Thailand Set to Re-Criminalize Cannabis for Non-Medical Use

Thailand’s government plans to re-criminalize cannabis, limiting its use strictly to medical purposes, indicating a major policy change that could upend the nation’s fast-expanding yet loosely regulated cannabis industry.

Key takeaways

• Thailand plans to re-criminalize cannabis for all uses except strictly medical, reversing its pioneering 2022 decriminalization policy.
• The pro-cannabis Bhumjaithai Party’s exit from the ruling coalition has cleared the way for the government’s tougher stance on cannabis.
• New regulations will require medical prescriptions and doctors on-site at dispensaries, while broader cannabis reform legislation is unlikely to advance.

The decision comes in the wake of the pro-cannabis Bhumjaithai Party’s departure from the ruling coalition, weakening the last political barrier to reclassification of the drug as a narcotic.

Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin confirmed Tuesday that a new ministry regulation requiring medical prescriptions for cannabis has been signed and will take effect imminently.

The move is part of a broader government effort to roll back the liberal cannabis policies that took root following its decriminalization in 2022.

The shift signals a major policy U-turn for Thailand, which became the first Asian nation to decriminalize cannabis. In the legal vacuum that followed, more than 10,000 dispensaries sprang up nationwide, particularly in tourist hubs and urban business districts, fuelling recreational use and illicit cross-border trade.

The issue has long been a point of contention between Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s ruling Pheu Thai Party and its former coalition partner, Bhumjaithai, which had championed cannabis liberalization. 

Tensions between the parties escalated over drug policy, with Pheu Thai pushing to reinstate stricter controls while Bhumjaithai resisted.

Following Bhumjaithai’s exit from the coalition last week, triggered by unrelated political disputes, Pheu Thai now has a clear path to impose its tougher stance. 

The Health Ministry’s latest regulation, which was open for public consultation from May 22 to June 15, restricts cannabis use to medical purposes only, pending full re-criminalization.

Further regulations are expected to mandate the presence of a licensed physician at every dispensary, a significant tightening of licensing requirements.

A broader cannabis bill that aimed to regulate the production, sale, and export of cannabis, seen as a compromise between full legalization and prohibition, now appears dead in the water. 

The draft, introduced in September, never reached parliamentary debate and is unlikely to proceed under the current government.

Bhumjaithai has accused Pheu Thai of deliberately stalling the legislation and has called on the Health Ministry to revive and expedite the bill. However, with political momentum shifting, Thailand’s short-lived experiment with cannabis liberalization appears to be coming to an abrupt end.