Pattaya wants to enact city’s own cannabis-control law

Pattaya’s council is already fed up of waiting for a national cannabis act to be passed, so the city has started to draft its own cannabis-control law. Pattaya’s Deputy Mayor Thitiphan Phettrakul chaired a meeting on Friday to discuss rules and regulations needed to control and prohibit the use of cannabis and hemp, especially in schools.

Cannabis was delisted as a Category 5 narcotic in Thailand on June 9, but little to no legislation was passed that aimed to regulate cannabis use such as age limits, demographic groups, or locations where the plant can or can’t be sold.

However, six days after the decriminalisation of cannabis, Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health issued a regulation banning the sale of cannabis to minors, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women.

The only current legislation about the public use of cannabis is regarding cannabis smoke, which is considered a “public nuisance.” If cannabis smoke annoys someone, they may report the culprit who may get in trouble with the law if found guilty. Smoking cannabis in a public place is punishable by up to 3 months of imprisonment and a 25,000 baht fine, or both.

Although the sale of cannabis to minors is already banned, Pattaya’s deputy mayor wants more to be done to protect school children from accessing the former drug. Pattaya’s city council will arrange a meeting with school officials to draft prevention measures relating to cannabis. The council also aims to get feedback from school children’s parents to see what kind of cannabis regulations they want to see put in place.

Regulations could state that schools cannot serve food that contains cannabis, or that cannabis can only be used with a doctor’s prescription, said the deputy mayor.

SOURCE: Pattaya Mail