Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing what is still not the foregone conclusion of the notion Cannabis is going to have some rollback here in Thailand. One thing I have been very upset with the media about lo these past few weeks, has been that they have been reporting on the Cannabis issue as if it's some sort of foregone conclusion that we are going to roll back to some sort of, really at this point in my mind, sort of Draconian re-illegalization, putting this thing back on the narcotics list. Again, it's being discussed but again, it's not a foregone conclusion. What am I talking about here?

Well I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, that is bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: BJT Chief 'puzzled' by U-Turn. And by BJT, they are talking about the Bhumjaithai, which is the Party of Anutin Charnvirakul, former Minister of Public Health, now Minister of Interior. He was the one that actually kick-started all of this some years back. Actually if you go back into the history, this had to do with Section 44 power that was used under the Prayuth  Government and then this whole initiative sort of moved forward but it did get a major sort of injection of momentum if you will, beginning with the delisting some 2 years ago of this as a narcotic. Now remember that happened under emergency powers. We were under the Emergency Decree at the time and as Minister of Public Health, it was my understanding, that vested Mr. Anutin with certain extraordinary capabilities which it's also my understanding don't now exist, where they can just relist this again as a narcotic just sort of unilaterally without any real basis in law of doing that. That said, the legal questions on all kind of that are still unanswered and should there be any major developments, I am sure the Courts could get involved. That being said, we haven't seen any major change from a policy standpoint and it's not a foregone conclusion that we will. Let me explain. 

So quoting directly from that article: Again, BJT Chief 'puzzled' by U-Turn. Quoting: "Speaking to the Press on Thursday, Mr Anutin said he was puzzled by the Government's u-turn on the issue, noting the committee which is pushing for Cannabis to be listed as a narcotic is made up of the same people who wanted Cannabis to be decriminalized two years ago." Yeah, great question. Why all of this sort of back and forth? It's sort of like the two years we have spent saying "hey let's get a law through Parliament," and then it just sort of became "nah, let's just do it because we say so". Not based on any sort of notion of codifications of the Parliamentary due process system. No, we'll just sort of make it up as we go through Ministerial Regulations which I'm not even sure anyone has the authority to make this a narcotic with this method. Again that's sort of a legal question. I myself am a layman when it comes to Thai legal matters, but this is one of those things that is going to have to be dealt with possibly in the Courts if it comes to that. That being said, quoting further: "He called on the committee members to stick to their principles and explain to Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin why Cannabis deserves to be taken off the narcotics list." It is not so much that it deserves to be taken off, it's the public deserves to not have such important things just be able to be relisted as a narcotic at the whim of a bunch of bureaucrats. That's my concern about it. Again if this was to go through Parliament and Parliament said “well actually we are going to relist it is a narcotic, and we will have all these other stipulations and associated with it”, I couldn't really complain about that per se but to just do it. As I said in that prior video, where I pulled out the potted plant - under this same logic, they could say roses are a narcotic or something tomorrow. It really is quite an arbitrary and capricious way of making policy on a major issue here, especially an issue that now pertains to somewhere around about 8,000 different shops here in Thailand; that's thousands of entrepreneurs who are operating in this space. Those folks are out there just trying to do their jobs and make a living and again through the arbitrary and capricious whims of a bunch of bureaucrats, could just sort of be shut down overnight. That doesn't seem like a very good way to make policy either. 

Quoting further: "The Bhumjaithai leader, who is also a Deputy Prime Minister, added that he also told Mr. Srettha," (that's the Prime Minister) "that Ministries and Organizations under his Party's control, reserve the right to vote against the push when the NCB," (that's the Narcotics Control Board) convenes to discuss the matter." So they haven't even convened to discuss it. If and when they do, as we have discussed in prior videos, it's my understanding that Mr. Anutin sits as the ex-officio Chairman of such a convened meeting. So again when he says this, that's something I really take a deep hard listen to. Quoting further: "He claimed Mr. Srettha said he was open to further discussions on the matter," (that's good to hear. That's kind of a new development that the Prime Minister isn't just stonewalling on this, like we've seen in the past.) Quoting further: "..and  listening to Bhumjaithai's concern about the Cannabis relisting proposal." Quoting further: "Mr. Anutin also stressed that Bhumjaithai's objection should not be perceived as a rift between the party and Pheu Thai, saying he was optimistic that these differences in opinions could still be mended through dialogue." Yeah I hope so too quite honestly. Nobody wants to see a bunch of consternation, a bunch of conflict. But long story short, it is in my opinion rather unreasonable the notion of just unilaterally changing this from a non-narcotic, one that has licensing associated with it, and documentation you have to maintain. Also there are restrictions. You can't sell children. They go into, and I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail, they go into another thing where they have this group of kids basically petitioning saying that they don't want Cannabis to be legal, and it's my understanding or at least from what I've heard anecdotally, let me be clear what I've heard anecdotally, is that this is not sort of an organic petition that came up from the grassroots. It is one of these things where kids in school were sort of “heavily encouraged” if you will, to sign such a petition or to have a certain posture in such a movement. My question is why is it even relevant, if children aren't supposed to have anything to do with cannabis in the first place? We don't ask for kids' opinions on the legality of the drinking age at the end of the day, so who cares? What's the relevance there? I thought the whole point was kids aren't supposed to have anything to do with this product. That's what I want. I would be perfectly happy to see laws in place that said "yeah for adults, consenting adults, they can do whatever they want with this product, but people that are under the age of majority here in Thailand, that they are sold to, the person selling it to them should face some possible criminal penalties including but not limited to possibly even jail time.

But that said, again it remains to be seen what, if any regulations, could be forthcoming. That being said, we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.