Cannabis should soon be restricted to patients with a medical certificate in Thailand, according to the Ministry of Health.
Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin has said that cannabis users in Thailand will be required to present a medical certificate to ensure the plant is used for medical purposes only.
The announcement is the latest twist in a long and confusing process aimed at regulating cannabis use since its decriminalization nearly three years ago.
The previous government had planned to re-criminalize the plant, but was unable to achieve its goals.
See: Thailand: Politics and Profits Block Cannabis Recriminalization
On Wednesday, May 21, at a press conference in Bangkok, Mr. Somsak, a minister from the ruling Pheu Thai party, said:
“I will improve the regulations on cannabis consumption in Thailand.
For example, cannabis smokers may be required to provide a medical certificate.
Foreign and Thai cannabis users will need a medical certificate.
We will order government agencies to continue enforcing the law and not allow any problems to develop."
The main change would require cannabis users to have a medical certificate, accompanied by a prescription issued by a licensed health professional, whether a traditional Thai medicine practitioner or a general practitioner.
Mr. Somsak said he wanted the regulations to be issued by the Ministry of Public Health within 40 days.
Dr. Somlerk Jeungsmarn, director general of the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine, said at the press conference that regulations should clearly state that cannabis use is for medical purposes only.
“In the future, medical certificates may be required to prove that consumers are suffering from illnesses such as seizures, headaches, pain or insomnia.
Its use may be subject to restrictions, such as a one-month dose.
If the duration of use exceeds one month, it will not be considered medical use and prosecution will be initiated .
"As for sanctions, I will consider the possibility of imprisonment ," he said.
But this poses problems, as a person can suffer from insomnia, or other health problems for more than a month.
Somsak added that it could take up to two years for laws like the cannabis bill to be passed, and he was therefore exercising his authority to issue regulations to strengthen the ministry's existing notification of controlled plants.
A flagship policy of the Bhumjaithai party
Anutin Charnvirakul at a cannabis farm when he was Minister of Health, now Minister of Interior.
The decriminalization of cannabis is a flagship policy of the Bhumjaithai party, which sees lucrative economic potential in the plant.
When Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul was Minister of Public Health in General Prayut Chan-o-cha's government, he issued a ministerial regulation removing cannabis from the national list of narcotics.
But few other regulations existed to govern the use of cannabis, which led to a situation of free consumption, with an explosion in recreational use and the appearance of shops selling cannabis all over the country.
Bhumjaithai proposed legislation to close the loopholes, but the Prayut government's term ended before it could be debated.
Last September, the Pheu Thai government proposed a new bill aimed at regulating the cannabis industry and limiting the use of marijuana to primarily health and medical purposes.
It was the latest attempt to curb recreational use after several policy reversals.
The bill has not yet been introduced in the House of Representatives.
Under the bill, cannabis or its extracts would be authorized for medical and research purposes by government agencies, in addition to their use in herbal products, food and cosmetics.
The bill was released by the Ministry of Public Health just days after Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra's new government took office.
The bill appears to take a softer stance than previous government initiatives to regulate the industry.
It no longer contains a clause explicitly prohibiting recreational use, which had been proposed in a previous draft by the government of former Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.
Opposition from Bhumjaithai, the second-largest party in the coalition, forced Pheu Thai to backtrack on its promise and maintain the plant's legality.
The bill provides for tougher licensing rules for the cultivation, sale, export and import of cannabis.
Current growers, suppliers, and related businesses will be required to obtain or apply for new licenses or permits, or face heavy prison sentences or fines.
See also:
Free trips to Thailand: the trap of cannabis traffickers
Netflix star returns from Thailand trip with 40 kilos of cannabis
Thailand wants to regulate cannabis while keeping it legal
Many tourists arrested with cannabis after trips to Thailand
Source: Bangkok Post
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2 comments
Great, this new initiative from the Minister of Public Health, Somsak Thepsutin!
While the intention may seem laudable in order to put back on track a law liberalizing the use of cannabis, which has been constantly revised since 2022, in order to overcome the numerous flaws that appeared in the law of Mr. Anutin, Minister of Health at the time, his successor and current Minister of Health himself mentions the pitfalls and the delays he expects to set up and make operational this obligation to issue a medical certificate for the dispensing of cannabis for medical use.
Among other measures envisaged, we can mention:
The limitation of the number of doses (1 dose per patient per month!), the total duration of therapeutic consumption also limited to one month, the possession of a medical certificate (in addition to a doctor's prescription) for both foreign tourists and Thais, the establishment of sanctions going as far as imprisonment for people (including long-term patients?) who do not respect these procedures and these limits of use in time and authorized quantities...
The Minister of Health also wants to put these measures into practice within 40 days, while recognizing that a new law thoroughly revised by his party, the Pheu Thai, could take up to 2 years to be adopted and recorded in the Royal Gazette...
When everything is going well and smoothly!!!
In short, while recognizing that it is necessary to regulate the consumption of what remains a drug in the same way as tobacco, it seems to me that we are once again in the position of a temporary sticking plaster on a wooden leg, which will not make the task of law enforcement easier in controlling recreational use, authorized by the 2022 law, revised and challenged several times in 2023 and 2024 and again targeted with these new directives which should therefore come into force during the month of July...
In short, we are back to a new artistic vagueness, new difficulties in monitoring the application of these measures and the modalities of a repression of recreational consumption which will once again be "outlawed", which will bring back to the forefront the illicit trafficking of a drug which has become partially banned for the "numerous" time and the resurgence of networks of dealers who will reappear in the red light districts and the entertainment and nightlife venues of the country.
When we know the difficulties that the authorities and the police have in controlling drug trafficking as a whole, I doubt that they will be able, due to lack of time and resources, to enforce this combined obligation of a medical certificate and a prescription, especially for foreign tourists, temporary consumers who will go and obtain supplies clandestinely from certain official pharmacies which circumvent the various changes in the law since 2022, to guarantee the sustainability of their "legal" business.
It promises to be another great national fair!!!
Specialized clinics will soon welcome clients from outside the chain.