With the aim of boosting the areas of agriculture and tourism, Thailand on Thursday legalized the cultivation and consumption of marijuana in food and drinks, thus becoming the first Asian country to make this decision. Smoking the weed, however, is still considered unlawful.
Customers lined up in front of stores selling cannabis-infused candies and drinks, while activists cheered the decision in a country with stringent drug laws. On the other hand, with a tradition of using the herb to alleviate pain, Thailand had already legalized medical marijuana in 2018.
In front of an establishment in Bagcoc, Rittipong Dachkul, 24, had been waiting since Wednesday night to buy his first legal marijuana. “Now it’s easy to find, we don’t have to worry about the origin, but I have no idea what the quality is”, he said, referring to the potency of the products.
The government, betting on marijuana as a commercial asset, plans to donate one million seedlings of the plant to encourage farmers to grow it. “After Covid, with the economy going down the drain, we really need this,” said Chokwan Kitty Chopaka, who owns a store that sells cannabis gummy bears.
But officials want to avoid an explosion in recreational marijuana use. Possession and sale of plant extracts with more than 0.2% of one of its psychoactive components, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), are not allowed, meaning users of the drug will have difficulty altering consciousness.
“Plants with 0.2% THC are considered low potency, so you’d have to consume a lot to get high,” said Suphamet Hetrakul, co-founder of the Teera Group, which grows medical marijuana.
Those who break the law can face detention and fines. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, authorities have already warned that anyone who generates marijuana odor in public can be punished.
Anyone who wants to grow marijuana will have to register with a government app called PlookGanja, or grow ganja. About 100,000 people have already registered for the program, according to the Ministry of Health.
Teera Group’s Suphamet expressed concerns regarding the quality control of the new growers. “It will be difficult to control the level of THC and other contaminants in your products, which can be dangerous for consumers,” he said.
Thailand said it had approved 1,181 items containing cannabis extracts, including cosmetics and foods. The expectation is that the industry will generate 15 billion baht (R$ 2.12 billion) by 2026. Large companies are also interested in the business. Conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Foods and energy company Gunkul Engineering have teamed up to produce plant-based foods and beverages.
