The Public Health Ministry will ask the cabinet next Tuesday to approve a draft bill which allows marijuana use for medical purposes as authorities demand measures to prevent possible abuse in the wake of its enactment.

The bill has been drafted by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) which agreed to separate the cannabis issue from its ongoing process of considering the more complicated and time-consuming narcotics bill, which is scheduled to finish next February. This will make it easier to look into the proposal to ease restrictions on marijuana for medical purposes because "there are not many sections in the marijuana bill", Deputy Prime Minister Prajin Juntong said on Tuesday.

The Public Health Ministry has been assigned to scrutinise the marijuana bill before forwarding it to the cabinet next week. Its approval is required before the NLA can begin its own thorough consideration of the bill. The lawmakers' efforts to promote the medical use of marijuana is being done in parallel with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which shares a similar stance.

"However, the authorities will not completely unlock the use of marijuana, even for medical purposes, and all use of the drug will be kept under strict control," said Office of the Narcotics Control Board secretary-general Niyom Toemsisuk. His comments echoed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who said the government would not rush to ease restrictions on marijuana use. In his words, the authorities would "gradually unlock" it in a careful manner.

Mr Niyom clarified by saying authorities who are pushing ahead with a proposal to allow for cannabis extracts as an alternative treatment do not want to close the door on its medical potential.

"A thorough check of marijuana species, plantation areas as well as uses among patients must be set as conditions before the approval," he stressed.

THC is a key component of the oil extracted from cannabis. Rangsit University researchers have shown the substance can curb the growth of tumours and are eager to conduct more studies to see it can combat certain types of cancer. According to the university's College of Pharmacy, the extract can be also used as an alternative liquid medicine that can be sprayed into the mouth to ease pain caused by demyelinating disease, which causes a type of nerve damage.

"We also have to prevent marijuana from being contaminated by chemicals or insecticides," Mr Niyom said, adding that contaminated oil extract is dangerous to patients.

In terms of the impact of easing marijuana regulations on society at large, Mr Niyom said authorities need to come up with measures to ensure the oil extracts are used only among patients and not "leaked" onto the black market for recreational use. A failure to control the use of some psychotropic substances, benzodiazepines in particular, currently allowed for medical purposes, should also be taken as a lesson since authorities are going to apply the same type of relaxation rules to marijuana, he added.