Pattaya man attacked at gunpoint for selling cannabis
A man in Pattaya filed a police report saying he was attacked by a man with a gun because he was selling cannabis on the street. The weed dealer said that his attacker, whom he suspects might be a police officer, didn’t want him to sell drugs in the area, despite it being perfectly legal.
The report was filed at the Pattaya police station at 1am yesterday by the 36 year old man. He knew the man who attacked him for selling cannabis, and police reporting has only identified that man as Koa. This was not his first confrontation with the gun-wielding Koa.
In an interview with The Pattaya News, the cannabis dealer said that he was first accosted by Koa on September 25. The angry man didn’t like the cannabis smoke on the public street from the dealer’s customers. Koa threatened to kick the seller in anger.
The cannabis vendor said that he already had permission from the area owner. He pointed out that it is currently legal to grow, sell, and smoke marijuana in Thailand. So he had not done anything wrong or broken any laws. It is worth noting, however, that smoking in public spaces can be prosecuted as a public nuisance under current regulations.
The legality of his cannabis business, like so many others that have popped up on every street corner since the legalisation in June, did not shield him from Koa’s ire though. On the evening of September 30, Koa attacked him again, this time drawing a pistol and demanding that he stopped selling cannabis and leave the area immediately.
Fearing for his safety and his life, the seller headed to the Pattaya Police to file a report. Officers are reviewing CCTV footage to officially identify who attacked the cannabis dealer and call him in to be interrogated.
The Cannabis and Hemp Bill has been working its way through the government bureaucracy as some want to recriminalise cannabis, and others call for regulations to be put in place.
SOURCE: The Pattaya News
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