Thailand Plans Year-End Ban on Recreational Cannabis

[AustinRacing]

Don’t worry when taksin takes over he will close all those shops down. Good riddance. 

[Danderman123]

8 hours ago, PJ71 said:

Correct, nothing will change.

 

The gennie is too far out of the bottle, long may it continue.

The question is whether the number of cannabis shops will decline. It's hard to believe the number of shops in Pattaya, market forces alone should reduce the number.

[ripstanley]

Lets hope the the advertisement at the end of all news items will disappear sooner. 

[jts-khorat]

2 hours ago, Grusa said:

In my normal daily routines, I pass many of these outlets. Rarely do I see any customers at all, at any time of day or night.

 

I fail to see how there can be any return on investment, at the prices hawked, or at any price.

 

Many of the shops -- as are many bars, especially those run by the police or other influential local figures -- are obvious fronts for laundering all the brown envelopes. They will be more than fine, as long as this money flows upwards.

 

This, I am sure is not different to the west, where cannabis dispensiaries are now fronts for organized groups who made their money with more serious stuff and now take the great chance of being able to diversify into legality in a simple way.

 

The other number of businesses wholly unaffected by the law change are outlets for serious large-scale producers, who will see a lot of small competition die. They are financed by the right people to begin with, so they have the funds to hire staff that writes the prescriptions themselves (where they have not done already), so they would actually gain from this law change.

 

Still, the government is that unorganized and has the beer lobby to contend with (richer and better-connected families you cannot imagine), so it is to be seen which hand will be in the till, which in the end is the only deciding factor.

 

This is a big-stake game and small growers and entrepreneur businessmen are simply surfing the giant wave or become collateral damage. Nobody spares a second thought about them, or what tourists might think about it.

[HugoFastor]

2 hours ago, observer90210 said:

Whatever is implemented, it should be totally banned (with jail penalty) to smoke that disgusting smelly stuff in public, restaurants, beaches, at bus stops etc.

Is that alcohol I smell on your breath? Ewwww…

[HugoFastor]

1 hour ago, AustinRacing said:

Don’t worry when taksin takes over he will close all those shops down. Good riddance. 

Go ahead, pour yourself another drink, it will make you feel better when that doesn’t happen and the tears start rolling down your cheek. 😂

[Kalasin Jo]

10 hours ago, stoner said:

this old chestnut eh

Is not alcohol the oldest of them all? My grandfather swore by the virtues of a medicinal tipple of brandy before breakfast.  Of course here in Thailand alcohol is not supposed to be available for purchase between 2pm and 5 pm. May be that could be applied to cannabis and perhaps then children won't be getting stoned straight after school is out? Then there's ya-ba. Totally banned, totally available. Isn't it preferable to have legal cannabis outlets for recreational sales rather than a proliferation of underground " dealers" selling dodgy not to say dangerous product?

[HugoFastor]

2 minutes ago, Kalasin Jo said:

Is not alcohol the oldest of them all? My grandfather swore by the virtues of a medicinal tipple of brandy before breakfast.  Of course here in Thailand alcohol is not supposed to be available for purchase between 2pm and 5 pm. May be that could be applied to cannabis and perhaps then children won't be getting stoned straight after school is out? Then there's ya-ba. Totally banned, totally available. Isn't it preferable to have legal cannabis outlets for recreational sales rather than a proliferation of underground " dealers" selling dodgy not to say dangerous product?

Yes, that all makes perfect logical sense. But that’s not how things are approached. Critical thinking and rational decision making doesn’t enter the equation. It’s all about optics. Thailand doesn’t want the image of being a backpacker/stoner paradise. So public image is what’s on the ballot. 

[Dogmatix]

All this because Thaksin has a grudge against the coke dealers who allegedly supplied his son.

[stoner]

5 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

All this because Thaksin has a grudge against the coke dealers who allegedly supplied his son.

 

you know the old saying....where there's coke...there's fire. 

[Dogmatix]

7 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Yes and no.

Cannabis has a shelf life.

If you stock up then you will have amounts that will probably invite charges of dealing if caught.

Again the question -- do they intend on going into people's homes looking for weed or not?

Even if not, if for some reason the police enter for any other reason, then you've got a problem. 

 

The way the bill is currently drafted, there is no basis to get warrants to search homes for cannabis, except perhaps for people suspected of selling or growing without a licence. For ordinary users the only offences are recreational use and driving under the influence.  Possession is not illegal under the bill or the Narcotics Act, except for extracts over 0.2% THC.  So, unless they change things it will not be illegal to possess it, unless you are caught using it recreationally.  Of course they could argue that possessing buds without a medical prescription will be circumstantial evidence of intent to use recreationally.  Their whole approach is ridicuous.

[Mr Meeseeks]

4 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

One of the big drivers was the Junta getting Anutin's Bhumjaithai votes to cobble together an anti-democracy coalition. That job's done now, and I suspect Anutin will use these changes to get a lot of the small players out of the business and cement the Charnvirakul Clan as the pre-eminent dominant player in the market. Rather like Thai Bev and Boon Rawd totally dominate the booze one. The markets are totally rigged here. Follow the money.

 

 

Correct about the rigged markets. A very intuitive post.

 

Anutin's clan is a big cannabis producer, I am led to believe. One of the biggest in the country, allegedly. 

[Dogmatix]

Currently licensed herbal practitioners are allowed to write prescriptions for extracts over 0.2% THC.  It seems logical that they will also be allowed to write prescriptions for the raw plant which is not illegal,

[beautifulthailand99]

4 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

 

Correct about the rigged markets. A very intuitive post.

 

Anutin's clan is a big cannabis producer, I am led to believe. One of the biggest in the country, allegedly. 

Yes probably one of the biggest marijuana producers in the world now he will be relaxed about winnowing out the small fry and dominating this new market. One of the reasons why small craft beer companies haven't made great inroads is the punitive taxation regime sponsored and encouraged by BoonRawd/ThaiBev booze duopoly that effectively freezes out small players or makes the product prohibitively expensive. The same goes for the big supermarkets, they never really attack each other with aggressive pricing as that would damage each other. The Thai people are the big losers in all the strangleholds the mostly big Thai/Chinese families have on the business environment. Foreign entities enter the market at their peril - just ask Tesco or Carlsberg !

[Dogmatix]

4 hours ago, jingjai9 said:

I think the lawmakers are out of touch with reality. People use cannabis for medicine and recreationally because they like it. It is quite appealing to be able to use cannabis in the privacy of your room and then go and hang out at the beach, etc. Tourists like this and to think that the restrictions on cannabis will not affect tourism is a prime example of taking something you believe and then converting it into facts simply because you have thick skin and power. 

At the risk of continuing a tiresome argument comparing alcohol and cannabis, all the criticisms lodged against the dangers of cannabis can easily be applied to alcohol. However, it is doubtful alcohol has any real health benefits.

 

So here we go again, the uncles in the military and government have decided cannabis is no good so the public is forced to comply. This seems to be one more iteration in a process that covers most legislation, mandate, edict or whatever the word of the week is.

 

The uncles were OK with decriminalization.  The problem is Thaksin.

[PJ71]

2 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

The question is whether the number of cannabis shops will decline. It's hard to believe the number of shops in Pattaya, market forces alone should reduce the number.

Yeah, it's mental the amount of shops, staggering tbh.

 

 

[drgoon]

The Hub of Flip Flops

 

Ban cannabis and legalise yaba and Meth. 

[HaoleBoy]

17 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Yes and no.

Cannabis has a shelf life.

If you stock up then you will have amounts that will probably invite charges of dealing if caught.

Again the question -- do they intend on going into people's homes looking for weed or not?

Even if not, if for some reason the police enter for any other reason, then you've got a problem. 

I contacted 1 vendor selling in Phuket shops and online throughout Thailand asking them what their plans are with their customer data - emails, bank deposits, Line sales.  They told me I'm being too paranoid and this would never pass.

All it would take is some police going in to gather all customer data then sending local police to knock on doors and search residences in different provinces.  Police can charge 60,000 thb for any expat having weed in their premise.

Weed Vendors need to come up with plans to dispose of all their customer data just before this law takes affect.

[The Old Bull]

If it's anything like the drivers license medical they will have the paperwork for medical cannabis under the counter already signed . Just fill in your name pay the money and you are good to go.

[bamnutsak]

10 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

Currently licensed herbal practitioners are allowed to write prescriptions for extracts over 0.2% THC.

 

Can you expand on this statement?

 

Is there a list of these licensed herbal practitioners? Who are they? Where are they located? What qualifications were required for their licenses? What types of extracts can be prescribed? How are those dispensed? Are foreigners eligible?

 

Which diagnoses are approved for cannabis?

 

Can they write prescriptions today for cannabis flower over 0.2%?

 

 

 

 

[WHansen]

23 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. 

Let's not forget that every puff on a joint or pipe introduces concentrated PM2.5 directly into the lungs.

It is not as harmless as some claim but in my opinion far less damaging to society and the users body than alcohol.

 

[crazykopite]

If this happens there are going to be a lot of angry business owners who have invested enormous amounts of money .once again it shows that government both past and present continue to ring in changes with very little thought then within a year they flip flop because someone was not happy .if this does happen it will be a certain election loser it does not bother me as I don’t participate in any form of drug taking all I will see is many empty weed shops throughout the Kingdom

[JayClay]

19 hours ago, riclag said:

I think the conservative Thais dont

want your mind altering substances anywhere 

near 

their undereducated children

 

I don't give a flying f*** what the conservatives in my own country "want". Why should I care about what the local conservatives in Thailand think?

[zzzzz]

23 hours ago, kuzmabruk said:

Slight change … a doctor's prescription will be required to purchase medical maryjane … little brown envelopes will now change hands between retailers and the world renowned Thai medical professionals 

obtained here, https://card.weed.th/en 

got mine  2,000 baht

[bbi1]

19 hours ago, Spock said:

If smoking is already permitted on the balconies of the condos, surely weed would also be permissible?

No, because that shiit stinks badly. And the juristic office staff agrees with it that smoking weed on the balconies or in rooms "is very bad", to quote their words.

[zzzzz]

23 hours ago, hotchilli said:

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

they wont
thai's buy their weed from friends, grow their own or buy online at 1/5th or less the price of what the shops sell it for to tourists!!
so within a month or so, they wil all be gone
EVEN if they convert to selling medical weed>
people thta live here dont visit these shops cause they know that the prices are crazy

[Metapod]

its been no rules weed for over a year and everything is fine. the world didnt explode. maybe it isnt so bad?

[Jingthing]

12 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

they wont
thai's buy their weed from friends, grow their own or buy online at 1/5th or less the price of what the shops sell it for to tourists!!
so within a month or so, they wil all be gone
EVEN if they convert to selling medical weed>
people thta live here dont visit these shops cause they know that the prices are crazy

Yes buying online is much cheaper. 

But if flower with thc is illegal again I don't see how that can be shipped anymore by Thai Post or Flash which most use.

I can see that working for local area direct deliveries though.

[Peabody]

8 hours ago, HaoleBoy said:

I contacted 1 vendor selling in Phuket shops and online throughout Thailand asking them what their plans are with their customer data - emails, bank deposits, Line sales.  They told me I'm being too paranoid and this would never pass.

How about the thousands (tens, hundreds of thousands?) of registered growers? Plook Ganja app. Could they use that database as a starting point for a police crackdown? Or those that accepted government-grown plants in the beginning days?

[HugoFastor]

On 3/2/2024 at 12:51 PM, zzzzz said:

obtained here, https://card.weed.th/en 

got mine  2,000 baht

Not sanctioned by the government or any licensed medical practitioners, so basically not worth anything. Great money maker though for the people selling these useless cards.