Focus Thailand & Asia

On March 10th, 2020 at the Parliament House of Thailand, Dr Pansiri Kulnartsiri, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Hemp, addressed the positive progress of the work of the subcommittee on hemp. The subcommittee is seeking for solutions on hemp usages, issues and guidelines, and its meeting has been held for the 7th time. The goal of the meetings is to support hemp to be an important economic crop of Thailand because it is agreed that hemp has numerous benefits and applications such as medical treatment, health products and consumer products. Therefore, we need to support hemp to be an alternative crop for Thai farmers. There are several reasons why hemp should be the new Thai economic crop. Firstly, Thai weather and geography are suitable for growing hemp. Secondly, Thai farmers are specialized in agriculture. Thailand is also a source of food and health products that are widely accepted at a global level. Moreover, we aim for agricultural and industrial benefits, and we want to preserve hemp as a part of Thai culture.

The cabinet has pushed through a ministerial regulation allowing hemp to be produced, imported and exported after the Public Health Ministry sought to remove the plant from the list of narcotics last year.

Thailand is moving forward with its plan to allow residents to grow up to six cannabis plants and sell it to the government as a way to stock its legal medical cannabis market. “We are in the process of changing laws to allow the medical use of marijuana freely,” Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said last week in Bangkok. “We have high confidence that marijuana will be among the major agricultural products for Thai households. We are speeding up the law changes. But there is a process to it.”

After a famous Thai actor was widely reported to have allegedly given a certain type of candy containing marijuana extract that causes dizziness and irregular heartbeat to a girl, sweets or other consumer products with THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) have become a hot topic on social media. THC has psychoactive properties that help in relaxation and reduce stress if they are taken in the right amount, but can be dangerous if consumed in exceeding doses.

new law on cannabis legalization will address two issues many foreigners want to know: roles of foreigners in production of weed-based medicine, and how international travelers may bring medical cannabis with them into Thailand for personal use. Firstly, foreigners will be able to own shares in commercial production of cannabis pharmaceuticals under a new regulation, as long as those shares doesn’t exceed 33 percent.

Thailand is ready to accelerate its fledgling medical marijuana program. Anutin Charnvirakul, the country’s health minister, said Wednesday that the government will now permit household cultivation of six cannabis plants in an effort to bolster supplies for medicinal products, and provide another potential cash crop for people there.

PATIENTS must produce an official medical certificate that specifies their symptoms when seeking an amnesty for the possession of marijuana.

THOSE WHO use or possess cannabis have until May 19 to seek amnesty offered under just-introduced subordinate laws.

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has advised the government to proceed with extreme caution on its cannabis policy, warning that Thailand must abide by international drug control treaties and guard against a damaging policy misstep.

BANGKOK - If all goes as planned, Thai citizens suffering from cancer and a handful of other diseases and disorders could start taking the country's first legal doses of medical cannabis within days.

Thailand-based, Rangsit University’s Agricultural Innovation Facility has recently announced a new undergraduate program called, “Ganja Studies Department,” reports Cannabis Now.

FDA firm on regulated cultivation; Bhumjaithai Party vows to make it an economic plant

THE AUTHORITIES are taking concrete steps towards granting amnesty to those who use or have cannabis in their possession if they report to the authorities within a given time frame.

BANGKOK (REUTERS) - Thailand's public health minister and his top bureaucrats danced along to pop tunes ahead of a news conference called to present the first batch of cannabis oil produced by a state-owned pharmaceutical company on Wednesday.

BANGKOK — Thailand’s health ministry received its first batch of legal medical marijuana Wednesday to be distributed in state-run hospitals.

The government of Thailand is set to distribute 10,000 bottles of medical cannabis oil next week, according to health officials from the Southeast Asian country. Withoon Danwiboon, the executive managing director of the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO), said at a press conference on Thursday that the agency would begin distributing vials of medicinal cannabis oil on August 7.

As investors crane their necks, Thailand lacks clear rules to develop its medical marijuana industry

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the amnesty period for people who possess marijuana for medical purposes from May 19 to May 21.

The Public Health Ministry on Monday launched a two-day training course in the medical use of marijuana for physicians, dentists, pharmacists and folk doctors, with those who pass subsequent exams eligible for two-year licences.

An amnesty proposal for marijuana possession is expected to be published in the Royal Gazette next week, according to Tharet Karatnaiyarawiwong, secretary-general of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).