The man credited with bringing legal weed smoking to Thailand last night stood firm and said it was the right thing to do in the face of questions about its consequences.
Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, Anutin Charnvirakul said he was right to engineer the sudden and complete change, despite the fact it happened before any basic regulations were in place.
“Unfortunately, due to COVID issue, the Cannabis Act could not be finished in parallel to the date that we freed cannabis from narcotics. I anticipate the next question from the public will be, ‘Why I didn’t wait until the law was imposed?’ No way. No, sir. I won’t wait. I will never delay. Even if I could turn back time,” Anutin said in English.
The public health minister and head of the Bhumjaithai Party spoke 27 days after cannabis was removed from the list of controlled substances and amid a tabloid-fueled backlash that he moved too far, too fast.
Despite those criticisms, Anutin insisted repeatedly that the only aim of decriminalizing cannabis was to improve people’s wellbeing and quality of life.
“Because there were patients waiting for their treatments with herbal remedies. There were farmers waiting to harvest and get their first crop, waiting for their incomes during current economic difficulties,” the 55-year-old politician said. “There were SME businesses, investments, planning, and deals that were ready to get going. It would be unfair if the government would cause this damage to these decent people.”
Less than a week after he contracted COVID-19 and returned to work without isolating as long as his ministry advises, Anutin wore a mask and appeared to have difficulty breathing.
Anutin’s defensiveness took a sharp turn today with word he sued a popular television commentator for defamation last month.
Voice TV host Nattakorn Devakula said this morning he was summoned by police back in Anutin’s political home of Buriram province for saying on the air that Anutin and Bhumjaithai’s push for legal weed was “immoral” and promoted drug addiction.
At the FCCT, Anutin was joined by his adviser, investor Julpas “Tom” Kruesopon, advocate Chokwan “Kitty” Chopaka, Gloria Lai of the International Drug Policy Consortium, and cannabis mogul Cameron Forni.
He anticipated that Thailand’s futured cannabis industry would be worth up to US$3 billion and benefit broad swaths of society, from farmers to entrepreneurs.
Thailand in the next five years will become a “medical hub” in Asia and beyond, he said.
While the Cannabis Act passed its first reading in parliament on June 8, it has weeks to go before it returns to the floor. Anutin announced the regulations should be in place no later than September.
“A group of commissioners has been elected to amend the bill and propose to the [parliament] for the final endorsement,” he said. “This is expected to be done sometime in August or late September.”
The bill contains an age limit and prohibition against selling to pregnant and breastfeeding women, rules already in place by an emergency order issued one week after it became legal.
On June 9, cannabis became fully legal. Only “extracts” with the psychoactive compound THC (any amount over 0.2%) like edibles, oils, waxes, and tinctures – remain controlled.
So complete was the decriminalization that law enforcement was left with no tools beyond threatening to fine people under public nuisance laws for smoking in public or bothering their neighbors.
Since then ill-conceived news reports have blamed cannabis for all manner of ills including fatalities and even a man cutting off his penis.
While Anutin continues to insist his administration only promotes cannabis for medical purposes – despite the de facto legalization of recreational smoking – Kitty suggested that the government could have better educated the public.
“I understand that the health ministry cannot promote recreational use or smoking, but at the same time, by not giving the public information, people would not know what to do,” Kitty said. “Think about it. If you keep on telling them, ‘just say no,’ or ‘don’t do it wrong,’ or ‘don’t do this’ without telling them how to do it, what are you going to expect?”
While the final form of the Cannabis Act remains to be seen, Kitty said Thailand has struggled from a lack of general knowledge among issues such as nepotism and corruption.
Sensible rules are also necessary, she said.
“I want rules that make sense,” Kitty said. “Because if the rules don’t make sense, people are just not going to follow. It’s the same as taxes: If you throw like 40%-50% tax on it, it doesn’t make sense. And people are going to go back to the underground.”
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