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Nikita (left) and Aline (right) Jenselius, co-owners of PrikPot. Photo credit: PrikPot.
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Soranut “Beer” Masayavanich, owner and c.e.o. of Sukhumweed. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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“Thai Loy”, a local strain with relatively low THC content, is among Sukhumweed’s bestsellers. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
Though the country’s total cannabis liberalization initially caused confusion aplenty, things are beginning to settle into a more stable pace.
On June 9, Thailand became the first country in the entire continent of Asia to completely remove cannabis from its narcotics list, making it entirely legal and accessible to all and sundry. The news caused ripples of incredulity throughout the region and indeed the world. Even in Thailand itself, few individuals predicted such an all-encompassing legalization. But amazingly, the legalization also tagged along without any regulatory framework to speak of. Although prime minister Prayuth Chanocha as well as public health minister Anutin Charnvirakul both issued statements in which they “discouraged” recreational use, there even now actually is no rule explicitly forbidding it.
Grabbing an unprecedented opportunity
Though certainly welcoming this sudden “free-for-all,” the local business community had not anticipated such a bold move either.
“I think we were all taken by surprise on June 9,” recounted Nikita Jenselius, who together with her sister Aline opened Prik-Pot, Thailand’s first online shop for cannabis. “ Everyone had expected cannabis to become legal for medical purposes only, meaning [users] would have to present a doctor’s prescription for purchasing products. Instead, it basically was made completely legal across the board, the only requirements [for purchasing] being to be at least 20 years of age and not being pregnant or breastfeeding.”
“After we had consulted with our lawyer several times, everything was accomplished in record time,” said Aline. “The website was built in three days and PrikPot went live on June 19.”
Total lack of regulation causes confusion
However, it is important to point out that these minimum age and pregnancy/breastfeeding restrictions did not exist at the time of legalization. It took the government more than a week to actually come up with ministerial orders that spelled out those two rules. That was followed by yet another order a few days hence, which effectively banned the sale and consumption of cannabis at schools, universities, and other educational institutions. Still a week or so later, cannabis also was banned in all government and public buildings. But that is it. These are the only rules that currently are in place.
The almost total initial lack of guidelines even prompted the national police chief to inquire with the government in the week following the June 9 date as per which laws should be applied when dealing with cannabis users. And as the legalization now enters its second month, it appears that the only laws the police so far can draw on are the very same ones already enforced with regard to tobacco smoking. That means that cannabis users are only subject to a fine when they light up publicly or in places where tobacco smoking is prohibited; or when the smell bothers other people.
Shops mushrooming everywhere
The online store of the Jenselius siblings is of course not the only venue where cannabis products can be purchased openly. Indeed, the legalization saw retail shops, often not much more than a hole in the wall, mushroom almost overnight. One such outlet is Sukhumweed, discreetly hidden away in the shadow cast by a wide awning in a side lane off one of Bangkok’s main thoroughfares, Sukhumvit Road. Owner Soranut Masayavanich, who commonly goes by his nickname “Beer”, has been a long-time proponent (and active user of) cannabis. He also was among the first local entrepreneurs who successfully obtained a growing license after the government in January 2019 embarked on its first-phase cannabis liberalization, which was limited to research and medical purposes (more on that in our side bar).
Sukhumweed’s sales counter is cluttered with rows of glass jars containing an eclectic selection of cannabis varietals. Their tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contents range from a comparatively low 9.6% for an outdoor-farmed local strain dubbed “Thai Loy” to very potent top-shelf hybrids such as “Rainbow Sherbet 11” and “Mimosa,” both with around 31% THC. Besides acquiring products from his own licensed farm located in rural northeastern Thailand, Beer also maintains a “network of many other growers who supply us monthly and depending on what we need or what crops are available.”
A step in the right direction
While he enthusiastically praised the liberalization as a “much needed step in the right direction,” he nevertheless also expressed some regret for having jumped on the opportunity so early back in 2019, when licensing still was extraordinarily complicated and expensive. “It took me more than a year to finally get that license, because applications were not only required to be submitted to FDA but also the provincial pharmaceutical organization. And I even had to have the [local community’s] mayor sign off on it,” he told Tobacco Asia. “It was such an annoying process and I sunk a ton of money into it, too,” he added. “But now it has become just so easy for everyone to get licensed. To be honest, I feel a little cheated for having been such an early bird.”
10 plants for every citizen
And indeed: every Thai citizen is now permitted to privately grow up to 10 cannabis plants “for personal medical use” as long as they register those plants via an official app called “Pluuk Ganja” (literally, “Planting Cannabis”). It is something that would’ve earned an individual several years – if not decades – of imprisonment only a few months ago. However, growing more than 10 plants is considered “commercial farming” and still requires applying for a license (though even that has now become a breeze). Incredibly, to promote the legalization, the government in June 2022 even distributed one million cannabis saplings among the general population free of charge!
A curious customer imbalance
Despite the seemingly unbridled “cannabis bonanza” that has gripped the country, the customer base at PrikPot and Sukhumweed overwhelmingly comprises of foreign expats and tourists. Nikita Jenselius reported that PrikPot’s online shoppers currently are made up roughly of 80% expat residents and 5% foreign tourists, while local Thais only comprise 15% of the clientele. That curious under-representation of Thais also is mirrored in Sukhumweed’s customer demographic, Beer estimating their proportion at “up to 30%”. According to him, one reason for that imbalance is that “Thai users tend to already have their informal local sources and don’t need to rely on a shop, while for foreigners it is the most obvious choice.” Another factor may of course be the circumstance that while locals are permitted to grow their own plants, foreigners are not.
Legalization unlikely to help revive tourism industry
Agencies like the Ministry of Public Health and the Tourism Authority of Thailand frequently claim the legalization will bring back foreign visitors in droves and help revive a tourism industry that was all but devastated during the Covid-19 pandemic. But Aline Jenselius offered a somewhat different take on it. She opined she didn’t believe foreigners would shoulder the expense of traveling to Thailand “just because of cheap and freely available cannabis”. “Instead,” she said, “the point is that they can now experience everything our amazing country has to offer… plus of course enjoy cannabis here legally, if they so wish.” In other words, cannabis availability is not going to be Thailand’s main draw as a holiday destination, but rather a sort of additional bonus for vacationers who choose to partake.
A “Cannabis Act” is on the way
The last word in this quite complex saga lays with the government, of course, which is currently convening a couple of house committees tasked with – better late than never - hammering out a dedicated “Cannabis Act”. Beer, who himself is a member on one of these panels, expects the first installment of these rules to be promulgated as early as September. “It most likely will be regulations on importing cannabis [into Thailand] and exporting it [to countries where it is allowed], because at this moment both is still illegal and subject to harsh penalties,” he explained. Another issue to be decided concerns taxation, with Beer anticipating workable rules for some time in December. “And it most likely will be moving along the same lines as excise tax presently levied on tobacco products.”
No way back, so there must be rules
But whatever regulations eventually may emerge as part of the “Cannabis Act,” Beer was adamant that there is virtually no risk of the government back-tracking and potentially rescinding the legalization.
“The cat is out of the bag, do you understand?” said Beer. “The can of worms has been opened. It’s done. Everybody’s growing it, everybody’s selling it, everybody’s profiting from it. There is no way back.” PrikPot’s Aline Jenselius said that the legalization also “will help a lot of people who lost everything during the Covid-19 pandemic to get back on their feet.” Meanwhile, her sister Nikita told Tobacco Asia: “I fully agree that there ought to be some regulations like those for alcohol or tobacco. Of course there will be taxation at some point, but that is fine with us.”
The Long Path to Legalization
The casual observer may easily gain the impression that Thailand’s total cannabis legalization materialized pretty much out of the blue. Not so. It is but the culmination of a drawn-out process that actually began in January 2019. It was then that the Thai government initiated a phase for exclusively producing medical cannabis with a focus on the extraction of CBD rather than THC. Only selected academic hospitals and research institutions were granted permission to develop certain CBD medications and health products under strict government control. Supplying farms had to undergo an arduous licensing process involving several state agencies, including the FDA. Licensed farms were also bound to implement enormously stringent security measures, such as barbed wire fencing around the plots, fingertip-scanning door locks and CCTV cameras, all of which necessitated considerable financial investment. All crops had to be surrendered to designated hospitals or institutions. Any amount of harvested cannabis buds had to be painstakingly recorded to ensure that not one single gram went missing. Interestingly, many of these pioneering farms – now free to choose to whom to sell their merchandise - are among the ones supplying companies such as PrikPot and Sukhumweed. But then again, there of course also are numerous formerly underground growers, who suddenly no longer have to hide from the authorities.
*Valid as per July 25, 2022, and based on official ministerial regulations, these rules will very likely be incorporated into the forthcoming “Cannabis Act” while being further supplemented by an unknown number of additional rules, e.g. concerning taxation, import and export, licensing, commercial manufacturing, etc.
Legal Disclaimer: As these rules are subject to short-term changes, Tobacco Asia neither vouches for their validity or completeness nor can Tobacco Asia be held responsible for potential omissions or incorrect reporting.