Cannabis supporters plan Tuesday rally during Narcotics Board meeting

Proponents of the legalisation of cannabis in Thailand are proactively planning rallies at Government House to coincide with a meeting of the Narcotics Control Board. The meeting on Tuesday will discuss the anti-cannabis push to revert the plant back to a Type 5 narcotic.

The advocates are urging politicians to support the Cannabis-Hemp Bill in an official letter they are filing. They believe better regulation to control the unbounded use of recreational marijuana is a better alternative than criminalizing the herb again.

A representative of the People’s Network for Cannabis Legalisation in Thailand took to Facebook yesterday. He appealed to Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, who chairs the Narcotics Control Board, to keep the plant off the Type 5 narcotic list. He urged the board to instead pass a stronger cannabis bill that would put some regulations in place to restrict widespread recreational use. He also vowed to attend the protest planned for Tuesday’s meeting.

He urged politicians to consider the plight of those small farmers and business people who invested heavily in planting and harvesting marijuana crops or opened cannabis businesses that could become illegal if the drug was reclassified as a Type 5 narcotic.

“The attempt to return cannabis to a narcotic drug will affect millions of people who are planting it. Moreover, the remit would restrict people from accessing cannabis in the long term.”

Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul has been pro-cannabis and called for people to prioritize the benefits to the public rather than impose harsh sanctions. The spokesperson for the Democrat Party responded by saying that the government should not be implying an endorsement of recreational cannabis.

He said that decriminalization has to be regulated to restrict recreational usage. It was only intended for research and development and medicinal purposes, and the decriminalisation was meant to stimulate economic growth. The spokesperson said that the new bill proposed doesn’t do enough to stop recreational use and stop cannabis from falling into the hands of students and young people.

The Bhumjaithai Party can request a deferral to review the proposal before presenting it, but it is currently set to be introduced on December 7 in a parliamentary debate. Opponents of decriminalised cannabis are threatening to vote down the bill if it doesn’t toughen up, with the Democrat Party spokesperson saying that more regulation is needed.

“The members of parliament, who are representatives of the Thai people, cannot turn a blind eye to this. If the policy cannot deliver a fair and well-rounded result, the House can delist cannabis.”