Thailand Plans Year-End Ban on Recreational Cannabis

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Cholnan further stated that cannabis shops operating unlawfully will not be permitted to continue, and domestic cultivation of cannabis will also be discouraged. He noted that currently, there are approximately 20,000 legally registered shops

So who will the shops sell to if recreational use is made illegal?

[Gecko123]

To the "nothing's gonna change" crowd...

 

There's gonna be a whole lot of incentive for medicinal shops to be snitching on anyone making recreational use sales. That means recreational sales will move out of retail store fronts and into back alley / street corner sales. Foreigners won't be able to compete in the illicit recreational cannabis trade. Too high profile. The big money in recreational sales came from the tourist trade, didn't it?

 

If you're making medicinal sales, the shop's gonna be required to show prescription records to match sales. That's the kind of gumshoe police work Thai cops thrive on. Again, medicinal shop #1 sees medicinal shop #2 getting 10 times the foot traffic than their shop, there's a big incentive to snitch. Thais are snitch kings. Especially if the person being snitched on is a foreigner. I don't think this is gonna be a wink and a nod situation.

 

 

[Cat Boy]

3 hours ago, stoner said:

 

this old chestnut eh. 

 

pm2.5 is a far greater risk to thai children than cannabis can or ever will be. prove me wrong. 

2.5 PM pollution effects everyone, whereas even in this Health Ministerial fantasy world affects Thai children who partake (groundless and unsubstantiated as that is). 

 

However, since none of us were born yesterday, it's no secret that neither one will be seriously addressed, and the more frequent the public announcements, the less likely anyone will even raise an eyebrow. 

[Jack Cook]

Bwaaaa Haaaaaa Haaaaaa. Yeah right. Too entrenched now. Utter fools😂😂😁😂

[expat_4_life]

4 hours ago, stoner said:

 

this old chestnut eh. 

 

pm2.5 is a far greater risk to thai children than cannabis can or ever will be. prove me wrong. 

 

Prove you're right, it was you that made the PM2.5 claim, what do you have?

Meanwhile, plenty of risk smoking Marijuana.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heart-health/marijuana-use-little-month-linked-heart-attack-stroke-risk-new-study-rcna140928

[LikeItHot]

Should've just taxed the hell out of it.  

[JimboB4]

Oh when will TVF get their facts straight. Some of what they mentioned is already in place and they wrote multiple other misinformation. 

[JimboB4]

Next year when I’m home smoking the same stuff I’ll let you know how that went. 

[Jake72]

I don't think it will be possible to put the cat back in the bag, besides it's probably less damaging than alcohol.

[HugoFastor]

People trying to change the law in government would get shuffled to another post before anything would materially change. It's a billion dollar industry now in Thailand. Too much money at stake for a few people to change the game. 

So, by the end of the year, things will get delayed again for one more reason or another and the so called cannabis bill will never make it to parliament. This is all just lip service in the media for those who want to see them tighten up the law. 

Perhaps, eventually, a very soft medical use requirement emerges, but where possession of up to 25-50 grams (without a medical certificate) still faces no penalty so that people can still use it at will. The proverbial Thai style loophole. 

Then the only thing that would change materially would be all the foreigners hanging out and smoking in weed shops in the tourist areas would be reduced. Foreigners could still buy from those shops though with a flimsy medical certificate, but they would have to smoke it a bit more discreetly. 

The noticeable change in open consumption would only occur in Bangkok, but in the islands there would be no enforcement of any new medical use only law. 
 

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, PJ71 said:

I'm confident no one will come to my house to look for weed, this of no concern to me, i've had zero police visits in the 23 years i've been here ( bribe them with a spliff - lol ).

 

Edibles have no shelf life, not sure about raw weed if frozen of kept in sealed units?

 

There's also the potential just to grow your own, i know multiple people  doing this before it was legalised.

Infused cannabis oil has a shelf life of two years max  if optimally stored.

[HugoFastor]

3 hours ago, JonnyF said:

I predict a complete mess where it is technically illegal, but tolerated, unless you upset someone in power or a cop needs to extort someone to pay the repayment on his mia noi's BMW. 

 

Much like vaping. 

All the retail weed shops all pay money to the police already. If many of the shops close down and/or the police start going after the end users it's only going to harm everyone's pocket, including the police. The status quo is already the best case for all interests involved. 

[HugoFastor]

1 hour ago, PJ71 said:

Edibles have no shelf life, not sure about raw weed if frozen of kept in sealed units?

Best method is two layers of vacuum bags and then put it in the fridge. Should last 2-3 years that way. Just need to let it return to room temperature before opening any of the vacuum bags coming out of the fridge to avoid condensation. Freezer is risky. Can cause burns. 

[connda]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

"The detrimental effects of cannabis misuse on Thai children are concerning,"

Don't worry, most of the "Thai children" are ingesting dirt-cheap methamphetamines and have little or no interest in expensive ganja that they can't afford anyway.  That should be a boon for the Yaba market which is on a roll.

[connda]

Ban alcohol too.  Do it "for the children." 

[connda]

5 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

It will be a complete mess to implement, and some officials will get very rich receiving backhanders for licences, or to turn a blind eye to those that are not in compliance. 

 

Stopping people growing at home after hundreds of thousands have registered to do so is pure folly. 

 

So typically Thai though, a complete mess from start to finish. 

All ya have to do is look at all the closes and shuttered small/medium business up and down Thapae Road in CM to see who wasn't considered to be "essential businesses.'  Now that a new, nascent, budding industry has developed, it's time to bankrupt those small/medium businesses as well.  "Sucks to be you commoners."

[Cabradelmar]

There is going to be a lot of unhappy brick-and-mortar dispensary owners. They will need to switch to medical, and everyone simply gets their medical marijuana card... https://thai.news/news/thailand/thailands-first-digital-cannabis-card-network But I do expect the latest re-criminalization to be as rocky and ham-handed as the first de-criminalization. TiT.

[stoner]

1 hour ago, expat_4_life said:

 

Prove you're right, it was you that made the PM2.5 claim, what do you have?

Meanwhile, plenty of risk smoking Marijuana.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heart-health/marijuana-use-little-month-linked-heart-attack-stroke-risk-new-study-rcna140928

 

so pm2.5 kills approx 30k thai each year. remind me how many cannabis kills ?

 

 

[ChaiyaTH]

1 minute ago, stoner said:

 

so pm2.5 kills approx 30k thai each year. remind me how many cannabis kills ?

 

 

It never killed anyone and that article is complete nonsense. 
 

The only thing that can be unhealthy is smoking it, which is a option and not necessary.

 

To then start with alcohol, nuff said.

[bbi1]

They should've banned that from the 1st Jan 2024, not the end of the years. Too many waankers smoking that shiit in the condo balconies in Pattaya in my building, and that shiit blows everywhere into my room and stinks up my room. Good thing though is the juristic office doesn't stand for that shiit and report those waankers and they get fined. Too many Air BnB type waankers think they can do whatever they want without respect to others in the building.

[ChaiyaTH]

This is good news, they postpone it already as they originally screamed June. Let the ping pong games begin.

[ChaiyaTH]

1 minute ago, bbi1 said:

They should've banned that from the 1st Jan 2024, not the end of the years. Too many waankers smoking that shiit in the condo balconies in Pattaya in my building, and that shiit blows everywhere into my room and stinks up my room. Good thing though is the juristic office doesn't stand for that shiit and report those waankers and they get fined. Too many Air BnB type waankers think they can do whatever they want without respect to others in the building.

Yeah im sure that normal cigaret smoke or a cigar would smell more pleasant, aside from it lingering for hours instead of 10 mins.

[thesetat]

5 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

It will be a complete mess to implement, and some officials will get very rich receiving backhanders for licences, or to turn a blind eye to those that are not in compliance. 

 

Stopping people growing at home after hundreds of thousands have registered to do so is pure folly. 

 

So typically Thai though, a complete mess from start to finish. 

Do not forget if they need to register as selling medical cannabis then they will also need to see proof from a doctor to sell their buds. So, I foresee registered doctors lying in wait to provide instant examinations to issue smoking license to the customer prior to the shop selling the buds.to them. 

On a side note, 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

He also reassured that the new regulations would not adversely affect tourism.

This I have to laugh at. Of course it will affect tourism somewhat.

[bbi1]

4 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Yeah im sure that normal cigaret smoke or a cigar would smell more pleasant, aside from it lingering for hours instead of 10 mins.

Would be great if they banned all smoking or made a room for all the smokers to smoke only to enjoy their ways. That being said, weed/marijuana/ganja really stinks so badly and gives an instant headache when it comes into your room.

[connda]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

"The detrimental effects of cannabis misuse on Thai children are concerning," he emphasized. "In the long term, it could potentially pave the way for involvement with other substances."

These people don't get out of their ivory towers long enough to actually know what is happening in the real world.  At least out in the rural boondocks, methamphetamines (yaba) IS the gateway drug to "other substances."  At one time, one meth pill was 100 THB.  Now?  10 THB. (I don't want to here a snarky "How do you know?"  I know as well as every other villager in the Amphur.  it's common knowledge, although it may not be common knowledge for a farang in a gated community). So every kid who is given 20 or 30 THB for "School Lunch" can afford to get high.  This kids can't afford a gram of weed.  But they can afford to "tweak" on a daily basis.  Then add cheap alcohol (rice whiskey) and you've got a recipe for disaster. 

All they have done is eliminate one "draw" to bring potential tourists to Thailand and decriminalize an activity that should be the decision of any grown adult.  "But the children!"  Yeah, the children.  If you're so concerned about the freaking children, then stop the methamphetamines trade.  Which will never happen.  Ban cigarettes.  Ban alcohol.  Ban sex.  Ban ganja.  Do it "For the sake of the children."  😐  Blah blah blah...

 

[PJ71]

30 minutes ago, HugoFastor said:

Can cause burns.

Can you elaborate?

[bob smith]

What a daft country this is!

 

it’s like a scene from Monty python.

 

utterly embarrassing. 

[LetsGoJoe]

I went to a Cannabis Symposium is CM recently where a big player in the industry was giving a talk on the pending change in regulation. He says it will happen and would be at least 1yr for any sort of implementation to begin. This guy (American) has 15 cannabis shops on Sukhumvit alone and said whichever way the regulation goes he is not concerned as he was originally set-up as a "medicinal" store front and still employs the key personnel.

[Ebumbu]

Parts of the sweeping, comprehensive law has been leaked by insiders. Here's the short version: Pay more money every three months for a farcical medical license for any given reason, such as back pain, headache, insomnia, Munchausen Syndrome, exploding head syndrome, bristophilia, pica, water allergy, boanthropy, and general malaise. 

 

[HugoFastor]

7 minutes ago, PJ71 said:

Can you elaborate?

Freezer burn occurs when things kept in the freezer are exposed to air entering the freezer, thus causing moisture to evaporate. This dehydration results in overly dry, discolored patches on the surface. It can occur from opening and closing the freezer door frequently. It's not a huge risk, and vacuum bags help to prevent this, but in Thailand, where the ambient temperature is so hot, I just wouldn't risk it.
 

And really there is no need for the freezer. The fridge is already a really good method to keep the weed from aging once you have the weed sealed in two layers of vacuum bags with all the air inside the bags removed.
 

The biggest risk to weed is mold and fungus which is present in the air. But once in a vacuum bag that is removed from the equation.

 

Then the fridge protects it from the heat in Thailand, the heat being the other factor that causes weed to degrade over time.

 

With air and heat removed by using vacuum bags, and then placed in the fridge, weed can stay as fresh as the day you vacuum bagged it for a very long time. At least 2-3 years.