Thailand News Today | Will Cannabis Be Relisted as Narcotic?

Will Cannabis Be Relisted as Narcotic?

According to Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam The Office of the
Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) has no authority to alter or reverse any
ministerial announcements signed by Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul
concerning the decriminalization of cannabis.
Mr Wissanu was responding to media reports yesterday that the ONCB was today
due to discuss the possibility of reversing two ministerial announcements of the
Ministry of Public Health signed by Mr Anutin, an action which may lead to
cannabis being listed as a narcotic drug as it was before it was formally removed
from the Type 5 narcotic drug list.
DPM Wissanu said the ONCB may raise questions over concerns made by the
cabinet and other parties and request the Ministry of Public Health to help explain
any issues accordingly. The fact is the board cannot delay, suspend or amend these
ministerial announcements as it has no authority to do so at all.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Anutin, insisted that, in his opinion, there is no chance
that cannabis would ever again be listed as a narcotic drug.
He also insisted he has the full authority to sign the ministerial announcements and
forward them to the Secretariat of the Cabinet for publication in the Royal Gazette
to declare them effective.
There are both supporters and opponents of marijuana’s decriminalization, he said,
is actually beneficial not only to the country’s healthcare sector but also to the
government’s effort to generate income and boost the economy.
He added that what needs to be done is to put in place a legal mechanism to
effectively curb the abuse of cannabis for recreational purposes.

Cambodian Rice Narrowly Defeat Thai Fragrant Rice as World Champion Thailand news

Thailand’s Hom Mali fragrant rice lost its world championship to Cambodia’s
“Phaka Lamduan” rice in the World’s Best Rice 2022 contest in Phuket.
Chukiat Opaswong, honorary president of the Rice Exporters Association, said
Cambodia’s Phaka Lamduan fragrant rice narrowly beat Thailand’s Hom Mali 105
rice because the Thai rice variety was less fragrant. He blamed the defect on
prolonged flooding in Ubon Ratchathani province.
The association on behalf of Thailand sent only one rice entry to the contest which
drew 20 entries also from Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, India, Pakistan,
the United States and China.
The Thai rice lost its championship to Cambodia by only one point while the third
and fourth ranks were rice from Vietnam and Laos respectively, Mr Chukiat said.
The loss showed the necessity for Thailand to seriously develop its rice varieties,
he said.
Cambodia mainly used organic fertilizer for its rice cultivation while Thailand’s
rice depended mainly on chemical fertilizer which would have negative impacts in
the long run, Mr Chukiat said.
He urged the Thai government to focus more on Thai rice development instead of
handling rice prices. Thailand news

Row erupts over Thailand’s unfair allocation of World Cup games

After almost a month of, will Thailand get to watch World Cup for free or not was
resolved just in the nick of time for the first game but now a new row has erupted
over the unfair allocation of showing the games.
The Association of Digital Television Broadcasting (ADTEB) slammed the Sports
Authority of Thailand’s (SAT) allocation of World Cup 2022 matches for being
unfair and officially protested to the National Broadcasting and
Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
The SAT’s decision to award True Corporation the right to pick up to 32 World
Cup matches it wants to air ahead of other broadcasters was criticised as
“completely unfair” by the ADTEB.
True Corporation was one of the major sponsors who answered calls to help the
government bridge the shortfall to purchase the broadcasting rights for the World
Cup.
Government departments managed to come up with about 1 billion baht but it was
still some 400 million baht short of FIFA’s asking price.
The SAT was forced to find sponsors to plug the gap with just three days left
before the matches kicked off on Sunday.
True Corporation, Thai Beverage, and PTT, all answered the SAT’s call and
chipped in the necessary funds so Thailand’s footie fans could watch the World
Cup for free.
The SAT governor, Kongsak Yodmanee, yesterday said the agency’s decision to
award True Corporation first pick of the matches was fair and dismissed ADTEB’s
criticisms.
True Corporation was allowed to pick first as it had contributed 300 million baht to
help the SAT buy the rights, more than half of the money provided by other private
sponsors put together.
“The main sponsor deserves priority.”
Kongsak also added that that the rights to the other 32 matches were awarded to 17
TV channels in a draw. Thailand news

Chinese man operates illegal hairdressers in plain sight in Pattaya Thailand news

Immigration Police arrested a Chinese man and four foreign employees for
operating an illegal hairdresser in the middle of Pattaya city in Chon Buri province,
eastern Thailand.
The Chinese owner claims he didn’t know that hairdressing was a career strictly
reserved for Thai people.
Under the Foreign Business Act, certain occupations in Thailand are strictly
prohibited for foreigners and reserved for Thai nationals only including
hairdressing, barbering, or any beauty treatment. Other jobs foreigners cannot do
include driving taxis, agriculture, Thai massage, tour guide, and many more.
Yesterday, Immigration Police in Chon Buri inspected a hair salon with a huge
Chinese sign plastered on the shopfront in the heart of Pattaya’s tourist Nong Prue
subdistrict in Bang Lamung district.
Police walked in to find a Chinese man holding a pair of clippers and giving a
haircut to a customer and discovered a stateless woman from the highlands of
Chiang Mai working as a beautician in the salon. In total, police found five
foreigners working illegally including the salon’s 34 year owner Wang Xuping.
Wang told police that he “didn’t know” that opening a beauty salon was illegal for
a Chinese person and told police he has run the business for longer than one year
already, serving a mixture of Thai and foreign clientele.
Police arrested Wang under suspicion of “employing foreigners without a permit”
and arrested the four foreign employees under suspicion of “being a foreigner
working without a permit.”
All five were taken to Pattaya City Police Station for further questioning.
It’s a mystery how Wang managed to get away with operating the clearly illegal
Chinese salon for so long in the middle of Thailand’s biggest tourist destination
without so much as an inspection by immigration. Thailand news

Good citizens return lost leopard cat to the national park in northern Thailand news

A baby leopard cat who strayed away from Nam Nao National Park in Phetchabun
province, northern Thailand, has returned home with the help of some good
citizens.
Yesterday, the Office of Conservation Area 11 posted photos of an adorable, tiny,
striped leopard kitten on Facebook with the caption…
“We appreciate the good citizens who brought the #leopardcat, a protected species
of wildlife, back to national park staff after she got lost.
“She will be cared for at our cat daycare centre for a while before we release her
back into the wild.
“Leopard cats are a protected species under the Wildlife Preservation and
Protection Act (2019).
“Thank you to members of the public who help to look out for Thailand’s wildlife.
“If you find a wild animal that is lost, injured or encounter someone committing an
offense against wildlife please call the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and
Plant Conservation’s hotline on 1362.
The leopard cat is a small wild cat found in South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since
2002, it has been listed as ‘Least Concern’ on the IUCN Red List of Endangered
Species, with an estimated 50,000 leopard cats living in the wild.
The wild cat can be found in the Amur region of Russia, the Korean Peninsula,
China, Indochina, India, Pakistan, the foothills of the Himalayas, Japan, and
Thailand.
As the leopard cat is a protected species it cannot be kept as a pet in Thailand. Thailand news

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