Has the threat of weed re-criminalization effected your frequency of use?

[Jingthing]

The current government is on record as favoring and intending to walk back the free for all weed show that Thailand has become, sooner or later.

What will they change exactly?

When will they make the changes?

Might they just "forget" to bother? Hope springs eternal.

It's impossible for us to know. 

It could happen tomorrow, it could happen two years from now, it could happen never.

But probably something bad will happen from weed users POV.

 

So my question is this:

 

Knowing that this restrictive change will probably be happening here eventually, has that effected your frequency of use?

 

Like if you're on vacation in Thailand for two weeks, you're more likely to eat a lot of Thai food, knowing when you leave Thailand, it won't be as good, available, and cheap. If you don't you're likely to regret it later.

 

So we're on a timer.

 

Are you doing more weed because of this?
The same?

Less? (Why?) 

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by Jingthing

[george]

Yes, it's on a timer. Medical cannabis.

 

Many cannabis shops will close next year as there is an oversupply now. Too many retail shops. Too many guys selling on Line app, Telegram, FB etc. 

 

The smart cannabis shops will employ a real MD Thai doctor, qualified by MOPH, and just have the Doc in the shop writing medical prescriptions, or tele-medicine (meet the cannabis doctor online). Webcam, headset and monitor in a corner in the shop. Talk with doctor, pay, get a prescription and smoke! 

 

Problem solved. Medical cannabis. Buds and the whole range. This is Thailand. 

 

The black market is always gonna be there, so don't worry!

 

I believe cannabis is far more "healthy" to consume than alcohol.

[NextG]

It’s *affected, as opposed to *effected. 

[wombat]

More to the point what has your personal experience been?

[bamnutsak]

There has been little detail made public on the actual changes to the Cannabis Control Act currently being considered in Parliament.

 

Some assumptions: cannabis flower above 0.2% will be illegal, not sure if it will go back on the Narcotics List at the same level. No clue about punishments and enforcement. People freed from prison for Cannabis charges will not be re-incarcerated. Hemp/CBD will be very tightly controlled. Kratom will remain legal.

 

 

Some MPs have made public comments that indicate that recreational use will be made illegal again, and some research and medical applications may be allowed. I think medical cannabis will be more tightly controlled than simply issuing prescriptions.

 

 

"Cannabis will be - double underline - for medical purposes and research," said Saritpong Kiewkong of the Bhumjaithai party, which spearheaded the decriminalisation and is now the second largest component of Thailand's 11-party coalition government.

 

"There is no policy for recreational use," the lawmaker told reporters in parliament, adding that such measures were not yet being considered.

 

The draft law, which consolidates measures against public use that the government now relies on to rein in misbehaviour, is expected to take a year to finalise and pass.

 

 

[Dogmatix]

On 11/15/2023 at 7:01 AM, bamnutsak said:

There has been little detail made public on the actual changes to the Cannabis Control Act currently being considered in Parliament.

 

Some assumptions: cannabis flower above 0.2% will be illegal, not sure if it will go back on the Narcotics List at the same level. No clue about punishments and enforcement. People freed from prison for Cannabis charges will not be re-incarcerated. Hemp/CBD will be very tightly controlled. Kratom will remain legal.

 

 

Some MPs have made public comments that indicate that recreational use will be made illegal again, and some research and medical applications may be allowed. I think medical cannabis will be more tightly controlled than simply issuing prescriptions.

 

 

"Cannabis will be - double underline - for medical purposes and research," said Saritpong Kiewkong of the Bhumjaithai party, which spearheaded the decriminalisation and is now the second largest component of Thailand's 11-party coalition government.

 

"There is no policy for recreational use," the lawmaker told reporters in parliament, adding that such measures were not yet being considered.

 

The draft law, which consolidates measures against public use that the government now relies on to rein in misbehaviour, is expected to take a year to finalise and pass.

 

 

 

Everything still up in the air and no one can say where it will land.  But the latest from the Public Health Minister was that they are reviewing the last govt's failed Cannabis and Hemp Bill with a view to amending that.  He said confusingly that cannabis will NOT be recriminalised and shops will be able to continue but they will not be able to sell dried flower, so it was not very clear how they could make money - selling CBD oil perhaps. Perhaps there will be a system for medical prescriptions of THC oil or even buds and they might decide to recriminalise anyway, while working on the bill which could take a year or two. I think Srettha said recriminalization would happen 6 months after he took office.  He seems to be digging himself into deep holes with his digital wallet and alleged bribes for police promotions and his popularity in the toilet that he might not be around to see this through.

 

Since the health minister is trying to amend the law to allow people caught with up to 5 speed pills to face rehab instead of prosecution, a complete reversion to the pre-June 2022 status quo for weed would be inconsistent. Hopefully it with remain decriminalized or at least there will be a similar exemption for personal use below a certain amount.  Having encouraged Thais to go their own weed and shops to open to sell weed with hardly any restrictions, there is now a healthy above board distribution system and it would be insane to try to reverse everything and force it all back underground. But this government has already demonstrated that it doesn't have the ability to think things through.

[EVENKEEL]

Not hard to find the brick before the legalization. But, we have gotten spoiled with the better quality offered now. We'll overcome whatever hoops they put us through and keep enjoying the buzz.

[daveAustin]

Unlikely to be rolled back completely. Far too many folk and influentials are too ingrained in the trade and it is clearly not a problem. Dhead dinosaurs in the bogus 'government' will talk S, chomp at the bit and try to impart their misguided tat on the people, but reckon they will get shut down. Posit there will be an advisory and shops might be made to close, but it will be up to you if you use as it should be. As to personal usage, mine has gone up a tad.  

[urthebozo]

On 11/14/2023 at 10:13 AM, george said:

Yes, it's on a timer. Medical cannabis.

 

Many cannabis shops will close next year as there is an oversupply now. Too many retail shops. Too many guys selling on Line app, Telegram, FB etc. 

 

The smart cannabis shops will employ a real MD Thai doctor, qualified by MOPH, and just have the Doc in the shop writing medical prescriptions, or tele-medicine (meet the cannabis doctor online). Webcam, headset and monitor in a corner in the shop. Talk with doctor, pay, get a prescription and smoke! 

 

Problem solved. Medical cannabis. Buds and the whole range. This is Thailand. 

 

The black market is always gonna be there, so don't worry!

 

I believe cannabis is far more "healthy" to consume than alcohol.

That would be the smart thing to do but is it possible ? If I’m not wrong it was only for extreme cases such as cancer as far as medical goes. I hope they consider check foreign medical cards and grant Thai ones from that. You can get approved for headaches in Canada. 

[wombat]

On 11/27/2023 at 11:12 AM, daveAustin said:

Unlikely to be rolled back completely.

bs gutter journalism with the last doom and gloom from the media.

reality is...........draft bill on cannabis not finished says cholnan...... what was forwarded was the health ministries views on the subject.

[stoner]

On 11/15/2023 at 7:01 AM, bamnutsak said:

People freed from prison for Cannabis charges will not be re-incarcerated.

 

bit of a conundrum. 

[stoner]

2 hours ago, urthebozo said:

You can get approved for headaches in Canada. 

 

no need anymore as cannabis is legal country wide. 

[ABCDBKK]

They cannot effectively reduce recreational use unless they put cannabis back on the illegal narcotics list, which is not something they have any intention of doing. So just smoke more and worry less. 

 

There are also thousands of people in Thailand already legally registered to grow cannabis at home (and for whatever use they want it for) and many of them were given the plants directly by Anutin. 

 

And then there are people who purchased weed legally under the current laws. What are they going to be expected to do with it all? Flush it down the toilet if they don't have a medical use certificate? 

 

To the contrary, people will probably continue to buy more and say it was acquired when there was no legal medical use requirement. 

 

There are too many legally registered sellers and growers now to ever take control of it again and turn it back into contraband, especially if it isn't ever reclassified as a controlled substance. 

[Hokeus]

Here is how I see it. 30% of the existing shops will eventually close down. The ones that survive then pick up the business from the failed shops and will then be able to pay the police even more so that they continue to turn a blind eye to sales for recreational use. 

 

In addition, the police will generally leave the end users alone and continue to get their payoffs from the shops. If the police go after individual users then it hurts the shops and, thus everyone in the food chain loses. 

 

The only thing they will likely clamp down on is people selling it on the street and smoking in the streets, which is already subject to a 25,000 Baht fine under the current law, but not enforced. But smoking in indoor shops and other designated areas will most likely remain permissible. Shops may be required to create a system to prevent the smoke from wafting out into the streets, but something else that will likely be loosely enforced. 

[Jingthing]

Seems to me Facebook / Line sales which many of us use because the prices are much much much better will be a problem. They usually ship by Flash or ThaiPost. If buds with thc are illegal how can that work? 

Edited January 12 by Jingthing

[Hokeus]

3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Seems to me Facebook / Line sales which many of us use because the prices are much much much better will be a problem. They usually ship by Flash or ThaiPost. If buds with thc are illegal how can that work? 

Buds with more than 0.2% THC are not illegal now and won't become illegal. They will only be prohibited for recreational use and restricted to medical use, which is technically the case already.
 

Distribution via post and other domestic shipping methods may not be affected much because the carriers likely won't be required to determine the intended use of the substance. If the substance isn't an illegal or controlled substance then there may not be any restrictions added to transport methods. If the people shipping the stuff out are legally licensed sellers then they should continue to be able to ship it legally. 
 

Seemingly shops will be the ones required to only sell to people with a medical certificate. Even that seems tricky to enforce though. The shop owners are often young people who are just retailers who aren't going to be expected to really check the authenticity of people's paperwork. Only the government can effectively do that. 

[Jingthing]

43 minutes ago, Hokeus said:

Buds with more than 0.2% THC are not illegal now and won't become illegal. They will only be prohibited for recreational use and restricted to medical use, which is technically the case already.
 

Distribution via post and other domestic shipping methods may not be affected much because the carriers likely won't be required to determine the intended use of the substance. If the substance isn't an illegal or controlled substance then there may not be any restrictions added to transport methods. If the people shipping the stuff out are legally licensed sellers then they should continue to be able to ship it legally. 
 

Seemingly shops will be the ones required to only sell to people with a medical certificate. Even that seems tricky to enforce though. The shop owners are often young people who are just retailers who aren't going to be expected to really check the authenticity of people's paperwork. Only the government can effectively do that. 

You didn't answer the concern at all.

People are not being busted for selling or buying this way now.

After the change with buds that have THC levels that people actually want, even if they are allowed for shipment by Flash or ThaiPost it will become very risky for customers to receive!

You talk as if things are black and white now.

Now things are muddied.

It's basically the wild west (and we like it). 

The law change appears intended to make things very clear and of course much more restricted.

Again, I don't know how these FB/Line sales of buds that get you high will be able to survive this change.

Edited January 12 by Jingthing

[Hokeus]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

You didn't answer the concern at all.

People are not being busted for selling or buying this way now.

After the change with buds that have THC levels that people actually want, even if they are allowed for shipment by Flash or ThaiPost it will become very risky for customers to receive!

Just get your medical certificate sorted which says you need cannabis to treat your erectile dysfunction and you’ll be good to go. Then you will be safely swimming in all the 30% THC postally delivered buds you need. 👍🏼

Edited January 12 by Hokeus

[Jingthing]

30 minutes ago, Hokeus said:

Just get your medical certificate sorted which says you need cannabis to treat your erectile dysfunction and you’ll be good to go. Then you will be safely swimming in all the 30% THC postally delivered buds you need. 👍🏼

Sure thing in other words you don’t have a clue.

[wombat]

On 11/14/2023 at 10:13 PM, george said:

Many cannabis shops will close next year

er...no...wrong.

Many more cannabis shops will open  next year...the perfect laundry.

 

[Dogmatix]

After the complaints that Cholnan had reneged on his promise for public consultation on the Cannabis Bill, they did in fact hold one yesterday after making the draft available somewhere, or maybe on request, as I can't find it.  Here is at least part of the public consultation meeting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6ZRR6GY1Nc. It was rather poorly attended by people in the weed business.  Small business people asking questions, but unfortunately no legal hotshots challenging the draft.  Most of them seemed like very ordinary guys trying to make a living but not very knowledgeable about legal matters. So can be easily ridden roughshod over.  I thought they had better legal muscle from articles I had read.  The biggest complaints were about Section 25, the prohibition on recreational use, and a ridiculous, broad definition of recreational in the law.  There are penalties for recreational use of a fine of I think 60lk and or 1 year in jail but also penalties for the seller. They asked how can they know, if they sell for medicinal use and someone uses it for fun. The definition of recreational can overlap with medical, they pointed out, e.g, .if you take it for Parkinsons and that allows you to relax and enjoy yourself, then, it appears that you have crossed the line to recreational use. They said police would be incentivized to go into someone backyard to arrest him for smoking a joint, if the cop make an instant judgement that he was enjoying himself smoking it, even though it was for medicinal purposes.

 

Recent reports on the draft kept saying that the shops would no longer be allowed to sell dried buds but I didn't see or hear anything about that and the questions seemed to suggest they would still be able to sell buds for medicinal purposes.  Also there was no discussion of doctor prescriptions. Perhaps that is all to follow in ministerial regulations that don't need to go through parliament. The whole thing seems all very surreal, especially against a backdrop where they are planning to partially decriminalize amphetamines by not prosecuting possession of up to 5 pills. A year in prison for smoking a join for fun instead of for medicinal purposes but no prosecution for speed pills, no matter whether they were for recreational purposes or not.

Edited January 15 by Dogmatix

[NextG]

4 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

After the complaints that Cholnan had reneged on his promise for public consultation on the Cannabis Bill, they did in fact hold one yesterday after making the draft available somewhere, or maybe on request, as I can't find it.  Here is at least part of the public consultation meeting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6ZRR6GY1Nc. It was rather poorly attended by people in the weed business.  Small business people asking questions, but unfortunately no legal hotshots challenging the draft.  Most of them seemed like very ordinary guys trying to make a living but not very knowledgeable about legal matters. So can be easily ridden roughshod over.  I thought they had better legal muscle from articles I had read.  The biggest complaints were about Section 25, the prohibition on recreational use, and a ridiculous, broad definition of recreational in the law.  There are penalties for recreational use of a fine of I think 60lk and or 1 year in jail but also penalties for the seller. They asked how can they know, if they sell for medicinal use and someone uses it for fun. The definition of recreational can overlap with medical, they pointed out, e.g, .if you take it for Parkinsons and that allows you to relax and enjoy yourself, then, it appears that you have crossed the line to recreational use. They said police would be incentivized to go into someone backyard to arrest him for smoking a joint, if the cop make an instant judgement that he was enjoying himself smoking it, even though it was for medicinal purposes.

 

Recent reports on the draft kept saying that the shops would no longer be allowed to sell dried buds but I didn't see or hear anything about that and the questions seemed to suggest they would still be able to sell buds for medicinal purposes.  Also there was no discussion of doctor prescriptions. Perhaps that is all to follow in ministerial regulations that don't need to go through parliament. The whole thing seems all very surreal, especially against a backdrop where they are planning to partially decriminalize amphetamines by not prosecuting possession of up to 5 pills. A year in prison for smoking a join for fun instead of for medicinal purposes but no prosecution for speed pills, no matter whether they were for recreational purposes or not.

Horse trading…as is usual. 

[Dogmatix]

Looking only at penalties in the draft bill for users, not growers and vendors, it looks like this.

 

Consuming cannabis for recreational use - fine up to 60,000.

Driving under the influence of cannabis - up to 1 year in jail and/or fine up to 20,000. 

 

Recreation is defined as using for entertainment or enjoyment whether alone or with other people. Refusing a test, assumed stoned.  No definition of stoned or how testing will be carried and this overlaps the existing law on driving under the influence of alcohol or substances where the penalties are higher. 

 

A big catch for the shop owners is up to one year in jail and/or 100,000 for selling to be used for recreation. They asked how they can prevent customers who buy for medical purposes using it for recreation.  No meaningful reply from the ministry muppets.