Sawt Falasteen - Thai cannabis stores fret as government moves to tighten rules on sales

The kingdom was the first country in Southeast Asia to decriminalise the drug when it removed cannabis from the list of banned narcotics in June 2022.

The intention was to allow sales for medical rather than recreational use, but the move led to hundreds of cannabis "dispensaries" springing up around the country, particularly in Bangkok.

While the relaxation has proved popular with some tourists, there are concerns that the trade is under-regulated.

Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin signed an order late on Tuesday requiring an on-site doctor to approve sales for medical reasons.

The rule would only come into force once it is published in the official Royal Gazette. It is not clear when this would happen.

Thanatat Chotiwong, a long-time cannabis activist and store owner, said it was "not fair" to suddenly change the rules on a sector that was now well established.

"This is a fully-fledged industry -- not just growers selling flowers. There are lighting suppliers, construction crews, farmers, soil and fertiliser developers, and serious R&D," he told AFP.

"Some of us have invested tens of millions of baht in greenhouses and infrastructure. Then suddenly, the government steps in to shut it all down."

Thanatat urged the government instead to "implement proper taxation and regulation -- so this revenue can be returned to society in a meaningful way."

- 'Too few doctors' -

The government has made several previous announcements of plans to restrict cannabis, including legislation moved in February last year, but none has come to fruition.

The new rules would mean cannabis could only be sold to customers for medical reasons, under the supervision of licensed professionals such as medical doctors, traditional Thai medicine doctors, folk healers or dentists.

"It's going to work like this: customers come in, say what symptoms they have, and the doctor decides how many grams of cannabis is appropriate and which strain to prescribe," Kajkanit Sakdisubha, owner of The Dispensary cannabis shop in Bangkok, told AFP.

"The choice is no longer up to the customer -- it's not like going to a restaurant and pick your favorite dish from a menu anymore."

And he warned that many of the shops that had sprouted since decriminalisation would not be able to adapt to the changes.

"The reality is there are too few doctors available. I believe that many entrepreneurs knew regulations were coming, but no one knew when," he said.

While waiting for the rules to come into force, The Dispensary is halting cannabis sales as a precaution, store manager Bukoree Make said.

"Customers themselves are unsure whether what they're doing is legal. I've been receiving a lot of calls," Poramat Jaikla, the lead seller or "budtender", told AFP.

The cannabis move comes as the government led by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra's Pheu Thai party is hanging by a thread after losing its main coalition partner, Bhumjaithai.

Though conservative, the Bhumjaithai party has long supported more liberal laws on cannabis.

The party quit the coalition this month in a row over a leaked phone call between Paetongtarn and former Cambodian leader Hun Sen.

I.Saadi--SF-PST