Thailand is about to make a stunning turnaround by recriminalizing the recreational use of marijuana, just two years after the country became the first in Asia to legalize the drug
The crackdown was announced by Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who today went to X to say he had asked the country’s Ministry of Health to re-list cannabis as a controlled narcotic.
He wrote: “I would like to ask the Ministry of Health to amend the ministry’s announcement by returning marijuana to Category 5 drugs and to hasten the issuance of ministerial regulations allowing its use only for medical and health purposes. ‘
A previous government decriminalized marijuana for medical use in 2018 and allowed its citizens to enjoy it recreationally in 2022, making it the first country in Asia to legalize the drug.
But Thavisin’s government has been outright against legalization, having previously said it wanted to implement a new law banning recreational cannabis by the end of the year.
Thailand is about to make a stunning turnaround by recriminalizing recreational marijuana use
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin (pictured) said he had asked the country’s Ministry of Health to re-list cannabis as a controlled narcotic.
Thavisin’s pledge to recriminalize the drug came after a counter-narcotics meeting with national agencies, which he asked to show “clear progress” in the fight against illegal drugs over the next 90 days.
‘Drugs are a problem that is destroying the future of the country, many young people are addicted. We must work quickly and seize assets [of drug dealers] and expand treatment,” he said.
He also said he wanted to change the language of drug possession laws so authorities could act more effectively.
The tough new policy was announced despite Thailand’s booming legal drug economy.
Thousands of businesses have opened in the country over the past two years, contributing to an industry expected to be worth $1.2 billion by 2025. South China Morning Mail.
Prasitchai Nunual, secretary general of the Thai Cannabis Future Network, told the newspaper that the latest move would decimate these companies.
‘A lot of people are growing cannabis and opening cannabis stores. These will have to close,” he said.
A Thai woman pretends to smoke a giant joint on June 11, 2022 in Nakhon Pathom
A “Made in USA” sign is displayed in front of a cannabis shop, on Khaosan Road, one of the most popular tourist spots in Bangkok
‘If scientific results show that cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes, they can re-list it as a narcotic. If cannabis is less harmful, they should also list cigarettes and alcohol as narcotics.”
Marijuana in any form was linked to a 42% increased risk of stroke and a 25% increased risk of heart attack, according to a study published in February.
Researchers in Massachusetts and California spent four years evaluating more than 400,000 American adults in 27 states to investigate the link between cannabis use and problems such as heart disease and stroke.
The team found that any type of cannabis use – smoking, vaping or edibles – “was associated with a greater number of adverse cardiovascular outcomes.”
And those who used marijuana daily had a 25 percent higher risk of heart attack and 42 percent higher risk of stroke.
This may be because the active ingredient in cannabis, THC, is thought to trigger the body’s fight-or-flight response, causing heart rate and blood pressure to increase. Over time this wears on the heart.
Dr. Abras Jeffers, lead author of the study and a data scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said: ‘Despite its widespread use, little is known about the risks of cannabis use and, in particular, the risks of cardiovascular disease.’
‘The perception of the harmfulness of smoking cannabis is decreasing and people do not consider cannabis use to be dangerous to their health.’