Investvine-21 Jan 2018

An announcement last week by the Thai farmers’ association that authorities have agreed on building a farm to grow cannabis for medical purposes was denied short time after by the prime minister himself in an obvious case of miscommunication between stakeholders.

Prapat Panyachartraksa, chairman of the association, told journalists that a marijuana facility was planned on 800 hectares on a military compound in Thailand’s northeastern Sakon Nakhon province, saying that he had been notified about the plan by the Narcotics Control Board, the agency responsible for enforcing drug laws.

However, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha quickly put a brake on the idea.

“I have never known about that. I asked the health minister and he said there are no regulations issued to allow it,” Prayut said, adding that “for the time being, permission for planting cannabis is unacceptable for Thais, so we need further study.”

Witthaya Chanchalong, Sakhon Nakhon’s governor, also insisted the province had no such plans and he had heard nothing from the government regarding the matter.

What in fact happened is that the Narcotics Control Board of Thailand has been pushing forward with a rewritten draft of the country’s drug laws in order to legalise medical marijuana. The proposed revision, which is currently going through the parliamentary process, would allow medicinal cannabis to be sold over-the-counter for patients with a valid prescription from their doctor.

The draft is currently on its way to the Cabinet for consideration and will ultimately be voted on by the junta-appointed interim parliament. While the move has been expected to pass without opposition, the prime minister’s stance proves otherwise.

Among the proponents of the plan is no other that Thailand’s Deputy Agriculture Minister Wiwat Salayakamthorn, who said that he agreed with the idea of legalising the cultivation of the narcotic plant purely for medical research and medicinal use.

But he seconded Prajut and said that a study should be conducted first on the potential benefits, both medical and also in terms of revenue, and drawbacks of changing the laws governing the cultivation of marijuana.

(http://investvine.com/confusion-thailands-first-legal-weed-farm/)