When Thailand decriminalized cannabis, American tourists rejoiced. Cannabis connoisseurs flocked to the country to tap into the culture and enjoy the local flare. The rapidly growing industry is expected to bring in $410.80M this year. Unfortunately, the heyday was short-lived, and political parties pulled back on the newly opened legality. Now, cannabis operators fought back by way of peaceful protest in Bangkok.
In the summer of 2022, Thailand removed the plant from the Category 5 narcotics list, effectively decriminalizing weed in the country. Thai law dictates cannabis must be under 0.2 percent THC, but decriminalization gave unlicensed vendors the space to open up shop. What resulted was a new cannabis tourism hotspot that blew up so quickly that the government walked back the decision.
As the Thai election took place a year later, cleaning up the country’s cannabis problem was a prominent running point. The resulting winner, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, promised on X last week to make the plant illegal again by the end of the year. Medical cannabis would remain legal again. If recriminalized, it will be against the law to “produce, sell, import, export, or possess” cannabis. However, Thai cannabis business owners are not going down without a fight.
Farmers, activists, and entrepreneurs gathered at the capitol in protest. All are against adding cannabis back to the scheduled narcotics list. Hundreds attended a rally in Bangkok this week to protest the change and collected signatures to file against Prime Minister Thavisin in administrative court. The crew filled out 2,000 entries, each listing the income they’d lose if the administration rescheduled the plant.
“If the government backed down, we wouldn’t need to file this petition. But we want to have this as an ammunition,” signature collector and cannabis business owner Jerawat Tanyaprirom said to The Business Times.
Prasitchai Nunuan served as a group representative during the rally, where advocates addressed Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin. Nunuan explained that protesters agreed regulation was needed but urged the government to rethink rescheduling it as a narcotic.
Americans can put away their Thailand cannabis vacation mood boards for now as the country finds a new normal. While tourism is off the table, perhaps this display of nonviolent activism could urge the government to regulate rather than reschedule.
