Well-Being
Could cannabis cigarettes be available in your local convenience store?

Thailand’s Tobacco Authority is continuing to lobby for a license for the production of cannabis-based cigarettes but has a few legal, and moral, hoops to climb through before anything happens.
Using the ‘health benefits’ argument, the Thai tobacco industry is hoping it can get the go ahead to manufacture cannabis-based cigarettes which could, if given permission, be as available in convenience stores as normal tobacco cigarettes. But that situation is still a long way away.
The Thai Tobacco Authority has already said it is supporting the move from tobacco to cannabis crops as the sales of cigarettes are dropping due to the higher taxes being imposed. So they’re keen to get a slice of the new legalised cannabis cake.
Daonoi Suttiniphapunt, the MD of the Thai Tobacco Authority says they’re ready to take the necessary next steps.
“Our main intention when requesting a license had to do with the medical benefits, research and extracting the oils to export to other countries. But if the Ministry of Health lets us produce cigarettes, we are ready to do so immediately.”
She say that if legislated the Cannabis cigarettes would mostly contain ‘CBD’, the non-psychoactive compound that doesn’t give you a ‘high’. So the alleged ‘medical benefits’ would be available but not all the ‘highs’ marijuana smokers usually associate with the popular plant.
CBD is the cannabis product socially conservative states in the US, like Texas and Utah, are more likely to support for the medical benefits that are said to assist certain chronic medical conditions.
According to the Public Health Ministry, the use of hemp must be licensed and the farming of the plant is subject to strict regulation. The Ministry has so far granted permission for cannabis farming in 15 districts of six provinces, mostly in the north.
Meanwhile the FDA secretary-general Thares Karassanaiyarawiwong says the Tobacco Authority could obtain a licence to plant cannabis for research, not commerce. The agency can request permission either as a researcher or grower. A separate licence is also needed to import cannabis.
WARNING: Smoking ANYTHING can be a hazard to your health.
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Thailand
Efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines will drop during mass inoculations: Thai virologist

Thai virologist Dr. Yong Poovorawan from Chulalongkorn University, has spoken about claims that the efficacy of every vaccine available today, including Covid-19 vaccines, tend to lower after being used in mass inoculations, compared to the findings from the laboratory during human testing trials.
He recommends that people should not rely solely on the vaccines alone because uncertainty will remain during the roll out phase of the new inoculations.
“The best way to protect themselves is to practice basic safety standards as we usually do today… wearing face masks all the time when going outside and in crowded venues, regularly washing hands, and maintain social distancing.”
On his Facebook page, Dr. Young cited the case of Hepatitis B vaccines that claimed between 94-95% efficacy. But after use on mass populations, its efficacy dropped to about 80%. He believes this trend will be the same as Covid-19 vaccines.
“Although the manufacturers claim the vaccines’ high efficacy, that is just the laboratory results. In practice, several variables may cause lower effectiveness of the vaccines.”
He also says that the real effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines, both the American from Pfizer and the Chinese from Sinopharm will be known soon after the populations of Israel and UAE have been inoculated in large numbers already.
SOURCE: Thai PBS World
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Thailand
1.5 million Thais approaching poverty line

A new report by the World Bank has indicated that 1.5 million Thais are approaching the poverty line after Covid-19 ravaged the tourism-dependent economy. In 2020, the report says the poverty ratio in Thailand increased to 8.8%, compared with 2019’s figure of 6.2%.
The report is troubling as the Thai economy already passed rock bottom in the 2nd quarter of 2020, with the the 2nd wave of Covid hitting just before the year end. Now, as many provinces have essentially went into lockdown from domestic and foreign tourism, workers are out of jobs, whereas before, domestic tourism was serving as a way to help businesses survive.
The government stimulated the economy by spending the equivalent of 13% of the gross domestic product, but the World Bank is predicting it may take 2 more years for Thailand to return its economic situation to its pre-Covid state. But the news is not all bad as the World Bank expects the Thai GDP to grow by 4% this year, instead of declining by 6.5% last year.
Such reasoning is due to the expectations of the Covid-19 vaccine being rolled out, and global economic growth. But if the Covid-19 situation becomes more severe, the expected economic growth would decline to 2.4%. Political instability in Thailand is another risk factor as months of protests have shaken views on Thailand’s government, which has invoked the lese majeste defamation law on protesters who were criticising the Royal family. Human rights organisations have issued statements that condemned the government as it began charging minors with the law.
Today, Thailand reports 309 new cases of Covid-19, with 80 being locally transmitted. Most of the cases were due to active testing and 12 were from those already in quarantine. Thailand is expected to receive 50,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccinesby the first week of February. The shipment is part of the first lot of 26 million doses on the agreed purchase in October of last year.
SOURCE: TNA
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Thailand
CCSA Update: 309 new Covid-19 infections in Thailand

The CCSA’s daily briefing today started with an update about a NBT news presenter who has attended the daily briefings at the CCSA studio and testing positive for Covid-19. The CCSA spokesman then announced that all people working in the CCSA studio, including himself, are defined as a “low risk” group for infections.
The CCSA spokesman says he, together with all those involved with any risk, will take a swab test this afternoon and will report the test results to the public later on. The infected NBT newscaster has been sent to the hospital already.
Today, 309 new Covid-19 cases were announced from the last 24 hours. The majority of the infections were detected from active case testing, accounting for 217 cases. Most of them were migrant workers. 80 were local transmission, while 12 cases were detected in state quarantine.
According to the CCSA spokesman, key measures to be rolled out next week will be the acceleration on proactive testing in Samut Sakhon and the outer western areas of Bangkok where the infection rate is still high. Numbers and reports from the active findings are expected to be complete by the end of next week will serve as key factors for a review of the current restrictions in place.
SOURCE: CCSA Daily Briefing
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