Unregulated access to cannabis has created serious social problems, particularly for children and young people, said government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub.
“The policy must return to its original goal of controlling cannabis for medical use only,” Jirayu said in a statement.
The recriminalisation push has left some cannabis industry members like Punnathat Phutthisawong, who works at the Green House Thailand dispensary in Bangkok, stunned.
“This is my main source of income,” Punnathat, 25, told Reuters. “Many shops are probably just as shocked because a lot of them invested heavily.”
The cannabis sector could have transformed Thai agriculture, medicine and tourism, but uncertainty and policy reversals have stymied any sustainable growth, said cannabis activist Chokwan Kitty Chopaka.
“The cannabis industry has become a hostage to politics,” she said.
On Wednesday, there was still a steady trickle of customers – mainly tourists – coming into cannabis shops in Bangkok’s Khao San Road area, among them Daniel Wolf, who is visiting from Australia.
“There are shops everywhere, so how do they reverse this? I don’t think they can,” he said, ” It’s absolutely insane.”
Source: CNA
