Thailand moves to recriminalize cannabis, shaking US$1B industry

A cannabis plant is seen in this undated image. (Pexels)

BANGKOK -- Thailand’s government is moving to recriminalize cannabis, plunging into limbo an industry estimated to be worth over US$1 billion that has boomed since the substance was taken off the country’s narcotics list in 2022.

The push to impose new controls on recreational use of cannabis comes after the Bhumjaithai Party, which championed its legalization, withdrew from the ruling coalition last week following Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s apparent mishandling of a border row with Cambodia.

Late on Tuesday, Thailand’s health ministry issued an order prohibiting the sale of cannabis for recreational use and making it mandatory for any retail purchase to require a doctor’s prescription.

The new rules will come into effect once they are published in the Royal Gazette, which could happen within days.

“Cannabis will be classified as a narcotic in the future,” Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said on Tuesday.

Three years ago, Thailand became one of the first countries in Asia to decriminalize the recreational use of cannabis, but without any comprehensive rules to govern the sector.

Since then, tens of thousands of shops and businesses selling cannabis have sprung up across Thailand, many of them located in the country’s tourism hubs. Thai Chamber of Commerce previously estimated the industry, which includes medicinal products, could be worth $1.2 billion by 2025.

Unregulated access to cannabis has created serious social problems, particularly for children and young people, said government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub.

“The policy must return to its original goal of controlling cannabis for medical use only,” Jirayu said in a statement.

The recriminalisation push has left some cannabis industry members like Punnathat Phutthisawong, who works at the Green House Thailand dispensary in Bangkok, stunned.

“This is my main source of income,” Punnathat, 25, told Reuters. “Many shops are probably just as shocked because a lot of them invested heavily.”

The cannabis sector could have transformed Thai agriculture, medicine and tourism, but uncertainty and policy reversals have stymied any sustainable growth, said cannabis activist Chokwan Kitty Chopaka.

“The cannabis industry has become a hostage to politics,” she said.

On Wednesday, there was still a steady trickle of customers - mainly tourists - coming into cannabis shops in Bangkok’s Khao San Road area, among them Daniel Wolf, who is visiting from Australia.

“There are shops everywhere, so how do they reverse this? I don’t think they can,” he said, ” It’s absolutely insane.”

By Chayut Setboonsarng, Napat Wesshasartar

(Reporting by Napat Wesshasartar, Chayut Setboonsarng and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Devjyot Ghoshal and Raju Gopalakrishnan)