Thai nationals seeking to purchase cannabis buds will soon have to show their ID cards, with sales information recorded on a government database.

It is not known whether foreigners seeking to buy cannabis buds will have to show ID such as a passport.

The requirement is the latest in a series of ad hoc regulations issued since cannabis was decriminalised in June last year. A law to regulate the sector is still before Parliament and might not be passed before the election later this year.

Under the new rule, the Department for the Development of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine (DTAM) said registered shops would be required to submit reports on sales and purchases to the department.

Vendors will be able to insert the ID cards of buyers into a device linked with the department’s system. If they fail to submit their reports to the department, their licences would be revoked, DTAM said.

So far, more than 7,000 shops have sought permission to sell cannabis buds.

The main aim of cannabis decriminalisation, authorities have stressed, is to promote medicinal uses and create economic opportunities for people growing and processing the plant. But recreational use has exploded, which appears to have caught the government by surprise.