Jump to content

Thailand to give away one million free cannabis plants to households, minister says


Coss
 Share

Recommended Posts

220511021840-01-thailand-million-free-ca

Thailand's Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, in a fit of giggles, delighted at the new green lights, he installed in his office.

---

(CNN)The Thai government will distribute one million free cannabis plants to households across the nation in June to mark a new rule allowing people to grow cannabis at home, its health minister has said.

Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced the move in a Facebook post on May 8 in which he expressed his intention for cannabis plants to be grown like "household crops."

The new rule, which comes into force on June 9, will allow people to grow cannabis plants at home after notifying their local government, but the plants will have to be of medical grade and used exclusively for medicinal purposes. Additionally, the cannabis cannot be used for commercial purposes without further licenses. 

The move is the latest step in Thailand's plan to promote cannabis as a cash crop. About a third of its labor force works in agriculture, according to the World Bank.

In a region notorious for harsh penalties towards illegal drugs, Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia in 2018 to legalize cannabis for medical research and use. 

The kingdom has also loosened local laws around cannabis. Thai drinks and cosmetics companies last year rushed to launch products with hemp and CBD, a compound that does not give users a high, after their use was approved for consumer goods.

In a further Facebook post on May 10, Anutin noted that Thai companies registered to do so could sell cannabis products that contained less than 0.2 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the part of the plant responsible for getting people high.

"This will enable people and the government to generate more than 10 billion baht per year in revenue from marijuana and hemp," Anutin wrote.

Kitty Chopaka, a Bangkok-based cannabis entrepreneur, told CNN the law was meant to pave the way for people to use the plant in medicinal teas or soups. 

"It will still be considered criminal if you don't have a legal prescription and you have to be a patient of some form of ailment for this to work. Only then will you be able to grow cannabis at home and use it however you like." 

She added that, even though recreational use of the drug remained illegal, "smoking weed will happen, and there's no way the [government] can stop that."

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/11/asia/million-free-cannabis-plants-to-be-distributed-to-thai-households-intl-hnk/index.html

 

Chortle laugh laugh...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

500 cannabis clinics successful, Health Ministry plans to expand

Cannabis

500 cannabis clinics successful, Health Ministry plans to expand

Neill Fronde

Published

 on 

Saturday, December 11, 2021 16:47
gettyimages-1134024594.jpg
FILE PHOTO: Following the success of 500 Cannabis clinics, the Health Ministry looks to add more.

The Ministry of Public Health has opened more than 500 cannabis clinics throughout Thailand since the first one opened its doors in August of 2019. 60% of public hospitals now have cannabis clinics in 878 districts, and can be found in every single province in Thailand. More than 40,000 patients have now been treated with the use of cannabis.

The Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine oversees all of these clinics and the deputy director-general does the results have been overwhelmingly positive. 74% of patients who were treated in the clinics with some form of cannabis for a variety of illnesses have reported improvement in the condition of their health according to department records....

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/cannabis/500-cannabis-clinics-successful-health-ministry-plans-to-expand

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...