Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Cannabis here in Thailand yet again. There is this continuing, in my opinion, sort of false dialectic going on with regard to the notion of Recreational versus Medicinal Cannabis. Then there is this constant fear, I kind of laugh because it got almost cartoonish and it had a fever pitch at one point but for roughly the past year, year and a half, there seems to have been this concerted sort of effort of hyperbole I guess, talking about all the terrible side effects that can happen to society with regard to Cannabis. I largely think that this stuff was exaggerated as I have explained in prior videos and I'll get to the citations here in a moment, but it's interesting a column that I was recently reading, really just spelled out to my mind with great clarity where the dichotomy is between Recreational and Medicinal Cannabis insofar as there is no dichotomy to my mind. It really is a false dialectic; it's a false comparison; it's a false binary sort of comparison. I just don't think that this is the right way for Thailand to be looking at it. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from norml.org, that's norml.org. For those who are unaware, this is an American Organization, this is the National Organization for the Regularization of Marijuana Laws. I actually was a member of this Organization in my youth I believe at the time I joined it, which was in law school when I was at Washburn University, that particular organization, the only chapter they had at a law school at that time was actually at Washburn as I recall. I could be wrong about that but yeah, so going back years and years ago, over two decades now, which that's pretty wild to me, but yeah so I have been aware of this organization for some time. Now that said, they're going to be citing in here the JAMA Network Open which that's jamanetwork.com, and I'll get into the citation again. So to be clear this isn't just some activist group for Cannabis regulation, Cannabis legalization whatever. They are going to be citing a study in here that is from accredited, basically accredited medical professionals, accredited academics who are studying these issues and how they could have an impact medically on people, specifically in the United States. This is citing things that are occurring in the US, that organization is in the United States. But that said, it provides a lot of insight for those especially as we're looking at a draft piece of legislation going before Parliament here in Thailand, I think all the data points should be out there so we can make the right decision for the way that we should deal with this product moving forward in Thailand. 

That's said, quoting directly, again norml.org, the title of the article is: Study: Cannabis Access Laws Associated with Reduced use of Benzodiazepines. "Atlanta, Georgia. The adoption of state laws legalizing marijuana for either medical or adult-use is associated with declines in benzodiazepine prescriptions according to data published in the journal JAMA Network Open. Again that's JAMA Network, jamanetwork.com. Quote: "Both medical and recreational Cannabis policies were consistently associated with reductions in benzodiazepine dispensing." investigators determined. Specifically, the implementation of Medical Cannabis Laws was associated with a 12.4 percent reduction in the prescription fill rate per 10,000 patients while adult-use legalization was associated with a 15.2 percent reduction." So that 'adult-use' legalization is sort of another way of saying, the euphemism that they are calling "recreational" use here in Thailand. And notice that the usage of benzodiazepine went down more among those who were recreationally using Cannabis than even those who were medically using it. And again Benzodiazepines these, are serious sort of drugs, mental drugs. And for those out there that are saying "Oh Cannabis has all kinds of negative side effects, sort of psychoactive side effects and things like that", I urge them to read this article because the data seems to suggest otherwise. Quoting further: "Other studies assessing patients' use of prescription medications following their initiation of medical Cannabis have similarly reported decreases in the use of Benzodiazepines." Quoting further: "The study's authors concluded: "We found that Cannabis laws and dispensaries were associated with significant decreases in the dispensing of benzodiazepines in a commercially insured population. - These results have important implications for health outcomes." I'm going to repeat that: "These results have important implications for health outcomes". And this is in both the context of so-called “medicinal” use or “recreational” use. When comparing the two types of jurisdictions in the United States they actually found the "recreational" use jurisdictions ended up with a lower percent usage of these benzodiazepines when compared to even just the medicinal usage jurisdictions. Okay, and again, Benzodiazepines are used for a variety of different things and you can get on the internet, I don't want to dig too deep into this and get on the internet, they're not just 100% purely good. They have many side effects that can negatively impact many different people. Quoting further: "Benzodiazepine use can lead to harmful adverse effects including respiratory depression which can be fatal. - Thus, if patients are in fact reducing their Benzodiazepine use to manage their anxiety symptoms with Cannabis, this may represent a safer treatment option overall.” And I want to go back and quote again, quoting: "Specifically the implementation of Medical Cannabis Laws was associated with a 12.4 percent reduction in the prescription fill rate per 10,000 patients while adult-use legalization," that's what we have here in Thailand, what I would just call full legalization, what some are calling “recreational” use - they clutch their pearls and get upset that adults can recreationally use something that might cause them to be a little bit inebriated. Meanwhile, there's no talk of the “recreational” use of beer, but leave that aside for a moment - again quoting further: "So there was a 12.4 percent reduction in the prescription fill rate per 10,000 patients while adult use legalization was associated with a 15.2 percent reduction in use of those drugs, of Benzodiazepines." Meanwhile, again I want to quote again so people really understand this. "Thus, if patients are in fact, reducing their Benzodiazepine used to manage the anxiety symptoms with Cannabis, this may represent a safer treatment option overall." I mean that is a pretty staggering notion and I think it puts to rest this entire, what in my mind is a sort of false argument between so-called “recreational” use and “medicinal” use. I don't like the notion that people basically have to lie if they want to - not lie, but they have to create a story if you will - in order to be able to use Cannabis. I've seen medicinal jurisdictions for example like California where they have doctors that you walk into and you have to say "oh I have a headache or I have anxiety or something, give me this piece of paper that says I can now go buy some Cannabis". It's an extra layer. I get it and there's an argument to be made for the extra layer especially in the Cannabis Industry when you are looking at it as a business that if it's brought in with these extra layers there's different places for profit opportunity basically. 

The problem here in Thailand if you will and I don't think it's a problem actually, I think Thailand either advertently or inadvertently did this right, it's already legalized now. It's already out; the genie is out of the bottle if you will. So to go in and now to try to put on a bunch of contrived "requirements”, when first of all we know fundamentally this isn't - I like the terminology they use, Ministry Public Health here in Thailand, they call it a Controlled Herb. I think that's a great description both legally and practically because that's what it is really. And again when they were trying to call it a narcotic - we talked about this at the time - that really isn't the definition of Cannabis. Narcotics kill people or can. Cannabis, at least in his present form, even highly processed, you're not going to die merely from Cannabis usage alone. Now you may pass away from using it and then going off and doing something silly or stupid that causes someone to pass away, but what's the difference between that and alcohol at the end of the day? I don't think there is one. If anything, I think alcohol is probably worse in many ways. 

So that being said and in conclusion with respect to this video, again I urge those who are watching this video, I'll put the link to this in the description below so you can read this for yourself but I mean to my mind it is pretty darn compelling that look either recreational use, medicinal use, however you want to look at it, it results in less need to use Big Pharma products which I think may explain one of the reasons why there's so much pushback against this is I suspect Big Alcohol, Big Pharma probably have a problem with their profit margins being messed with. But long story short, we can see from the data now, that even in “recreational” use scenarios, there are overall positive benefits to society as a whole.