Thailand, Bangkok/Pattaya – Mada, 21, works at a cannabis dispensary in eastern Thailand, her boyfriend grows cannabis plants at home, and several friends sell bongs, pipes and buds at pop-up stalls and bars.
Thailand has gone “barha”, or crazy, over cannabis since the plant was effectively decriminalized last month.
New products based on cannabis and its derivatives, from hemp leaves used in Sriracha hot sauce and gummy bears infused with terpenes, the compounds that give cannabis its taste and aroma, to hemp tea and pre-rolled joints. Supply chains are rapidly emerging.
“Gen Zers, my age group, don't actually drink alcohol, but they smoke marijuana,” Mada told Al Jazeera, sitting a little misty-eyed behind the counter of a hastily assembled pharmacy in Pattaya. Told.
Thailand removed cannabis from its list of prohibited drugs on June 9, with the sole purpose of making it easier for growers and consumers of cannabis products to access cannabis for medical and culinary purposes. Smoking drugs for recreational purposes remains against the law.
Nevertheless, recreational use is also widespread across Southeast Asian countries, driving a nascent business in cannabis buds, cookies and drinks that police cannot stop under existing drug laws.
Cannabis products have become a much-needed source of income, especially for many young people, after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted tourism, which typically provides about a fifth of the kingdom's jobs.
“Since the law changed, I can see on my Instagram Stories how many people in my age group have had new opportunities to earn a living,” Mada said.
“Look, I have a full-time job at this pharmacy.”
On social media, the hashtag #saikiew, or “green lifestyle,” has become a popular way to promote cannabis products and share cannabis cultivation tips.
So far, tens of thousands of small-scale farmers have legally registered to grow cannabis, but it is believed that many more are trying their hand at growing on unregistered homesteads.
But the relatively liberal policies that have given Thailand one of the most open cannabis regimes in Asia may not last.
With a cannabis bill due to be introduced in Parliament in the coming weeks, politicians are under pressure to curb or even ban recreational use and keep cannabis from reaching children. ing.
Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said last week that the relaxation of the law was aimed at medical purposes.
“The whole plant is no longer narcotic,” he told reporters, adding that “only the extract, and not the flower, tree or root,” with “less than 0.2 percent THC content” can be used. added. Provides a medicinal high.
Some fear that once the hype wears off, small businesses will be left behind in a cannabis-saturated market and be forced to incur higher costs to grow more profitable premium strains.
“Growing good weed is not that easy,” Piyatida Jantra, who has been growing about 100 plants per crop for the past three years, told Al Jazeera.
“If you just want to grow Thai stocks, you can just plant them in your backyard and they will grow… But if you want to grow other stocks, you have to know how to do it. Otherwise it’s too risky to put your money into it.” is too large.”
Experts predict that Thailand's cannabis market could soon reach a value of billions of dollars a year if laws remain liberal.
Most of it will be absorbed by large corporations that have purchased land for plantations, owners of factories producing high-grade CBD oil, and wellness resorts expected to receive tourists from all over the world for treatments. It is expected.
Behind this headline number is another detail that suggests the cannabis spoils are not going to smallholders in Thailand.
There is now a growing demand for more potent cannabis strains that are not indigenous to Thailand, such as the potent White Widow, which contains up to 25 percent THC.
Illegal imports from the United States are filling Thai shelves as local producers are unable to meet demand, industry statistics show.
“About 70 percent of the cannabis currently on the Thai market is imported from the United States,” a long-time cannabis grower who goes by the pseudonym Ikalor told Al Jazeera.
Cannabis dispensaries sell his premium cannabis for 700 baht ($19.45) per gram. This is 2.5 times the price he sells to wholesalers.
“People only see this plant as a way to make money… It's sad because that's not the essence of ganja (culture).”
For Chokwang “Kitty” Chopaka, a longtime advocate of marijuana legalization who recently opened the Chopaka Shop dispensary in downtown Bangkok, it is likely too late to repeal the recreational use law.
“It's interesting to see how society changes with the idea of 'chachin' (money),” Chopaka told Al Jazeera, adding that one of the broader motivations for relaxing the law was to reduce tax revenue for debt-ridden governments. listed.
“Suddenly, ‘drug addicts’ turn into business people, and people growing in their bedroom turn into master growers. The phone keeps ringing with people asking for it.