Thailand goals to clamp down on easy accessibility to hashish by mandating medical prescriptions amid rising situations of vacationers making an attempt to smuggle out giant portions of weed.
Dispensaries shall be allowed to promote hashish solely to these with licenses or with prescriptions from medical professionals, together with conventional drugs practitioners, when proposed modifications to current guidelines take impact in about 40 days. The quantity offered will even be restricted to 30 days of use, in line with the Ministry of Public Well being.
The brand new guidelines, which shall be binding on locals and foreigners alike, come after Thai authorities intercepted 73 kilograms of hashish earlier this week at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport. Weed smuggled out of Thailand has reached the UK, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong and lots of different locations, Public Well being Minister Somsak Thepsuthin mentioned. Thailand will now make it tougher to entry hashish apart from medical causes, he added.
Thailand was the primary nation in Asia to decriminalize hashish in 2022, however has to this point struggled to control and comprise its free use. A authorized vacuum, with out a hashish regulation in place, has allowed greater than 10,700 hashish dispensaries to open nationwide, with many in widespread vacationer areas and enterprise districts in Bangkok and past.
The Southeast Asian nation has additionally made a number of coverage u-turns after leisure smoking turned a hot-button difficulty because of wider societal considerations over dependancy. Somsak’s ruling Pheu Thai Celebration had vowed to re-list marijuana as a narcotic to limit its use to only medical functions, however opposition from Bhumjaithai Celebration, the second-biggest group within the ruling coalition, has compelled Pheu Thai to stroll again on its pledge and preserve the plant authorized.
Whereas hashish could be consumed inside Thailand, it has been smuggled in a foreign country in vacationer luggages or by mail. Since British and Thai authorities joined forces final 12 months, over 50 British nationals have been arrested in Thailand for tried hashish smuggling. Thai airport authorities have additionally intercepted over 800 hashish smugglers and seized over 9 tons of hashish, the British authorities mentioned in a press release.
The brand new guidelines are prone to be non permanent as Thailand remains to be engaged on a full-fledged hashish invoice to control the broader makes use of, gross sales, exports and manufacturing of the plant. The draft invoice was unveiled in September however hasn’t been authorised by the cupboard or reached parliament for deliberation.
“The hashish invoice will go by itself monitor, however it may well’t be rushed. We’re taking a look at two extra years earlier than it’s prepared,” Somsak informed reporters. “If individuals are nonetheless sad, we’ll re-criminalize it.”
READ: Thailand Unveils Invoice to Regulate Hashish And Hold It Authorized
The general public and trade stakeholders have till June 5 to submit suggestions on the proposed ministry regulation, which can then be submitted to the cupboard for approval.
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