Discussed: 16 Jul 2024 at 18: 50
The administration’s plan to put cannabis up on a list of illegal medications may cause a 27-billion-baht damage to the local hemp business, said Wisan Potprasat, CEO of the Cannabis Medical Industrial Estate Association of Thailand.
from media table
The Public Health Ministry’s commission plan to relist hemp as a narcotic made Mr. Wisan’s comments on the public health agency’s plan to resign it as a narcotic. He is also the leader of the Community Enterprise Network of Western Herbal Alliances, the largest licensed cannabis producer in the country.
He claimed the decision will change the preceding administration’s position on marijuana by re-instating it as a opioid. He added that it will have an impact on many organizations, particularly those led by Western Herbal Alliances, which have 450 people.
Mr. Wisan said the change in drug’s legal status will have an impact on both domestic and international sales, its health applications, and its position as one of the nation’s top economic plants.
Government should think about using the laws to regulate cannabis so that it can continue to be used clinically, he said. He suggested that laws be in place to prevent cannabis from becoming improper once more.
According to Mr. Wisan, the international community’s position on the medicine is likely to advance more progressiveally in the future, citing the UN’s Commission on Narcotics ‘ 2020 ballot on whether to replace cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which was favorably defeated by a slim percentage of 27-25. He said if the world no longer views pot as a narcotic, Thailand did lose some options.
Mr Wisan estimated Thailand’s hemp industry may suffer a total 27-billion-baht lost consisting of a 7-billion-baht damage incurred by hemp fields and a 20-billion-baht damage faced by cannabis outlets nationwide. He claimed that the government is trying to stop the sector for political reasons, and that the decision will stymie whatever the sector has accomplished in the last four years.