US company opens medical marijuana clinic in Thailand

A US cannabis company has jointly opened a medical marijuana clinic in Thailand, making it the first foreign franchise to do so. The clinic, located on Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 13, treats Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cancer, eating disorders and insomnia. The clinic predicts that changes to Thai laws in July will allow them to give patients THC-dominant products for research purposes.

Smoking marijuana recreationally is still illegal in Thailand. But in 2020, Thailand became the first Asian nation to allow the production and use of medicinal purposes, under strict controls.

Herbidus Medical Center, which opened on March 7 this year, is jointly run by a Thai company ‘NR Instant Produce’ and Las Vegas based company ‘Audacious’. The clinic is located on the 4th floor of the ‘Trendy Building’ on Sukhumvit Soi 13, between Nana and Asok BTS stations.

The clinic’s doctors usually give patients a bottle containing a liquid high in cannabidiol, or CBD, with 0.2% tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, in line with Thai law.

The company buys the oil for 450 baht from the Thai government and then sells it to customers for 1,000 baht, according to the clinic’s Thai partner Julpas Kruesopon.

However, the cannabis oil that Audacious produces in the US has much higher levels of THC, making it much “stronger.” Julpas predicts that medical treatment using stronger levels of THC will become permissible under supervision in July, allowing the clinic to give patients THC-dominant products for research purposes.

Julpas said that in the future, he hopes the company’s products will be sold in the US and Canada. Currently, the clinic is seeking more Thai partners to develop CBD-infused beauty creams, herbal medicine, spa treatments and beverages.

SOURCE: Asia Times