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Nakhon Pathom (Thailand) (AFP) – The acrid smell of smoke is unmistakable among those celebrating Thailand’s biggest cannabis festival under the stars, following the kingdom’s decision to decriminalize cultivation and sale.
The country has long been known for its harsh drug laws, but the government has relaxed them in recent years, and last Thursday the plant was removed from the list of prohibited narcotics, decriminalizing its cultivation and possession.
Thailand hopes to make money from the growing global market for legal cannabis products, particularly in the food and medicinal sectors.
At the festival organized by the marijuana advocacy group Highland Network, thousands of happy participants enjoyed the relaxation of the new rules.
“As soon as the change happened, we started smoking,” says Steve Cannon, 62, who came with a group of friends. “I’ve been smoking all afternoon,” says the jazz musician, an American who has lived in Bangkok for the past 15 years.
A multimillion dollar market
Some 3,000 participants made the trip to White Sands Beach in Nakhon Pathom province, east of Bangkok, where street stalls sold T-shirts, marijuana pipes or hashish brownies, all around an idyllic lake.
“We’ve waited so long for this to happen,” says Victor Zheng, owner of herbalist Nature Masters.
“Look at the people, they come here and they are so happy,” he says. “Not only us, but customers have waited a long time for this to happen.”
In 2018, Thailand legalized medicinal cannabis – an essential change in this Southeast Asian country of harsh anti-drug laws – and the government has invested in the extraction, distillation and marketing of oils derived from the plant.
Analyst reports indicate that in the next decade, the legal cannabis market will add between 50,000 and 200,000 million dollars, as countries liberalize their rules around its personal and medicinal use.
Last month, the Thai company Charoen Pokphand Foods — a subsidiary of the giant CP Group — announced plans to develop beverages and foods with a derivative of cannabis, CBD, thanks to the country’s favorable climatic conditions for growing the plant and its reputation high-quality agriculture.
Uncertainty about recreational use
The new laws leave the recreational use of cannabis in a gray area: smoking outside the home can lead to an arrest, due more to a “public disturbance” law than drug legislation.
The culprits can be punished with a fine of 25,000 baht ($780), and up to three months in jail.
And cannabis products with more than 0.2% concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – the plant’s psychoactive component – remain illegal.
But, at the festival, the policemen present seemed more curious than censors.
The co-owner of the festival, Arun “Max” Avery, 35, said he had no worries after the application of the new law. “People are free to do whatever they want,” he says.
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