Thailand was the first country in Asia to legalize marijuana. Things didn’t go as planned

Three years since Thai­land became the first coun­try in Asia to decrim­i­nal­ize cannabis, the gov­ern­ment this week imposed new rules designed to rein in the country’s “green rush.”

As of Thurs­day, cus­tomers need a doctor’s pre­scrip­tion to buy cannabis — effec­tive­ly restrict­ing con­sump­tion of the plant to med­ical and health pur­pos­es only

Thailand’s pub­lic health min­is­ter told CNN on Wednes­day he hopes to even­tu­al­ly recrim­i­nal­ize cannabis as a nar­cot­ic, in what would be a major rever­sal from Thailand’s lib­er­al approach since declas­si­fi­ca­tion, which saw a boom of dis­pen­saries and weed cafes open­ing across the coun­try, par­tic­u­lar­ly in tourist areas

“This must be clear­ly under­stood: cannabis is per­mit­ted for med­ical use only,” Pub­lic Health Min­is­ter Som­sak Thep­sutin

Medical certificates and a ban on advertising

The new rules from Thailand’s Health Min­istry aim to enforce the reg­u­la­tion of cannabis as a con­trolled herb.

That means licensed cannabis shops can now only sell to cus­tomers with a med­ical pre­scrip­tion. They are also required to keep detailed sales records and face reg­u­lar inspec­tions by author­i­ties, Som­sak said. New rules also put stricter con­trols on grow­ers and farm­ers, ban com­mer­cial adver­tis­ing and pro­hib­it cannabis from being sold in vend­ing machines or online.

More than 18,000 licensed cannabis shops across the coun­try will have to adapt or risk clos­ing. Penal­ties for sell­ers caught vio­lat­ing the new rules include up to one year in prison or a fine of 20,000 baht ($620), though the health min­istry is propos­ing new leg­is­la­tion that would sig­nif­i­cant­ly increase this.

A work­er takes cut­tings from moth­er mar­i­jua­na plants to be trans­plant­ed inside a cloning room at a cannabis cul­ti­va­tion facil­i­ty out­side of Bangkok in 2024

The ban on adver­tis­ing may also dra­mat­i­cal­ly change the land­scape of tourist hotspots such as Khao San Road in the cap­i­tal Bangkok, or beach towns like Pat­taya, where hun­dreds of cannabis shops and cafes line the streets with their green neon signs, cannabis-shaped inflat­a­bles and catchy slo­gans entic­ing tourists to get high.

Now, tourists and locals will need a doctor’s cer­tifi­cate from Thai­land or their home coun­try to pur­chase cannabis buds to treat cer­tain con­di­tions such as nau­sea from chemother­a­py, drug-resis­tant epilep­sy or nerve pain.

We want to tell tourists they are wel­come to enjoy Thailand’s cul­ture and nature — but Thai­land should not be seen as a des­ti­na­tion for recre­ation­al cannabis use,” Som­sak said.

Why have the new rules been intro­duced?

Med­ical mar­i­jua­na has been legal in Thai­land since 2018, but decrim­i­nal­iza­tion in 2022 meant it was no longer a crime to grow and trade mar­i­jua­na or hemp prod­ucts, or to use any parts of the plant to treat ill­ness­es — a major move in a region noto­ri­ous for harsh penal­ties towards ille­gal drugs.

Fol­low­ing legal­iza­tion, the gov­ern­ment intend­ed to reg­u­late the indus­try. But a legal vac­u­um emerged when this failed to mate­ri­al­ize, and recre­ation­al use explod­ed across the king­dom, par­tic­u­lar­ly in areas pop­u­lar with for­eign­ers.

Thou­sands of cannabis dis­pen­saries sprang up, as well as oth­er cannabis-themed busi­ness­es like weed cafes, hemp spas and places offer­ing beau­ty treat­ments. Cities like Chi­ang Mai and Bangkok have even held weed fes­ti­vals, and decrim­i­nal­iza­tion has been a major draw for tourists.

The bud on a mar­i­jua­na plant inside an indoor green­house out­side of Bangkok

One such fes­ti­val in Bangkok ear­li­er this month boast­ed an appear­ance by Mike Tyson, who has launched his own brand of box­ing glove- and ear-shaped cannabis gum­mies.

A 2022 report released by Thailand’s Min­istry of Com­merce esti­mat­ed the indus­try could be worth $1.2 bil­lion by 2025, though Som­sak said there is cur­rent­ly “no clear esti­mate” of the industry’s val­ue “due to unreg­u­lat­ed trans­ac­tions.”

We are not shut­ting down cannabis shops, but we are pri­or­i­tiz­ing med­ical reg­u­la­tion,” he said.

“Rev­enue may dip at first, but con­sid­er­ing the social harm caused by unreg­u­lat­ed use, the change is nec­es­sary … respon­si­ble, law-abid­ing busi­ness­es will remain sta­ble and con­tin­ue oper­at­ing.”

Social impacts and smug­gling

Those in sup­port of greater reg­u­la­tion say the indus­try has grown out of con­trol, and cit­ed health con­cerns, cannabis use among chil­dren, and addic­tion, while com­plaints of tourists smok­ing in the street are report­ed­ly grow­ing on the Thai islands.

On the hol­i­day island of Phuket, a plan has been pro­posed that would estab­lish zones restrict­ing where cannabis could be bought and sold.

Right now, cannabis addic­tion is ris­ing and has become a social issue. It affects chil­dren, caus­es nui­sance from unwant­ed odors,” said Som­sak.

This is a knee-jerk reac­tion to sup­pos­ed­ly address­ing the smug­gling issue,” said Kit­ty Chopa­ka, a long­time cannabis activist with the Writ­ing Thailand’s Cannabis Future Net­work advo­ca­cy group, which push­es for fair access.

Chopa­ka argues that many shops are oper­at­ing with­out licens­es and sell prod­ucts such as gum­mies and edi­bles that are tech­ni­cal­ly ille­gal though read­i­ly avail­able.

The police don’t shut them down,” she said.

If the gov­ern­ment enforced the “rules and laws that cur­rent­ly exist, the issue that they are now say­ing needs to be fixed wouldn’t have exist­ed,” she added.

Ake, the shop own­er, said requir­ing a doctor’s note to pur­chase cannabis will not stop peo­ple from buy­ing for recre­ation­al pur­pos­es.

Every­one knows med­ical cer­tifi­cates can be bought, so this just cre­ates a new rev­enue stream for cer­tain doc­tors … It bur­dens con­sumers with extra costs for access­ing cannabis, espe­cial­ly dur­ing Thailand’s cur­rent eco­nom­ic strug­gles and glob­al eco­nom­ic issues,” he said.