(Bloomberg) — The Thai government is moving to re-criminalize cannabis — except for medical use — after a pro-weed party quit the coalition, with political turmoil becoming the latest threat to the massive and largely unregulated industry.
A new health ministry notification requiring medical prescriptions for cannabis was signed earlier this week and should become effective imminently, Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin said on Tuesday. A failure to formulate cannabis regulations following its 2022 decriminalization has led to the mushrooming of more than 10,000 dispensaries and widespread recreational use, he said.
“It’s a festering problem and we have received so many complaints,” Somsak told reporters before a cabinet meeting. “Today it is classified as a strictly regulated herb for medical uses, but in the future it will be a narcotic.”
Re-criminalization will be a significant move for Thailand, which was the first country in Asia to decriminalize cannabis. With no cannabis law in place, dispensaries have opened nationwide, flourishing in popular tourist areas and even in Bangkok’s business districts. There has also been a surge in cannabis smuggling across borders.
The threat to put cannabis back on the list of illegal narcotics is nothing new. The issue had long been a flash point between the ruling Pheu Thai Party of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and its then-ally Bhumjathai Party, which spearheaded the decriminalization policy.
The parties had tussled over cannabis since forming a government together in 2023, with Pheu Thai on several occasions attempting to bring the plant under its hardline anti-drug policy, only to withdraw those plans after Bhumjaithai pushed back.
But Bhumjaithai is now no longer able to defend its flagship policy after it exited the ruling coalition last week. It left amid a furor over Paetongtarn’s handling of a border dispute, but the political parties had been squabbling for months.
The new ministry notification, which was open to public feedback from May 22 to June 15, will limit cannabis use to medical purposes while the government prepares a wider re-criminalization policy, according to Somsak. The health ministry will also draft regulations requiring a doctor on site at every dispensary as part of licensing criteria, he said.
Meanwhile, a full-fledged cannabis bill, which was previously a preferred alternative to complete re-criminalization, will likely be scrapped. The draft bill — to regulate the wider uses, sales, exports and production of the plant — was unveiled in September but hasn’t been approved by the cabinet or reached parliament for deliberation.
Bhumjaithai earlier this week accused Pheu Thai of stalling the bill and urged Somsak’s ministry to expedite it through the cabinet and the parliament.
“That’s just a daydream,” Somsak said.
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