Thailand has rapidly become an international leader when it comes to cannabis policy. Historically home to some of the harshest cannabis laws on earth, the country in Southeastern Asia has hit warp speed on the cannabis policy reform front. That trend continued in recent days when Thailand effectively decriminalized some forms of cannabis by removing all parts of the cannabis plant from the nation’s list of controlled drugs.
International cannabis advocates and enthusiasts hailed the move, and understandably so. Thailand is located in a part of the world that has notoriously harmful cannabis laws. In fact, over half of the countries that still issue the death penalty for cannabis are located in Thailand’s region. With that being said, the removal of cannabis from Thailand’s list of controlled drugs has created some additional questions, and it may be a more limited policy change than some people initially thought.
THC Limits Remain
Thailand was the first nation in its region to legalize cannabis for medical use. However, it did not legalize every form of cannabis when it made the policy change. All parts of the cannabis plant were initially removed from the list of controlled drugs except seeds and flowers. The recent move by Thailand essentially removed the remaining parts of the cannabis plant. Yet, there is a detail in the policy shift that seems to have been missed by some cannabis advocates.
The Thailand Health Ministry still has parts of the cannabis plant that contain more than 0.2% of THC on its list of controlled drugs. To put that THC threshold into perspective, the United States already legalized cannabis hemp that contains less than 0.3% THC nationwide roughly three years ago. Switzerland has allowed sales of cannabis products that contain less than 1.0% THC nationwide since 2017. Thailand’s recent policy change is still significant, but it’s important to keep the change in perspective.
Clearing Up Lingering Questions
Parts of the cannabis plant that contain less than 0.2% THC may have been removed from Thailand’s list of controlled drugs; however, it’s still somewhat unclear what that means for the nation’s criminal justice system. Local law enforcement is unlikely to have the resources to test every batch of cannabis for THC content that they come across. With floral hemp looking no different from non-hemp cannabis flower, there’s really no other way to make a solid determination. Does that mean that all enforcement will be suspended except in rare instances?
The Bhumjai Thai Party, of which Thailand’s pro-cannabis Health Minister is a member, indicated that it would introduce a cannabis measure in Thailand’s Parliament to clear up any confusion and gray areas after the recent policy change. It will be very interesting to see if the eventual legislation only addresses any gaps in policy from the recent policy change or if it goes even further. Given how fast Thailand has reformed its cannabis laws and how much it is trying to embrace the emerging cannabis industry, it’s at least somewhat possible that the measure could be used to push for complete and outright cannabis legalization.
The post Cannabis Decriminalization In Thailand Creates New Questions appeared first on Skunk Magazine.
via Skunk Magazine https://www.skunkmagazine.com/cannabis-decriminalization-in-thailand-creates-new-questions/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cannabis-decriminalization-in-thailand-creates-new-questions
source https://inkegootjes.weebly.com/blog/cannabis-decriminalization-in-thailand-creates-new-questions
No comments:
Post a Comment