The New Thai Government Re-Listing Cannabis as Narcotic is a Hypocritical Move, Says Cannabis Activist

[webfact]

 

Pita Limjaroenrat, who leads the prospective coalition government, is hypocritical trying to designate cannabis as a narcotic again when he once said in Parliament that the plant helped him overcome epilepsy, said Decha Siriphat, a Thai prominent figure who fought for the legalization of cannabis.

Mr. Decha Siriphat, also known as the creator of Decha’s Cannabis Oil, revealed to Thai media on May 27th that he disagrees with the new government’s decision to reclassify cannabis as a narcotic, similar to before.

 

He stated that he personally uses cannabis oil every day because he knows its medical benefits. He believes that after being re-listed, there will be too many regulations surrounding cannabis usage that even doctors will have a hard time prescribing it to patients. He also does not believe that police and law enforcement would not crackdown on users and businesses hoping for money and that the entire situation would become a massive disaster and encourage corruption.

 

“Alcohol and cigarettes have no benefits at all, only harms. They are used solely for recreation. They cause numerous diseases, accidents, and crimes, yet they are freely sold. But something good like cannabis, which helps people quit alcohol and cigarettes, why does the government try to restrict it? They are hindering the good and promoting the bad,” Mr. Decha questioned the new government with Thai media.

 

He continued that he is confident millions of cannabis growers in Thailand will not back down on the reclassification, threatening he will stage a series of major street protests if the government carries out such a move.

 

By Tanakorn Panyadee

TOP PHOTO: Matichon

 

Full story: https://thepattayanews.com/2023/05/28/the-new-thai-government-re-listing-cannabis-as-narcotic-is-a-hypocritical-move-says-cannabis-activist/

 

-- © Copyright The Pattaya News 2023-05-29

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

The most versatile and flexible rental investment and holiday home solution in Thailand - click for more information.

[RichardColeman]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

But something good like cannabis, which helps people quit alcohol and cigarettes,

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight ! I'd like to see the scientific research on that one

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Pita Limjaroenrat, who leads the prospective coalition government, is hypocritical trying to designate cannabis as a narcotic again when he once said in Parliament that the plant helped him overcome epilepsy, said Decha Siriphat, a Thai prominent figure who fought for the legalization of cannabis.

That's not being hypocritical, that was used as a medicinal remedy.

Not recreational use.

[Don Chance]

25 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight ! I'd like to see the scientific research on that one

This is the problem they are tells lies to get marijuana  decriminalized.   Same in the west, people believe marijuana is somesort of medicine. It is just a drug to get high and very addictive for some people. It is not an answer to life.

[bamnutsak]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

that the plant helped him overcome epilepsy

Treatment for Epilepsy is one of the six (only) applications for Medical Cannabis. That would remain legal/available even int he unlikely event that Cannabis Flower is re-listed as a Narcotic.

 

2. Epilepsy that is difficult to treat and intractable epilepsy(10,11).
The prescriber should be a neurological specialist. and have been trained in the use of cannabis extracts
for the treatment of patients (3)
• Used in difficult-to-treat epilepsy in children, including Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome(10).
• Epilepsy that is resistant to two or more drug treatments(3,11), if drug interactions are expected to occur
Consider using cannabis products high in cannabidiol (CBD) (see Dosage and Administration section).
• Physicians who care for epilepsy patients who meet criteria for difficult-to-treat epilepsy. The patient should be referred to a service facility.
Tertiary health to see a specialist in neurology to assess and provide
Continue treatment in case of (3)
- Seizures that cannot be controlled with medication
- Pediatric patients under 2 years of age
- Epilepsy patients who are at risk or unable to tolerate the side effects of epilepsy treatment.
- Have a mental disorder or have mental illnesses
- There is doubt in the diagnosis of epileptic features. or epilepsy syndrome

[dinsdale]

56 minutes ago, Don Chance said:

This is the problem they are tells lies to get marijuana  decriminalized.   Same in the west, people believe marijuana is somesort of medicine. It is just a drug to get high and very addictive for some people. It is not an answer to life.

Glaucoma. Very addictive? This is debatetable. Answer to life?  'Alcohol is the anaesthesia by which we endure the operation of life. ' George Bernard Shaw. One could replace alcohol with marijuana in this quote.

"Research findings from as early as the 1970s show that both marijuana and THC reduce intraocular pressure, a key contributor to glaucoma."

 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK224386/

[Bday Prang]

56 minutes ago, Don Chance said:

This is the problem they are tells lies to get marijuana  decriminalized.   Same in the west, people believe marijuana is somesort of medicine. It is just a drug to get high and very addictive for some people. It is not an answer to life.

Harry Anslinger  told plenty of lies in order to get it banned  the problem is some people still believe him 

"Men die for it and women cry for it"   lol

[Anythingleft?]

Surely the difference is between CBD and THC, CBD is the useful part it's just not the fun part...

 

There are an awful lot of people heavily invested in this sector now and it's only growing daily, they need to make their minds up on the regulations one way or the other pretty soon.....

[bamnutsak]

2 minutes ago, Anythingleft? said:

and it's only growing daily

I see what you did there.

 

2 minutes ago, Anythingleft? said:

they need to make their minds up on the regulations one way or the other pretty soon.....

Who is "they". You do realize there is currently a caretaker government, the same one which delisted Cannabis Flower. The first Parliamentary session is scheduled for 24 July. Maybe a PM by 3 August, and a cabinet 11 August.

 

And surely Cannabis isn't a top 10 or 20 issue for a new government to deal with, is it?

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1295213-move-forward-party-to-submit-45-bills-for-amendments-and-new-laws/

 

[h90]

2 hours ago, Don Chance said:

This is the problem they are tells lies to get marijuana  decriminalized.   Same in the west, people believe marijuana is somesort of medicine. It is just a drug to get high and very addictive for some people. It is not an answer to life.

Marijuana is not very addictive, in fact less than alcohol and cigarettes.

[jonclark]

2 hours ago, Don Chance said:

This is the problem they are tells lies to get marijuana  decriminalized.   Same in the west, people believe marijuana is somesort of medicine. It is just a drug to get high and very addictive for some people. It is not an answer to life.

TBH social media is highly addictive and in Thailand we see record numbers of internet addicts - records indicate that one average Thais spend 8 hours a day (33% of their daily lives) blankly looking at a screen looking for life's answers - Maybe social media could be classified as a narcotic as well, as it is clearly highly addicitive to Thais.  Or will that be overlooked? 

 

Obvioulsy the answer is yes it will be overlooked, we will allow Thai people to continue with their social media addiction as this additiction generates a wonderful, large and continuous revenue stream for the mobile operators and their powerful mates. 

 

Why should the alleged high levels harm and additiction from cannabis consumption be singled out as a single overriding factor to re-classify cannabis as a narcotic. If addictive properties are the benchmark that Thai society uses to determine whether an activity is narcotic in its effect then lets at least be consistant in it application. Or  - and this is real pie in the sky thinking - lets provide clear eduction and resources so that people can make informed decisions on what constitutes a healthy lifestyle  - which as my old gran once taught me  - too much of a good thing, becomes a bad thing.  

 

Drug use is a social not a criminal issue. People take drugs to fill a void in their lives (not because they are weak or bad). Drug addicts - ranging from smokers, to alcoholics, to yaba junkies are all similar in that they have voids that the drugs fill to greater or lesser extents. Labelling a drug user a criminal only increases their social isolation and stigma. It does not promote and provide avenues to a better more managed life, but reinforces their isolation and hopelessness through social stigmatization. 

 

 

[Don Chance]

18 minutes ago, h90 said:

Marijuana is not very addictive, in fact less than alcohol and cigarettes.

  How much do you smoke a day?

[NextG]

2 hours ago, Don Chance said:

This is the problem they are tells lies to get marijuana  decriminalized.   Same in the west, people believe marijuana is somesort of medicine. It is just a drug to get high and very addictive for some people. It is not an answer to life.

That’s irony for you ????

[JackGats]

Having availed myself of legal cannabis in Thailand over the past 8 months, I'm amazed at how little addictive it is. I stopped one week ago to allow for some washing-out of my system ahead of my flying back to Europe for the summer, and I feel no missing, craving or withdrawal whatsoever.

 

If I delay my morning coffee by as little as a few hours I get a stiff headache.

[h90]

11 minutes ago, Don Chance said:

  How much do you smoke a day?

Non....I am very much against drugs. But it is my freedom to use or not use them....When I am old and everything hurts I would rather be allowed to use some Marijuana or Opium.
If someone want to get "drunk" on it than it is their life and not my, or Prayuth or Pitas business.

[NextG]

12 minutes ago, Don Chance said:

  How much do you smoke a day?

None. I used it regularly for an ailment and then stopped when the issue subsided. Some people have addictive personalities and some do not. Your question is disingenuous. 

[Goat]

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight ! I'd like to see the scientific research on that one

I gave up cigarettes using marijuana.

Every time i craved a ciggie I would have a bong.

Weed isnt addictive. Only mentally weak people CLAIM they are addicted.

Ciggies and alcohol are addictive. 

Ciggies are completly pointless. 

[h90]

2 minutes ago, JackGats said:

Having availed myself of legal cannabis in Thailand over the past 8 months, I'm amazed at how little addictive it is. I stopped one week ago to allow for some washing-out of my system ahead of my flying back to Europe for the summer, and I feel no missing, craving or withdrawal whatsoever.

 

If I delay my morning coffee by as little as a few hours I get a stiff headache.

yes well documented.....try to stop cigarettes...relative hard or if you are addicted to alcohol stopping it can be even deadly (and I don't want to know how it feels if it is just a step easier than deadly)

[benHH]

in the UK , as much as 65%-70% of emergency and accident visits to a hospital on a weekend are related to alcohol 

 

it would be far better for people to be stoned then drunk 

[AndyFoxy]

3 hours ago, Don Chance said:

This is the problem they are tells lies to get marijuana  decriminalized.   Same in the west, people believe marijuana is somesort of medicine. It is just a drug to get high and very addictive for some people. It is not an answer to life.

Addictive and dangerous.

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, Goat said:

I gave up cigarettes using marijuana.

Every time i craved a ciggie I would have a bong.

Weed isnt addictive. Only mentally weak people CLAIM they are addicted.

Ciggies and alcohol are addictive. 

Ciggies are completly pointless. 

I don't even think there are many "mentally weak" that claim to be addicted  The fictional claims of addiction are, in the main, made mainly by people who have never smoked it but have  either"read it about it somewhere on the web" or "heard it off a bloke in a bar"

[jonclark]

33 minutes ago, AndyFoxy said:

Addictive and dangerous.

Just like sex eh? Highly addictive for some and so many dangerous life threatening conditions that can be caught...and still our population continues to inexorable rise. 

 

I think sex is more dangerous than cannabis - prove me wrong foxy? 

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, JackGats said:

Having availed myself of legal cannabis in Thailand over the past 8 months, I'm amazed at how little addictive it is. I stopped one week ago to allow for some washing-out of my system ahead of my flying back to Europe for the summer, and I feel no missing, craving or withdrawal whatsoever.

 

If I delay my morning coffee by as little as a few hours I get a stiff headache.

  Interesting post which should provide food for thought  for the "reefer madness morons"  Have you considered  why you were amazed at its non addictiveness . Or what originally  made you think it would be addictive ?    The answer can only be that you were misinformed,    

   I doubt you have felt the need to progress to "harder" drugs either, and how about depression , anxiety, schizophrenia, general insanity  and suicide ?    Of course not

[AndyFoxy]

I think cannabis is more dangerous than sex, although I abstain from both just to be safe.

[h90]

13 minutes ago, AndyFoxy said:

I think cannabis is more dangerous than sex, although I abstain from both just to be safe.

You can take a condom before you some some cannabis

[jonclark]

16 minutes ago, AndyFoxy said:

I think cannabis is more dangerous than sex, although I abstain from both just to be safe.

Well at least we can take comfort from the fact that your genes will not be spreading any further in the human population. 

 

 Seriously prove cannabis is dangerous and addictive - you said it as a statement of truth in your previous post, so substantiate your version of truth with evidence...otherwise you are just presented unsubstantiated opinion as fact.  aka Fake news. 

 

I think Foxy will reply along the lines of i don't have time / need to prove myself to anyone... or not reply at all... 

[AndyFoxy]

8 minutes ago, jonclark said:

Well at least we can take comfort from the fact that your genes will not be spreading any further in the human population. 

 

 Seriously prove cannabis is dangerous and addictive - you said it as a statement of truth in your previous post, so substantiate your version of truth with evidence...otherwise you are just presented unsubstantiated opinion as fact.  aka Fake news. 

 

I think Foxy will reply along the lines of i don't have time / need to prove myself to anyone... or not reply at all... 

Do you take cannabis?

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, AndyFoxy said:

I think cannabis is more dangerous than sex, although I abstain from both just to be safe.

Enough said

[Bday Prang]

29 minutes ago, AndyFoxy said:

Do you take cannabis?

I have never "taken" it  I sometimes buy it  but normally grow my own

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, AndyFoxy said:

I think cannabis is more dangerous than sex, although I abstain from both just to be safe.

And you think others should behave in exactly the same way?   So are you actually a virgin ?