The government’s plan to put cannabis back on a list of illegal drugs will cause a 27-billion-baht loss to the local cannabis industry, said Wisan Potprasat, CEO of the Cannabis Medical Industrial Estate Association of Thailand.
from news desk
Mr Wisan, who is also the president of the Community Enterprise Network of Western Herbal Alliances, which is the largest licensed cannabis grower in the country, was commenting on the Public Health Ministry’s committee plan to relist cannabis as a narcotic.
He said the move will reverse the previous government’s policy on the drug by listing it as a narcotic again, adding it will affect many groups, especially entrepreneurs who have invested in the cannabis industry, such as the Community Enterprise Networks of Western Herbal Alliances which have 450 members.
Mr Wisan said the reversal of marijuana’s legal status will also affect domestic and overseas sales, its medical uses and its status as one of the country’s outstanding economic plants.
Authorities need to consider using the law to control cannabis in a way that allows it to continue to be used medically, he said. He suggested that regulations are needed instead of making cannabis illegal again.
Mr Wisan said the international community’s stance on the drug is likely to become more progressive in the future, citing the United Nation’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs 2020 vote on whether to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, in which the votes in favour beat votes against by a narrow margin of 27-25. He said if the world no longer views marijuana as a narcotic, Thailand will lose many opportunities.
Mr Wisan estimated Thailand’s cannabis industry will suffer a total 27-billion-baht loss consisting of a 7-billion-baht loss incurred by cannabis farms and a 20-billion-baht loss faced by cannabis shops nationwide. He accused the government of trying to end the industry due to political reasons, saying the move will set back everything the industry has achieved over the past four years
