New public health minister walks back ‘recreational’ cannabis

[webfact]

“There is currently no policy in place for recreational use, and such considerations are not on the table.”

 

The new Thai government is quickly trying to plug a legal vacuum over the sales and recreational use of cannabis following last year’s June 9 de-listing from the Category 5 narcotics list. At the time, without any laws to clarify the ‘decriminalisation’, there was a swift growth of retail stores popping u around Thailand, especially in tourist locations, freely selling cannabis.

 

Now Thailand’s new parliament is set to push for a comprehensive law regarding the use of cannabis for medical and research purposes only, more than a year after the decriminalisation of the herb.

 

In 2022, Thailand made history as the first Southeast Asian country to ‘decriminalise’ cannabis. However, due to the absence of specific regulations, the government found it necessary to establish rules to prevent its uncontrolled use, especially among young people. Now various pockets of Thai officialdom, including the tourist industry, are demanding the new government tackle the rampant proliferation of ‘recreational’ cannabis retail stores, thought to number around 6,000, including many around Phuket, particularly Patong.

 

By Peter Roche

TOP PHOTO: Recreational cannabis will be banned in Thailand

 

Full story: PhuketGO 2023-09-27

 

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[JBChiangRai]

Recreational use was never intended, Anutin made that perfectly clear in June 2022.

 

Weed shop proliferation is sheer stupidity, they knew they were chancing their arm and now they will go bust.

Edited September 27 by JBChiangRai

[huangnon]

20 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

 

Weed shop proliferation is sheer stupidity, they knew they were chancing their arm and now they will go bust.

A lot of small businesses forced to close down during Covid restrictions popped up again as weed shops.

It's not like the robber baron Junta "government" gave them any compensation, is it?

[ChipButty]

There will be a lot of un happy landlords especially in Phuket, shops that had sitting empty for years will now be empty again, 

People will not stop smoking it, it will just go under ground like before, Bring happiness to the people let them smoke it,

[JBChiangRai]

4 minutes ago, huangnon said:

A lot of small businesses forced to close down during Covid restrictions popped up again as weed shops.

It's not like the robber baron Junta "government" gave them any compensation, is it?

Why should they? The weed shops knew Recreational use was not intended and their business is probably 100% recreational sales.

 

You may take advantage of a loophole, but you don't bet the farm on it.

[JBChiangRai]

1 minute ago, ChipButty said:

There will be a lot of un happy landlords especially in Phuket, shops that had sitting empty for years will now be empty again, 

People will not stop smoking it, it will just go under ground like before, Bring happiness to the people let them smoke it,

They make getting the prescriptions easy peasey in which case the shops can all stay open and fight each other for market share.

 

As you say, no regular pot user will stop, maybe they can't stop...

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

Recreational use was never intended, Anutin made that perfectly clear in June 2022.

 

Weed shop proliferation is sheer stupidity, they knew they were chancing their arm and now they will go bust.

So why did Anutin push it through without a law, medicinal use only with a doctors prescription?

He wanted it as it was as a gift to the people.. to enhance himself.

[JBChiangRai]

31 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

So why did Anutin push it through without a law, medicinal use only with a doctors prescription?

He wanted it as it was as a gift to the people.. to enhance himself.

Yet he said in June 2022 as he legalised it...

 

"Thai Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he expected legal cannabis production to boost the economy but cautioned that recreational use of the drug remains illegal.

“It’s a no,” said Anutin, who is also a deputy prime minister. “We still have regulations under the law that control the consumption, smoking or use of cannabis products in non-productive ways.”"

Edited September 27 by JBChiangRai
Spellong

[curtklay]

Just a smoke screen to protect the fat cat investors.

 

[sidneybear]

4 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

As you say, no regular pot user will stop, maybe they can't stop...

The big dope lobby always tells us it's harmless though. 

[spidermike007]

Pot should be legal worldwide. It harms nobody, unless you count poor memory and lack of ambition as great offenses against the nation.
Illegal by who's definition? A corrupt, illegal government that is completely out of step with a changing world? Pot does little harm to anyone. The biggest risk is the the user will lose his ambition. Compared to alcohol the detriment to society is minuscule. Only completely backwards, and morally bankrupt officials continue to pursue these draconian convictions.

 

The only reason why ganga will become illegal in Thailand again, is to hand back the multi billion baht franchise to the RTP. That is it. It ends there. This has nothing whatsoever to do with morality or character development, mental health, nor the few kids who end up smoking too much. So what?

 

And to lump a pot smoker into the same category as a heroin addict is just plain old ridiculous and ignorant of the facts.

Edited September 27 by spidermike007

[Hummin]

5 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

Recreational use was never intended, Anutin made that perfectly clear in June 2022.

 

Weed shop proliferation is sheer stupidity, they knew they were chancing their arm and now they will go bust.

Is it now time to say "I told you so"?

 

As anything else, we still have to wait and see, nothing is clear before they start closing shops and arrest people again. 

[bkk6060]

The owners of many of these shops should actually get some type of incentive.  Many are refurbished spaces that they have put a lot of money into and made them very nice.  I am not a big fan of weed, but I don't think they should now take it all away.

 

 

 

Edited September 27 by bkk6060

[Hummin]

14 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Pot should be legal worldwide. It harms nobody, unless you count poor memory and lack of ambition as great offenses against the nation.
Illegal by who's definition? A corrupt, illegal government that is completely out of step with a changing world? Pot does little harm to anyone. The biggest risk is the the user will lose his ambition. Compared to alcohol the detriment to society is minuscule. Only completely backwards, and morally bankrupt officials continue to pursue these draconian convictions.

 

The only reason why ganga will become illegal in Thailand again, is to hand back the multi billion baht franchise to the RTP. That is it. It ends there. This has nothing whatsoever to do with morality or character development, mental health, nor the few kids who end up smoking too much. So what?

 

And to lump a pot smoker into the same category as a heroin addict is just plain old ridiculous and ignorant of the facts.

Weed should be controlled for strenght and contamination. Surten strains and potency is more likely to give people who are disposed for mental issues psyckoses as one reason. 

[Hummin]

1 minute ago, bkk6060 said:

The owners of many of these shops should actually get some type of incentive.  Many are refurbished spaces that they have put a lot of money into and made them very nice.  I am not a big fan of weed, but I don't think they should now take it all away.

 

 

 

Are these shops legalized? 

[mrfill]

2 hours ago, bobbin said:

Thailand would be the only jurisdiction in the world to walk-back a progressive liberalization of cannabis.

Except of course the UK, which reduced its category from B to C in 2004 and then reversed it back in 2009.

The current Home Secretary, Sue-Ellen Braverman is understood to want to increase it again to category A (7 yrs max for possession), but then she is too busy fighting her own acute incompetence and blaming others right now.

[metisdead]

A post using a foreign language in violation of our Community Standards has been removed.

 

A post with a link to the Bangkok Post in violation of our Community Standards has been removed.

 

Some off topic posts in violation of our Community Standards have been removed.

[redwood1]

6 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

The owners of many of these shops should actually get some type of incentive.  Many are refurbished spaces that they have put a lot of money into and made them very nice.  I am not a big fan of weed, but I don't think they should now take it all away.

 

 

 

If you included all the shops inventory.....The money spent on the remodel, and lease agreements you could be looking at 1 million baht a shop that the goverment needs to pay up...

[Mr Meeseeks]

Again, a government with a convicted heroin smuggler as a Minister can only be viewed as total hypocrites on this issue. 

 

IMO, they are simply incompetent brigands who make a mess of everything they touch. 

Edited September 27 by Mr Meeseeks

[ChipButty]

18 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

If you included all the shops inventory.....The money spent on the remodel, and lease agreements you could be looking at 1 million baht a shop that the goverment needs to pay up...

and the rest, there is a couple of places near me on the beach front I couldnt even guess what the rent would be these days in that location, 

[billd766]

5 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

Recreational use was never intended, Anutin made that perfectly clear in June 2022.

 

Weed shop proliferation is sheer stupidity, they knew they were chancing their arm and now they will go bust.

Unfortunately Anutin did NOT make it perfectly clear or when it was passed the wording would have been included.

 

IMO he left it like that as the BJP expected to win the election and he expected to be re-nominated as health minister.

 

It is not as if he did not have enough time to do the job properly either.

[daveAustin]

6 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

Recreational use was never intended, Anutin made that perfectly clear in June 2022.

 

Weed shop proliferation is sheer stupidity, they knew they were chancing their arm and now they will go bust.

Twaddle, that was always the intention. They gave away a million plants if I remember rightly and allowed people (anyone of age as long as they registered—yeah right) to grow a certain number at home. The police were also told to stop arresting people smoking recreationally. 

[Dogmatix]

The Cannabis and Hemp Act will take at least a year to go through parliament, if the government lasts that long, . However, Thaksin is an impatient man and might order the health minister to do the reverse of what Anutin did and recriminalise it first.  That shuts down all the weed shops, leaving them nothing much to bargain about, as their investments will be gone.

[billd766]

30 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

If you included all the shops inventory.....The money spent on the remodel, and lease agreements you could be looking at 1 million baht a shop that the goverment needs to pay up...

Why does the government heed to pay anything at all?

 

It is not as if they made a law forcing the shops to sell cannabis.

 

If you open any business why would you expect somebody to bail you out if your business fails.

 

Never invest more than you can afford to lose in a business.

[Mr Meeseeks]

They should leave it as it is. If it ain't broke why fix it?

 

The problem at the moment is there is a very vocal, conservative lobby, pushing for the re-criminalisation of cannabis, including many members of the current government. 

 

The Thaksin governments have always traditionally been anti-drugs. 

 

Thailand needs to remain firm on this issue as other countries around the World are moving towards decriminalisation and legalisation, and this potential stutter-step by Thailand could leave them lagging far behind other countries.

 

Right now they have a competitive advantage.

[Mr Meeseeks]

4 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Why does the government heed to pay anything at all?

 

It is not as if they made a law forcing the shops to sell cannabis.

 

If you open any business why would you expect somebody to bail you out if your business fails.

 

Never invest more than you can afford to lose in a business.

The government are responsible for this current debacle.

 

Their incompetence and mismanagement of this issue, if it causes business and people to lose money, is directly attributable to their actions, thus they should be held accountable. 

Edited September 27 by Mr Meeseeks

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

Weed shop proliferation is sheer stupidity, they knew they were chancing their arm and now they will go bust.

I'm looking for something in the OP article that gives any hint of what their supposed new law (maybe a year away) is going to say or do about all the thousands of existing weed shops out there...

 

And, I'm not reading any answer to that question, which seems a pretty primary one given how things have evolved here.

 

[bamnutsak]

The Minister of Public Health doesn't need to do any walking, just issue a declaration that Cannabis Flower with more than 0.2% THC is back on the Narcotics Lists.

 

Advise the Police to arrest anyone growing, selling, using the newly re-criminalized Cannabis. Start with all the licensed shops. Then move on to the million folks who registered to grow on Plook Ganja.

 

Then rejoice, the children and the Kingdom are safe once again.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 27 by bamnutsak

[Crossy]

[JBChiangRai]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

Pot should be legal worldwide. It harms nobody, unless you count poor memory and lack of ambition as great offenses against the nation.

You can't say pot harms nobody, it harms some people predisposed towards mental illness.  It harms developing brains.

 

1 hour ago, Hummin said:

Is it now time to say "I told you so"?

 

As anything else, we still have to wait and see, nothing is clear before they start closing shops and arrest people again. 

I don't think they need to close shops, shopkeepers can do that themselves if they can't make a profit in an amended market where recreational use is forbidden.

 

1 hour ago, bkk6060 said:

The owners of many of these shops should actually get some type of incentive.  Many are refurbished spaces that they have put a lot of money into and made them very nice.  I am not a big fan of weed, but I don't think they should now take it all away.

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, redwood1 said:

If you included all the shops inventory.....The money spent on the remodel, and lease agreements you could be looking at 1 million baht a shop that the government needs to pay up...

 

20 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

The government are responsible for this current debacle.

 

Their incompetence and mismanagement of this issue, if it causes business and people to lose money, is directly attributable to their actions, thus they should be held accountable. 

Why should the government pay up?  Anutin said recreational use was forbidden, so the weed shops build their whole business model with an incredible threat hanging over them, they made a risky decision and it looks like it won't pay off.  No sensible businessman would have opened a weed shop with Anutin's warning, it should have stopped at the SWOT analysis in the business planning stage.

 

But yes I agree, the government is responsible for creating the debacle but the weed shops and growers are accountable for the risk they knowingly took.