Tourist breaks Singaporean law by consuming cannabis in Thailand
A Singaporean tourist says she didn’t mean to consume cannabis in Thailand in July. Weed might be legal in the Land of Smiles, but it is still a crime for Singaporeans to consume cannabis at home and abroad.
Sueanne said she ate a “very nice bowl of noodles” in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, that were so delicious that she ordered them again the next day for breakfast.
The second time she ordered the dish, she noticed a little ganja leaf next to the picture of the dish on the menu. Sueanne enquired with the staff and soon found out that cannabis leaves were boiled into the dish, “like any other vegetable,” she said.
The woman said she mistook the boiled cannabis for morning glory – or water spinach – known as “kangkung” in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Sueanne said she was glad her children didn’t try the dish.
When cannabis was removed from Thailand’s list of illicit narcotics, Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau (CNS) swiftly reminded Singaporeans that consuming cannabis – inside or outside of Singapore’s borders – was a crime.
“(Under) the Misuse of Drugs Act, any Singapore citizen or permanent resident found to have consumed controlled drugs outside Singapore will also be liable for the drug consumption offence.”
Singaporeans convicted of drug consumption may be jailed for up to 10 years and fined up to 20,000 Singaporean dollars. The CNS said it would investigate any positive urine test result and regularly undertake drug tests at border checkpoints.
Thankfully for Sueanne, Singapore’s Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam recently assured worried Singaporean citizens that it is not usually considered an offence if drugs are consumed unwittingly or unknowingly.
Sueanne wouldn’t have got “high” from the noodle dish, because the high caused by cannabis comes from the component tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Thailand’s laws stipulate that an extract made from cannabis (such as a very nice bowl of noodles) must contain no more than 0.2% THC, which is a very minute amount.
Nevertheless, there is still a chance that the cannabis Sueanne consumed could show up in a urine test, which could get her into big trouble back in Singapore. Sueanne didn’t say if she was ever subject to a urine test upon her return home.
Thailand is a popular tourist destination for Singaporeans. Earlier this year, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam expressed worries that the accessibility of cannabis in Thailand would pose a challenge to keeping Singapore drug-free.
To ease the worries of cannabis-fearing tourists, some popular tourist hotspots such as Chatuchak market in Bangkok have put up signs saying cannabis is not allowed on the premises.
SOURCE: New Straits Times
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