Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing, well we're discussing Cannabis Policy changes possibly in 2026. At the end of the year I like to do roundups, basically going into the New Year where I talk about topics that we discuss at length on this channel but sometimes we need a bit of a drill down so that people understand what's going on. 

For those who are unaware, going back into 2022, Cannabis was effectively legalized via the actions of then Ministry of Public Health, Minister Anutin Charnvirakul who basically came out and using his Emergency Powers pulled Cannabis from the narcotics list and just it ceased to be a narcotic. Emergency Powers under the Communicable Diseases Act ended in 2022. Subsequent to that, it became basically a requirement to get a Parliamentary Act passed to put Cannabis back on the list. So in terms of sort of procedural play, Anutin's move was brilliant. That being said, we have seen some moves to try to regulate it but there's no underlying law to do that, so any attempt at regulation other than the initial promulgation of the rules pertaining to Cannabis that were put out under the powers under the Emergency Decree, really all of the rest of that is superfluous; it doesn't really matter because there's been no new law. We just basically have Cannabis legal, you can't sell it to anybody under 20, you can't sell it to pregnant women. Now there are various nuisance rules and things where different precincts pertaining to the Police, you'll see them say look, hey, in this zone we are not allowing people who like to smoke this freely outside; we consider that a nuisance, you might get a nuisance charge against you. But again, it's a legal product. The underlying product is legal as I have discussed at length in many other videos. 

Now the question is, going into 2026, will we see major policy changes? Here in Thailand, I think it's safe to say we will probably, it's very possible we could see some sort of law promulgated in the next Parliament. Presuming it is Anutin, and the situation remains largely the same subsequent to an election, we might not see anything. It might just proceed as is and they consider themselves to have the requisite legal framework in order to deal with Cannabis moving forward; I could actually see that happening. In a possible situation where Anutin doesn't come in, or there's some major backlash against Cannabis, which I find very unlikely, I guess Parliament could pass some kind of law going the other way. Again I find that very unlikely, especially in light of the fact there have been 19,000 businesses that have gone out and obtained Cannabis Licenses in order to operate said businesses and it's probably not very politic to go ahead and make that many small business owners, likely voters, and all the ancillary people around it, not just the license holder but the people that have jobs as a result of those businesses, it is probably not a very politic thing to go ahead and just completely alienate those people. 

That said, the question then becomes what happens internationally? What's America going to look like? I thought of that when reading a recent article from Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Trump signs order to ease cannabis limits in Industry win. I think where we could really see things changing with regard to Cannabis Policy in 2026 is likely going to be in the United States more than here in Thailand. Now that said, it's not exactly everything it's cracked up to be what Trump has just done. Quoting directly: "Trump's directive does not legalize marijuana nationwide, nor does it take effect immediately. The Executive Order instructs agencies to restart a formal rulemaking process led by The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services that has been paused since January." So one, there has been all this bureaucratic pushback in the United States to allow Cannabis to be, even to see the rules relaxed, to see it de-categorized from Category I up there with really serious, hard drugs down to Category III along with like Tylenol 3 with Codeine. That's not an unreasonable possible place to put Cannabis. Now my opinion is just fully legalize it and regulate it like alcohol, but whatever, I can see the argument in favour of, I think it's a good thing to go from Category I to Category III. But that said, this isn't just happening overnight. Moreover, I'm not convinced the bureaucracy is exactly going to go along with this. Quoting further: "That would effectively kick-start a process begun under former President Joe Biden in 2022, when he asked the HHS Secretary and US Attorney-General to review the federal classification of marijuana. The Justice Department later recommended moving the drug to Schedule III" - but here's the catch - quoting further: "prompting a formal review with the DEA. That effort, however, became mired in legal challenges and agency delays." Yeah, intentionally. The bureaucracy, there's a great line in the movie, I may use this for a thumbnail, I'll try to find it. There's a great line in the film American Gangster with Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington which has connection to Thailand from the time Frank Lucas was a smuggler, he was bringing in his product out of Southeast Asia over into the United States. But Richie Robbins played by Russell Crowe in the film, there's a great scene where he says, he's trying to talk to like all these different federal agencies and everybody is giving him a brick wall and he says, "I don't think anybody wants to fix this problem. There's too many jobs in it; there's too much money in it." And he didn't mean like pure bribery or anything, it's just there's been a bureaucracy built up around the notion in America of Cannabis being illegal and being a Category I drug and being treated as a Category I drug, and therefore we need the DEA to run around like something out of a I don't know, Jason Bourne movie or something, all kitted out to go after a bunch of pot dealers. And look, there are budgets and things behind this. There are federal jobs and things that come into play with this and to sit there and do the analysis and think that that won't come into some level of the practical application of these possible changes by Trump is in my opinion rather naive. At the end of the day, they've already “paused this initiative” that started under Biden, and kept it paused for nearly a year just on being paused alone, let alone to when the Justice Department actually did say, "yeah, it really should be Schedule III", then the DEA kicked in with a "formal review" which then saw it "mired in legal challenges and agency delays." 

Again it's very possible we could see major changes to Cannabis Policy in the United States in 2026. That said, based on past history, the bureaucracy is probably going to push back. My hope is Trump is serious about this and sees the benefits especially from a business standpoint to the American economy, and will see that it is probably a good idea that we move faster on this rather than slower. So there may be some momentum from the Executive to go ahead and get this policy initiative truly promulgated. That said, it remains to be seen, and we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel throughout 2026 and beyond.