $200 for the gov't permit plus $200 for the prescription and paperwork (per year, both of them).  The turning point was when they expanded the conditions for the permit: for a long time it was only glaucoma and for cancer patients coping with radiation treatments (verify if this is important to you).  Then they started including other things, and within a few years there were app. 600,000 medical permits: that's a lot of revenue! 

 

Currently in Oregon.  Bought this on-line the other day:

1 × Cheetah P_iss: (Back 40) - (1/4oz)      $10.50
1 × Alien ET - (1/4oz)                                   $14.00
Cannabis Tax: $4.08
Order Total: $24.50

 

The day before I went into the same shop, without a pre-order, and bought a quarter oz. for $10, no tax.  I haven't figured how this tax is calculated yet.

The very cheapest I've seen is $40 per oz. + tax.  But at this price expect it may be small buds or old stuff; sometimes it's worth a few bucks more, but these $200+ oz. prices are ridiculous.  (BTW, the labs will admit (in whispers) that the strains are never of the same phenotype).

I'm concerned that if the law becomes Federal the tax enforcement will become that much stricter and we'll have Elliot Ness IV to worry about.  With this cash-only nonsense and the ease with which stolen product can be moved, I am certainly glad I'm not in that business.

Don't know if you heard, but John Boehner is in the employ of the cannabis lobby.  He has an in-depth understanding of how $$$ works in US Congress https://bulletin.represent.us/boehner-tobacco-lobby-checks/

 

On the other hand ol' Jeff Sessions wanted to turn the clock back on legalization altogether.

 

 

[Airalee]

19 minutes ago, bendejo said:

In Oregon, prior to recreational being legal, it was $200 for the gov't permit plus $200 for the prescription and paperwork (per year, both of them).  The turning point was when they expanded the conditions for the permit: for a long time it was only glaucoma and for cancer patients coping with radiation treatments (verify if this is important to you).  Then they started including other things, and within a few years there were app. 600,000 medical permits: that's a lot of revenue! 

 

Currently in Oregon.  Bought this on-line the other day:

1 × Cheetah P_iss: (Back 40) - (1/4oz)      $10.50
1 × Alien ET - (1/4oz)                                   $14.00
Cannabis Tax: $4.08
Order Total: $24.50

 

The day before I went into the same shop, without a pre-order, and bought a quarter oz. for $10, no tax.  I haven't figured how this tax is calculated yet.

The very cheapest I've seen is $40 per oz. + tax.  But at this price expect it may be small buds or old stuff; sometimes it's worth a few bucks more, but these $200+ oz. prices are ridiculous.  (BTW, the labs will admit (in whispers) that the strains are never of the same phenotype).

I'm concerned that if the law becomes Federal the tax enforcement will become that much stricter and we'll have Elliot Ness IV to worry about.  With this cash-only nonsense and the ease with which stolen product can be moved, I am certainly glad I'm not in that business.

Don't know if you heard, but John Boehner is in the employ of the cannabis lobby.  He has an in-depth understanding of how $$$ works in US Congress https://bulletin.represent.us/boehner-tobacco-lobby-checks/

 

On the other hand ol' Jeff Sessions wanted to turn the clock back on legalization altogether.

 

 

Wow.  That’s incredibly cheap up there.  1/8s are still running up to $45 for the top grades in Los Angeles from what I see online (Medmen).  I can’t imagine the revenue that California is raking in off taxes.

 

If Thailand thinks tourists are going to come for a shade leaf placed on a pizza, they are in for a big disappointment.  I don’t think that they really understand the connoisseur quality of the buds available these days and are waxing nostalgic about their “Thai Stick” of yesteryear which would qualify as schwag at best.

 

I don’t even smoke anymore but think that from a strictly economic standpoint that they are foolish to take such baby steps towards legalization and should just fully legalize (and tax) it.

[bendejo]

46 minutes ago, Airalee said:

Wow.  That’s incredibly cheap up there.  1/8s are still running up to $45 for the top grades in Los Angeles from what I see online (Medmen).

I keep it in the under $100 range, and don't bother even looking at the higher-priced stuff.  I once went the extra mile (cost + distance) in tracking down my favorite strain, Northern Lights, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and it wasn't the NL I knew and loved, so don't take the info on leafly et al to heart.  After decades of taking whatever was available ("this is great stuff, man!"), I'm not falling into some connoisseur silliness.  The smarter places (like Mr Nice Guy) are getting away from leafly and doing their own websites and ordering systems.  There is one chain of dispensaries that come off like high-end jewelers and the prices are laughable -- I guess they are aiming at the eight-figure net worth crowd, only the best for them!

I think at places like the ones you mention the price comes down with larger quantities, like $45/eighth may come down to $250 for an ounce. 

 

Remember when weed caused paranoia?  The remedy for that was legalization.

 

 

Edited February 27, 2022 by bendejo

[Gilligan In Drag]

Man, I want some of the strain that you were doing when you wrote this!  ????

 

Its poppin up everywhere right now and I MEAN EVERYWHERE right now in Thailand on cow and buffalo poop upcountry and maybe in the city too who knows ! hehe! Enjoy but get yourself a good field guide and don't anything that doesn't bruise blue-black! Eh hehehe!

[Inn Between]

I always get a chuckle when the topic of recreational cannabis in Thailand comes up. I lived there for about 17 years but won't go into the specifics of how or if I was able to get cannabis there, but as a hint, I like cannabis and strongly believe in the benefits is give me, so take it from there. 

 

I am now back in Canada and have been here for about 5 years after leaving Thailand for family reasons. Cannabis just happened to be legalized for recreational use about a year after I returned, allowing not only its sale but also its legal cultivation for personal use. I grow a few monster plants of a hi-potency hybrid (White Widow) in the garden each summer that gives me enough product for my smoking, edibles and even sharing with younger relatives. The total cost is a little over a hundred dollars and gives me nice bud for only pennies per gram. I AM SPOILED!! And if I want a nice concentrate vape pen or some other treat for a change, there are a variety of stores to shop at close by. 

 

So, being that spoiled and wanting not only cheap but hassle-free access to cannabis, I'm not going to fly halfway around the world to a country that is living in the dark ages in that regard. I was there when the current PM inserted himself into the leadership role in Thailand (as PM elect for life) and am very aware of his prudish and puritanical approach to existence, believing everyone should abstain from anything enjoyable, so I'm afraid that until there is a change of leadership -- one that takes a realistic approach to the nature of people and an understanding of the physical and social safety of cannabis, nothing of substance is going to happen. 

 

The current leadership seems to take the same dull-minded approach I read in another post where someone starts comparing cocaine and opiates to cannabis because they all come from plants. That's about as stupid and simple-minded as it gets, yet lots of morons walk around with such ideas and it never seems to occur to them that millions of things come from plants, both good and bad. Amazingly, there are still A LOT of people who seem to believe everything shown in Reefer Madness. 

 

And that's my post for the year. ????

[PadPrikKhing]

On 2/25/2022 at 5:53 AM, Adumbration said:

Pot is sooo 1990's...

Wrong, it is eternal and timeless

[PadPrikKhing]

On 2/25/2022 at 10:40 PM, SunnyinBangrak said:

in my neighborhood a coffeeshop/bar sells high quality buds of several kinds which are openly sold in fancy bags and named weighed and labelled and you order it off a menu. Prices start 500B/g.

Would you mind telling me where this is and the name of the business? Please PM me if you're not comfortable with posting it

[PadPrikKhing]

On 2/27/2022 at 11:35 AM, Airalee said:

 I don’t think that they really understand the connoisseur quality of the buds available these days and are waxing nostalgic about their “Thai Stick” of yesteryear which would qualify as schwag at best.

WHAT? Thai Stick was the very, very best of all the imports in its day. It was sublime. I doubt you lived in that time if you say this.

[bendejo]

34 minutes ago, PadPrikKhing said:

WHAT? Thai Stick was the very, very best of all the imports in its day. It was sublime. I doubt you lived in that time if you say this.

I second that.  Used to get it from a lady who told fortunes on the street in Bkk, the stuff was crippling!

And anyway Thai stick was not a strain, it was the way it was cured and packaged.  Also it wasn't a big deal back then, it was the US anti-drug forces behind the "drug menace" hype in SEA.  In Malaysia it still lingers: ask any male traveler with long hair who veers off the backpacker path.  Long hair still means hippie and that means drugs, promiscuity, venereal disease, your daughter getting impregnated, and of course communism.  It's worse in eastern Malaysia than it is on the peninsula.  I don't think they do the ess-aitch-eye-tee stamp in the passport anymore, though.

 

Kind of funny hearing how "old men" are against it: I was in India in the 1970s and did not meet any young Indians who had any interest in it, only the old holy men and dirt-poor peasants did that.  In some states it was (still is?) legal, with gov't licensed shops.

 

 

[mtls2005]

4 hours ago, PadPrikKhing said:

Would you mind telling me where this is and the name of the business? Please PM me if you're not comfortable with posting it

Why keep it secret?

 

 

[CraigInBangkok]

27 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Why keep it secret?

 

 

Wouldn't stay open very long ... That's why I wouldn't post it on a forum if I knew where it was

[Trujillo]

Remember, the legal concept of cannabis in Thailand states that the THC content must be less than 0.2 percent. 

 

The average THC content in recreational marijuana is 20 percent or more.

What Thailand is advocating is a bit like the current fashion to put the word "truffle" in snack foods with the fungus making up a similar percentage. Some would call this false advertising, but technically speaking it is true. 

[mtls2005]

20 minutes ago, CraigInBangkok said:

Wouldn't stay open very long ... That's why I wouldn't post it on a forum if I knew where it was

But the poster sunnyinbangrak, said 

 

I never hear anyone getting busted any more, and in my neighborhood a coffeeshop/bar sells high quality buds of several kinds which are openly sold in fancy bags and named weighed and labelled and you order it off a menu. Prices start 500B/g. Signs are outside the shop advertising the service. This is about 50m from a police station.

 

 

So a bit of a disconnect between your statement and the poster's "claim".

 

So yeah, until some info is provided I'm calling BS on this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MrJ2U]

On 2/25/2022 at 7:12 PM, KhaoYai said:

I could be wrong but I think all the hysteria about Thailand legalising cannabis needs to be brought into perspective.

 

Unless I've got this totally wrong, didn't Anutin state that the substance that will be allowed is that containing either 0.2 or 0.02% THC??? - can't remember which. THC is the element of cannabis that creates a hallucinogenic effect known as a 'high'.

 

Given that most cannabis used these days has a THC content of 17 - 25% - I can't see people flocking to Thailand for a joint. I very much doubt anyone would feel any changes with a content of 0.2 or 0.02% - it certainly won't get them high.  I also doubt that the average grower in Thailand has any form of equipment that will enable them to measure the THC content - that is done in a lab.

And you can get weed anywhere. 

 

If you're ideal vacation is smoking pot then maybe go to Jamaica. 

[Blumpie]

You have to be really really stoned to think that cannibis tourism profitable.  The first thing that you have to do is find people who want to go on holiday to get wasted.  I mean, who the hell does that.

It's legal here and it's no big deal.  At all.  Nobody cares.  And there is no, I repeat no tourism from it.  

[JimboB4]

Everything I thought would happen with cannabis in Thailand and more is currently happening and just still getting started but it’s been here. Now I see it’s more plentiful and even more strains and it’s getting cheaper as a result for the flower. I now see not only hash but also kush and other strains. Everyone will be healthier as a result because you don’t want to mix it with alcohol. I never knew anything about it until I really started trying it here and now I’m an expert and much healthier. 

Edited March 6, 2022 by JimboB4

[JimboB4]

On 3/3/2022 at 10:10 AM, Blumpie said:

You have to be really really stoned to think that cannibis tourism profitable.  The first thing that you have to do is find people who want to go on holiday to get wasted.  I mean, who the hell does that.

It's legal here and it's no big deal.  At all.  Nobody cares.  And there is no, I repeat no tourism from it.  

Oh you’ll see in a few more years it’ll be Asian Amsterdam and it’s already happening.  

[JimboB4]

Yes Thailand government please give the go ahead for tourism in cannabis and continue to make it more plentiful. Allowing people to grow it does that but make sure every shop has THC and CBD. Allow every shop to have both. Most already do and more are getting in on it but continue to relax it and it’ll be a GOLD MINE for the Thai economy and people!  And people will be healthier it’s not really that abusable.  Also I think it even makes people stop drinking I’ve helped someone in my wife’s family do it I think. Because you can’t really mix it with too much alcohol and I always warn them no alcohol or driving when I make brownies and I think that worked for someone who was used to be an alcoholic. But before I started trying it here a few years ago I knew nothing about it I used to think it was the same as crack or something lol. I know better now. Now I’m good at making really good edibles even. 

Edited March 6, 2022 by JimboB4

[Smithson]

Cannabis tourism may attract Australians. Per capita they are among the world's highest users and the backward govt in no hurry to do change laws

[Dogmatix]

On 2/25/2022 at 9:47 AM, bobbin said:

Nope.. medical tourism and the "wellness" industry will not be the drivers of a significant increase in the number of tourists..

 

It's only recreational use that will draw younger tourists to a Thailand that's fun again.

 

Time to institute the "sandbox" protocol.

Right.  These tangental uses of non-THC cannabis, which are widely available in other countries, are of little or no interest to tourists. Recreational use could be a big money spinner like it is in Amsterdam where it accounts for something like 30% of the tourist arrivals.  But the government would see it as a backpacker thing and they only want tourists who stay in 5-star hotels.