Thailand needs to hash out proper cannabis policy to avoid ‘drug problems’, PM candidates say

Parliament last June voted to strike cannabis from the banned narcotics list but was dissolved for the May 14 election before codifying a Cannabis Act

Leading calls for a rethink is Pheu Thai’s Sreetha Thavisin, while the youth-focused Move Forward party says the opening up has been too fast and reckless

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Thai Prime Minister and United Thai Nation Party candidate Prayuth Chan-ocha looks at a stall selling cannabis as he campaigns in the Chinatown area of Bangkok on April 20, 2023. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:30am, 5 May 2023

In a Thai election where there is barely a rolling paper’s width between the chances of the main prime ministerial candidates, the kingdom’s contentious cannabis decriminalisation has come under scrutiny, sparking worries that Asia’s most liberal weed policy could go up in smoke.

Last June, lawmakers voted to strike cannabis from the banned narcotics list, ostensibly for use in a nascent medicine and culinary industry that is expected to be worth billions of dollars to Thailand over coming years.

But parliament was dissolved for the May 14 election before a Cannabis Act could be codified, leaving a vaporous definition around who gets to legally grow, sell and smoke weed.

Vast weed dispensaries have opened, selling super-strength weed or edibles to tourists and a public who can now smoke in plain sight of the police – even if they should not. Photo: EPA-EFE

Vast dispensaries have opened, selling super-strength weed or edibles to tourists and a public who can now smoke in plain sight of the police – even if they should not.

Viral videos of stoned schoolchildren, as well as tourists, have outraged a broadly conservative public who now see pre-rolled spliffs being sold openly on the street for US$5-6. Deep into election season, that has made cannabis a political hot topic.

Leading the calls for a rethink on the policy is Sreetha Thavisin, a former real estate CEO, who is running for prime minister with Pheu Thai, Thailand’s biggest pro-democracy party.

“Since I’ve been on campaign trail I have experienced first-hand the suffering of the people and their discontent with images of 10-year-olds smoking ganja as well as other drug problems in communities,” he tweeted on May 2.

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