Re-criminalization and De-celebration

[sumaterani]

I know it may sound silly but I anxiously have free time lol...

 

So, while the government or parts of them are having their own agenda which may result restrictions of our freedom, as pro cannabis pro recreational that are still healthy enough, why don't we plan our own communities' farewell from recreation ... maybe something like large gathering at the end of the day of the freedom where we all can have a nice sit, getting burnt legally and cry a river together.

 

Is this even possible, where will it be fun and who can organize for us? What do you think? I'd say I'm in if it can be expected to happen.

 

Picture because it's necessary, this is my first thread hopefully won't be the last. Kha pun khap

 

[newbee2022]

20 hours ago, sumaterani said:

I know it may sound silly but I anxiously have free time lol...

 

So, while the government or parts of them are having their own agenda which may result restrictions of our freedom, as pro cannabis pro recreational that are still healthy enough, why don't we plan our own communities' farewell from recreation ... maybe something like large gathering at the end of the day of the freedom where we all can have a nice sit, getting burnt legally and cry a river together.

 

Is this even possible, where will it be fun and who can organize for us? What do you think? I'd say I'm in if it can be expected to happen.

 

Picture because it's necessary, this is my first thread hopefully won't be the last. Kha pun khap

 

I reckon you were smoking too much today already?😂

[newbee2022]

21 hours ago, sumaterani said:

I know it may sound silly but I anxiously have free time lol...

 

So, while the government or parts of them are having their own agenda which may result restrictions of our freedom, as pro cannabis pro recreational that are still healthy enough, why don't we plan our own communities' farewell from recreation ... maybe something like large gathering at the end of the day of the freedom where we all can have a nice sit, getting burnt legally and cry a river together.

 

Is this even possible, where will it be fun and who can organize for us? What do you think? I'd say I'm in if it can be expected to happen.

 

Picture because it's necessary, this is my first thread hopefully won't be the last. Kha pun khap

 

Ban it and burn the remaining rest of it👏

[ignore it]

Yeah,

 

Could we have it on Zoom?

[GrungthepGringo]

The cruise happened Saturday. You missed it:

 

https://siamcannabis.events/
 

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/cannabis_news/siam-cannabis-cup-event-celebrating-cannabis-culture-in-bangkok-thailand

[sumaterani]

1 hour ago, newbee2022 said:

Ban it and burn the remaining rest of it👏

 exactly

 

51 minutes ago, ignore it said:

Yeah,

 

Could we have it on Zoom?

Probably yes, for those who can't make it offline due to some conditions, maybe something like NYC-Dublin portal - closed recently so we can borrow it haha 

 

 

 

27 minutes ago, GrungthepGringo said:

The cruise happened Saturday. You missed it:

 

https://siamcannabis.events/
 

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/cannabis_news/siam-cannabis-cup-event-celebrating-cannabis-culture-in-bangkok-thailand

 

My bad. Great idea though, can we have it one more time please; According to latest news the prohibition will start 1st April 2025. Still have time to make on 31st March

[action]

Don't lose hope brother.  And don't expect the Thai government to follow through on 90% of what it says.

[Dogmatix]

2 minutes ago, action said:

Don't lose hope brother.  And don't expect the Thai government to follow through on 90% of what it says.

Decriminalizationis not an initiative of the government. It is an order from Thaksin to his flunkies Somsak and Srettha who can’t survive 5 minutes in office without Thaksin’s support. No consultative or democratic processes involved. It was not Peru’s Thai policy until recently. Srettha assured the weed shop owners they could stay in business soon after he took office. 
 

The country is now ruled by one man.

[sumaterani]

1 hour ago, Dogmatix said:

Decriminalizationis not an initiative of the government. It is an order from Thaksin to his flunkies Somsak and Srettha who can’t survive 5 minutes in office without Thaksin’s support. No consultative or democratic processes involved. It was not Peru’s Thai policy until recently. Srettha assured the weed shop owners they could stay in business soon after he took office. 
 

The country is now ruled by one man.

 

You mean Criminalization or Re-criminalization, I suppose 

[GrungthepGringo]

1 hour ago, action said:

Don't lose hope brother.  And don't expect the Thai government to follow through on 90% of what it says.

And do 100% the opposite. 

[Bday Prang]

How many were discreetly  smoking it before legalisation ?    ( millions)    How many will be smoking discreetly  if it is recriminalized ?  (more than before)  The genie is well and truly out of the bottle  

[Dogmatix]

1 hour ago, sumaterani said:

 

You mean Criminalization or Re-criminalization, I suppose 

Yes. Sorry for the typo.

[GrungthepGringo]

2 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

How many were discreetly  smoking it before legalisation ?    ( millions)    How many will be smoking discreetly  if it is recriminalized ?  (more than before)  The genie is well and truly out of the bottle  

10X more at least. 

[Lancelot01]

11 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

Decriminalizationis not an initiative of the government. It is an order from Thaksin to his flunkies Somsak and Srettha who can’t survive 5 minutes in office without Thaksin’s support. No consultative or democratic processes involved. It was not Peru’s Thai policy until recently. Srettha assured the weed shop owners they could stay in business soon after he took office. 
 

The country is now ruled by one man.

Again.

[Dogmatix]

18 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

How many were discreetly  smoking it before legalisation ?    ( millions)    How many will be smoking discreetly  if it is recriminalized ?  (more than before)  The genie is well and truly out of the bottle  

 

Before decriminalization there was copious supply of cheap brick weed grown by Thai politicians and other influential Thai people in Laos. It was low quality and grown with liberal amounts of toxic pesticides. Now the cheapo brickweed is apparently still flowing but there is also oversupply of better quality weed, both grown locally and smuggled from the US through lavish bribes paid to the customs dept.  Where is it all supposed to go?  The cheap brickweed was a staple product was always there and isn't going away.  The supply of the better stuff will probably diminish and go up in price but won't go away entirely and customs officers still need money to pay for luxury cars, mansions and prestigious overseas schools and universities for their kids, while earning pitiful government salaries. Now police, who have been out in cold for two years, will also jump back in and seize back their control of distribution networks plus busting backpackers who buy their product on the islands.

 

Another brilliantly thought through policy to appease the capriciousness of one elderly convicted criminal who has bought his way back into power.

Edited May 21 by Dogmatix

[sumaterani]

I think Thailand will be the first in the world for the re-criminalization of cannabis scheme if that bounds to happen. 

 

As far as Google search, there's no country ever gone through that way back down. Though in Oregon and Washington (CMIIW), drugs such as heroin, cocaine, etc (but not including cannabis) are being re-criminalized.

 

 

[sumaterani]

2 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

 

Before decriminalization there was copious supply of cheap brick weed grown by Thai politicians and other influential Thai people in Laos. It was low quality and grown with liberal amounts of toxic pesticides. Now the cheapo brickweed is apparently still flowing but there is also oversupply of better quality weed, both grown locally and smuggled from the US through lavish bribes paid to the customs dept.  Where is it all supposed to go?  The cheap brickweed was a staple product was always there and isn't going away.  The supply of the better stuff will probably diminish and go up in price but won't go away entirely and customs officers still need money to pay for luxury cars, mansions and prestigious overseas schools and universities for their kids, while earning pitiful government salaries. Now police, who have been out in cold for two years, will also jump back in and seize back their control of distribution networks plus busting backpackers who buy their product on the islands.

 

Another brilliantly thought through policy to appease the capriciousness of one elderly convicted criminal who has bought his way back into power.

 

Yeah, I see it more political rather than scientific or medical issue. We have to pay them all with our money and freedom, sadly bad things are in the making.

 

Hopefully in the end there will be a win win for all.

 

18 hours ago, GrungthepGringo said:

10X more at least. 

 

Can't imagine over capacity of prisons and workloads to bear by law enforcement for the misconduct. Why can't just they focus on corruption and illegal immigration or such.

[GrungthepGringo]

5 minutes ago, sumaterani said:

I think Thailand will be the first in the world for the re-criminalization of cannabis scheme if that bounds to happen. 

 

As far as Google search, there's no country ever gone through that way back down.

 

I think that's because there probably isn't another country like Thailand where the people in power (and who make the laws) are controlled by the influence, money and power yielded by the alcohol cartels over government decisions. This in turn can steer the profitability of the alcohol industry.
 

At the end of the day, cannabis is the biggest threat to the alcohol industry in Thailand and has already had an impact on their profits. Now that this has become apparent (from the 2 year cannabis decriminalization experiment), the alcohol cartels are trying desperately to reverse things back. 

[GrungthepGringo]

5 minutes ago, sumaterani said:

Can't imagine over capacity of prisons and workloads to bear by law enforcement for the misconduct. Why can't just they focus on corruption and illegal immigration or such.

When cannabis was decriminalized in 2022 there were 3,071 people released from the prisons who were serving sentences related to cannabis. If the laws are reversed back, then I imagine prisons could have as many as 30,000 or 40,000 people incarcerated for cannabis offenses by 2028 because of the exponential increase in the sale and use of cannabis flowers that has occurred over the last 2 years. That would cause a massive strain on the prison system, but it seems like the people in power aren't concerned about that.
 

They recently decriminalized cannabis in Germany and one of the main reasons they did is was because there were over 200,000 open cases in the German judicial system that was putting a massive strain on law enforcement in Germany. So they decided decriminalizing it was better for everyone since they were clearly losing the war on cannabis. 
 

I think what Thailand doesn't seem to realize is that if they make cannabis a criminal class 5 narcotic drug again then it will likely have little impact on their intended goal of reducing current usage. However, it will increase the strain on law-enforcement, the judicial system and the prisons. And it will push the whole industry back underground, and back into the black market. So things will get worse for civil society, not better.

[Dogmatix]

45 minutes ago, GrungthepGringo said:

I think that's because there probably isn't another country like Thailand where the people in power (and who make the laws) are controlled by the influence, money and power yielded by the alcohol cartels over government decisions. This in turn can steer the profitability of the alcohol industry.
 

At the end of the day, cannabis is the biggest threat to the alcohol industry in Thailand and has already had an impact on their profits. Now that this has become apparent (from the 2 year cannabis decriminalization experiment), the alcohol cartels are trying desperately to reverse things back. 

 

Good points.  Another issue is that demand for speed pills went down and prices fell.  When cannabis was illegal trade in speed pills and meth was far greater than the trade in cannabis. Police and influential persons involved in the yaba trade suffered. Speed pills and meth are much easier to produce than cannabis and are more compact and easier to smuggle and distribute.  The government wants to give police and related criminals a double bonus - restore the profitability of the huge yaba trade and give them back their cannabis trade.  The newly released despot has always favoured police complete with its all encompassing criminal enterprises.  

[GrungthepGringo]

1 hour ago, Dogmatix said:

 

Good points.  Another issue is that demand for speed pills went down and prices fell.  When cannabis was illegal trade in speed pills and meth was far greater than the trade in cannabis. Police and influential persons involved in the yaba trade suffered. Speed pills and meth are much easier to produce than cannabis and are more compact and easier to smuggle and distribute.  The government wants to give police and related criminals a double bonus - restore the profitability of the huge yaba trade and give them back their cannabis trade.  The newly released despot has always favoured police complete with its all encompassing criminal enterprises.  

 

I agree, cannabis has hurt the illegal speed/meth market. And, as you said, has also harmed the cannabis black market. Given, if they make cannabis illegal again, it will increase the price for cannabis (benefiting the cannabis black market) and could reduce the current competition cannabis now poses for both speed and alcohol. So a win, not only alcohol, but for the cannabis and speed black markets too. 

 

As for Tony, he doesn't seem to yield the same level of power as before. Many see him as a runaway coward/criminal. Thus, the level of his importance has fallen and wealthy and powerful players in the cannabis industry like Anutin and Prawit are what he's now up against. He's also probably favoring the alcohol cartels more than he is the police and the black market drug industry at this point. 

 

Tony's greatest power is now within the PT party and controlling the ruling government, but things that are outside of his party's control is where his weakness really shows. It's not the old days when his power was far more consolidated and wide sweeping. 

[Dogmatix]

6 hours ago, GrungthepGringo said:

 

I agree, cannabis has hurt the illegal speed/meth market. And, as you said, has also harmed the cannabis black market. Given, if they make cannabis illegal again, it will increase the price for cannabis (benefiting the cannabis black market) and could reduce the current competition cannabis now poses for both speed and alcohol. So a win, not only alcohol, but for the cannabis and speed black markets too. 

 

As for Tony, he doesn't seem to yield the same level of power as before. Many see him as a runaway coward/criminal. Thus, the level of his importance has fallen and wealthy and powerful players in the cannabis industry like Anutin and Prawit are what he's now up against. He's also probably favoring the alcohol cartels more than he is the police and the black market drug industry at this point. 

 

Tony's greatest power is now within the PT party and controlling the ruling government, but things that are outside of his party's control is where his weakness really shows. It's not the old days when his power was far more consolidated and wide sweeping. 

 

It is true that his power for now is mainly over PT but PT controls a lot, include the PM and Public Health Ministry which is all important to this topic. He is currently working hard to gain control of the new senate and hopes to install his brother in law as senate speaker which would give him a lot of control over appointments to courts and independent agencies that are currently still under Prayut and Prawit.   That was power Tony used to devastating effect in the past, disabling the independent agencies.  He will probably never have control over the military but could get control of the police back and I believe appeasing the police is a bit part of this and has always been very important to him.  When he was first PM he shut down the Southern Border Command and seized control of security in the South to hand it to the cops, sending brutal Thai Chinese cops from Bangkok down there to take over key positions, replacing army officers who Prem had insisted should be Southerners who spend their whole careers there and were able to develop good contacts in all communities.  The prize was all the smuggling income from oil, booze, fags, luxury cars etc coming over from Malaysia and people smuggling going in the other direction.  The price paid by the South was devastating, as the Bangkok police thugs poured gasoline onto the flames of the Southern insurgency. igniting the whole region and leading to atrocities like Tak Bai. 

 

He has done remarkably well to regain as much power as he has only about a year since he was facing 10 years in jail.  However, I agree with your sentiment that this is likely to be his swan song.  He is out of touch now and doesn't have the same appeal with upcountry people or the young in general as he did and is unlikely to improve this much.  Many of the die hard reds have deserted him over the dirty trick of doing a deal with the uncles and not standing by the coalition agreement with MFP.  HIs daughter is not terribly bright and is nothing without him and is unlikely to develop much of a cult following of her own.  Put her in a TV debate with someone like Pita and she would be shredded. But sadly Tony has enough power to totally destroy the cannabis industry.