Thailand Legalizes Marijuana, But Recreational Use is Still Banned

As of Thursday, Thailand made it legal to plant and possess marijuana, a dream come true for an older generation of cannabis smokers.

On Friday, the country’s health minister plans to hand out 1 million marijuana seedlings, making Thailand a weed wonderland.

Thanks to the FDA’s decision to remove the plant from the list of narcotic drugs, Thailand is the first country in Asia to decriminalize marijuana for medical and industrial purposes. However, it will not follow the lead of Uruguay and Canada, the only two countries to have legalized recreational marijuana nationally.

Apart from registering and declaring that it is for medical purposes, it appears that there would be no effort to monitor what people can produce and smoke at home.

On Thursday, several Thai activists celebrated by purchasing marijuana from a café that had previously only sold goods manufactured from non-psychoactive portions of the plant. Sugarcane, Bubblegum, Purple Afghani, and UFO were among the buds available to the dozen or so people that arrived early at the Highland Café.

“I can say it out loud that I am a cannabis smoker. I don’t need to hide like in the past when it was branded as an illegal drug,” said 24-year-old Rittipong Bachkul, the day’s first customer.

“As far as the government is concerned, it’s their job to promote medical use only. But it is pretty clear that we have come very far and finally are legalizing its use. The government understands that it’s more pros than cons,” said Rattapon Sanrak, the café’s co-owner.

The Thai government has warned that smoking in public might still be considered a problem, with a potential 3-month jail sentence and a fine of 25,000 baht ($780). Marijuana extracts, like oil, are still prohibited if they contain more than 0.2 percent THC.