Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Cannabis here in Thailand. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Pattaya tourist numbers zoom amid political crisis fears. Quoting directly: "A Spokesperson for the Pattaya Entertainment Collective said nightlife was more or less back to normal after the pandemic and added there was the additional bonus of Cannabis with an obviously blurred distinction between medical and leisure use." Yeah, there has been a lot of discussion about this here in Thailand since the reopening since we saw the rescission, the retraction of the Emergency Decree back in October 2022, which is how much of an impact has Cannabis had on overall tourism?

I think just from an anecdotal standpoint, or just one's own observations, I think it is pretty clear it has had an impact. I definitely think Cannabis, the legalization of Cannabis here in Thailand and the ability to buy and use it has been a draw at least to some extent with regard to tourists here in Thailand. Now I thought of quoting another article I recently read where they were talking about now that the elections are over, they have kind of been discussing Cannabis and there has been these talks about re-criminalization which to my mind is just silly. In fact I thought of making a video and titling it: The definition of insanity, and then basically getting into the old saying: "what's the definition of insanity?" - "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result!" At the end of the day, whatever you want to say about the prior Government in Thailand and I get it, there is a lot to be said, I've been critical of them in the past, this is one where credit where credit is due. They got this one right, however you want to look at it. The issue of Cannabis in my opinion and the way that they have dealt with it here in Thailand yeah I'm a big believer in regulation, we need to regulate it but this notion of re-criminalizing or whatever and on top of that this whole "Medical but not recreation", I mean come on, why? what is with the semantic differences and the pearl clutching? Look, we have been dealing with this now for about a year and the sky has not fallen, the sun has not fallen from the sky. The legalization has resulted in an entirely new industry being created in Thailand; it has resulted in a lot of new jobs not least of which in the retail sector but also from what I am reading, it is a benefit to Thai farmers who quite honestly can use all the help they can get, all the time. I'm from a farming background way back in my family. Farmers have a tough job. I don't know why people are kind of overlooking that but this is an extra cash crop for folks who could use the extra cash, honestly. Meanwhile, again at the retail level, I think I did a video recently where they said there were 14,000 retail level vendors of this. Well that's jobs, that's commercial real estate being utilized which by the way, look around the world at the state of the commercial real estate sector okay? It ain't great especially coming off the last two and a half, three years of what can only be described as well not the greatest policy thinking, let's leave it at that.

So long story short and the thing I am trying to get across in this video, it is really worth a look, and stop hyperbole okay, the elections are over okay? Let's look at it for what it is. The legalization of this thing has resulted in jobs; it has resulted in the creation of an industry with a massive market capitalization; it has also placed Thailand in a first mover advantage position when it comes to sort of comparative advantage in the international context where Thailand is way ahead in terms of this becoming a possible export crop in the future, it's way, way ahead and this has been nothing but a benefit. Again people can have a problem and I can totally understand how they could with things that have occurred in past governments and past policies that have been promulgated. This really to my mind is not one of them. 

Now regarding criminalization, if somebody wanted to say make it a criminal act to sell to children, to people under 20, to minors in Thailand, I would see no problem with that whatsoever but that is a different type of crime. That's not the act of trading in this product in and of itself, that's the act of selling it to a child which that's a totally different thing. I'm 100% on board with criminalizing that activity. But criminalization of cannabis itself is a step backward, in fact it is many steps backwards.  At the same time, this whole obsession with the semantic difference between medicinal and recreational use, what is even the point of that? Nobody is sitting around doing that when it comes to the issue of alcohol. In fact if anything, I think a lot of the discussions right now are talking about the de-monopolization of alcohol and not necessarily, 'booze is going to be everywhere' but the notion that ‘hey there needs to be some more competition in terms of the alcohol industry’. Nobody is sitting there clutching their pearls and saying well 'what's the difference between medicinal alcohol and recreational alcohol?' Nobody is asking that question because it is pretty silly and I think the same logic can apply to Cannabis. We need to get past, I would maybe perhaps say maybe get past this whole boomer notion that reefer madness is going to kill us all, that's not really how it looks like it is worked. We have had a year of this, we have seen what it is. Quite honestly I think it has been handled quite well by both consumers as well as those who are vendors. I think people have gone out of their way to stay within the boundaries of the law. Now that being said, licensing needs to be maintained. Again, regulation no problem; licensing needs to be out there; taxation facilities need to be set up and yes criminalization of those who sell to people who are underage, absolutely I can get on board with that, but come on at what point is it pretty darn silly to sit there saying hey, we need to criminalize I just again, the definition of insanity is doing something over and over and expecting a different outcome.