Registration opens Friday to grow, trade hemp

Registration opens Friday to grow, trade hemp

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul opens a workshop to develop the potential of enterprise operators to process kanchong or hemp as health products at Muang Thong Thani on Aug 31 last year. (File photo by Pornprom Satrabhaya)
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul opens a workshop to develop the potential of enterprise operators to process kanchong or hemp as health products at Muang Thong Thani on Aug 31 last year. (File photo by Pornprom Satrabhaya)

Anyone can register to grow, trade and have in possession hemp under a new ministerial regulation coming into effect on Friday.

The regulation allows the production, import, export, distribution and possession of hemp, or kanchong, a Type 5 narcotic.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deputy secretary-general Supattra Boonserm said that Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul had signed the ministerial regulation to that effect on Thursday.

Under the rules, anyone — growers, public and private sectors, and members of the public — can seek permission to grow hemp for all purposes  — commercial, medicinal, educational, research or cultural.

They may use, process or add value to all parts of the plant such as making hemp extracts, herbal drinks, cosmetics and other products, said the FDA deputy secretary.

Hemp export permits can be sought and its seeds could also be imported within five years after the regulation takes effect, she said.

Interested people could seek permission with the public health offices where the plant is to be grown, or with the FDA in the case of Bangkok. Seed importers can apply for permits with the FDA, said Ms Supattra.

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