Months after Thailand became the first Asian country to decriminalise cannabis, weed-related businesses are already changing its cityscapes. Neon-lit signs with marijuana leaves are now a common sight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, and the drug is seeping into everything from food to drinks and cosmetics, bolstered by the promise of revenue from weed tourism.
A customer views an array of paraphernalia used to smoke marijuana at the Highland Cafe in Bangkok, Thailand.“This is just about politics now. The government has come this far, but then the coalition parties now want to go back,” said Rattapon Sanrak, founder of a cannabis advocacy group that runs Highland Cafe, a dispensary in Bangkok’s Lat Phrao area. “Criminalising it again would just force everything back underground, and entrepreneurs who want to do it right wouldn’t be able to.
The government has repeatedly said since June that decriminalisation was aimed at medical and commercial use for marijuana rather than recreational purposes – though the draft bill didn’t directly outlaw recreational smoking, it said lighting up in public would be prohibited. Other restrictions include bans on causing unpleasant smells in public, selling to pregnant women or people under 20 and commercial advertising.
A deadly shooting at a preschool in October by a former cop with drug links is also stoking calls for a clampdown on drugs and guns. Although most Thais do not link the shooting with cannabis policies, the main opposition Pheu Thai party has seized the chance to toughen its anti-drug rhetoric ahead of an election to be called by March.
Always amazes me how they just flipped their approach on drugs given they used to execute people for drug crimes