Cannabis supporters plan legal challenge of policy u-turn

Parties gather in Bangkok to gather names for a petition to stop the reign of criminality.

In Bangkok, lots of cannabis companies, producers, and activists staged legal protests and threatened legal action against the state as it pursues a plan to categorize pot as a narcotic only two years after decriminalizing it.

Roughly 2, 000 signatures were collected on Tuesday at a rally in front of the capital’s UN Economic and Social Commision to support a legitimate petition to stop the government’s action. Cannabis activists displayed posters urging people to” stop villainizing thc.”

According to Jerawat Tanyaprirom, a hemp firm owner who collected the names, the complaint may be filed with the Central Administrative Court against Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. If the government goes away with the u-turn, the petition were required to provide any financial losses they would incur.

” If the government backed down, we would n’t need to file this petition. But we want to have this as an ammunition”, Mr Jerawat said. &nbsp, &nbsp,

The native cannabis industry has been thrown into new uncertainty by a full re-criminalization ordered by Mr. Srettha earlier this month. Mr Srettha said Thailand had placed hemp back into the record of” group five” cocaine —&nbsp, which may make it a crime to “produce, market, import, export, or possess” the flower and use it — after the Southeast Asian nation became the first in Asia to decriminalise the plant in 2022. &nbsp,

Since 2022, thousands of dispensaries have been operating in the area, selling everything from cannabis buds to fuel extracts, weed-infused candy and baked goods that must not exceed 0.2 % of the psychoactive compound known as THC, which causes a “high” experience. THC is currently considered a” controlled herb” and is not outright prohibited from its outdoor use. &nbsp,

Most cannabis campaigning organizations want the government to regulate the market by passing policy, instead of a cover re- criminalisation. &nbsp,

” If we use the narcotics regulation, we will be putting hemp back in jail and allowing it to be grown by just some parties of people”, Writing Thailand’s Cannabis Future, an advocacy group, said in a statement on Tuesday. Additionally, the group demanded a new protest on June 9, the day that the decriminalization celebration will occur.

Last week, Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin announced that permits would be required to develop and use cannabis for research and clinical purposes, and that recreational use would be prohibited under new legislation. He argued that those who were willing to follow the law would n’t be burdened by the permit system.

More than 1 million families have registered with the authorities to grow cannabis for commercial purposes in addition to to benefit from the rising demand. According to the top, cannabis for medical and health functions will still be permitted.