A long history
The history of cannabis in Thailand is not new: growing cannabis and consuming one's own crop were legal until the 1930s. Unfortunately, under pressure from international bodies, the country eventually gave in, and the Thai government ended up classifying cannabis as a drug. Finally, after nearly 90 years of prohibition and harsh repression, Thailand is slowly moving closer to its plan to legalize cannabis.
As early as 2020, Thailand had become the first country in Asia to decriminalize the use of cannabis (marijuana) for medical purposes. Most of the plant had thus been removed from the list of narcotics, although the buds and seeds were not so lucky.
The leader of the Bhumjaithai party, one of the most influential parties in the Thai government, and Minister of Health, Anutin Charnvirakul campaigned for the legalization of cannabis production in order to help the country's farmers. Many measures have thus enabled cannabis to become a major industry in Thailand. The Health Minister argued that " The legalization of cannabis met the government's urgent policy of developing hemp and marijuana for medical and health purposes, but also of developing new technologies and creating new income." However, the minister specified that cultivated cannabis must contain less than 0.2% THC (the psychoactive ingredient) in order to be grown.
Update: Thailand has since gone back on this. In June 2025, an order from the Ministry of Public Health reclassified cannabis flowers as a "controlled herb" and banned their sale without a medical prescription: cannabis is now only authorized there for medical purposes.
