Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Cannabis Regulation here in Thailand. This is something that I think is going to be pretty hot news here moving forward. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, that is bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Cannabis regulation back on agenda as outlets soar. Quoting directly: "Tourism operators said the regulation of cannabis and hemp usage should be finished within one year following a fivefold increase in new cannabis shops operating in the Khao San Road area since last year." Now this is me talking before I quote further. I don't know what it is but we have kind of mentioned this in prior videos on this channel, the Bangkok Post to one degree or another seems to be at best ambivalent on the issue of cannabis. I urge those watching this video, read that article for yourself, but there are various points in the article where the way things are stated seems kind of negative. For example, like this notion that "well Cannabis shops operating in Khao San Road area went up fivefold." Well if you consider that this has only really been around for a little over a year now, and really if you go back to this time in 2022, there were hardly any shops yet. There really weren't any shops. So I'm not saying there were none, there were starting to be some but to go up fivefold, that is sort of like saying, "oh our economy has skyrocketed!" Well when you start at zero, there's nowhere to go but up. So on the one hand, I won't say that this is hyperbole because it is technically correct to say ‘okay it has gone up fivefold’, but again when there was nothing and then there is a thing, there's going to be a pretty major difference between sort of a null-set and whatever ends up post null-set. Just kind of bear that in mind with when we are talking about the rest of this. 

Quoting further: "Mr. Sanga," (and Mr. Sanga is Sanga Ruangwattanakul, President of the Khao San Business Association), so "Mr. Sanga suggested the regulation should allow recreational purposes, in addition to medicinal purposes, but under a stricter rule, such as restricting smoking zones and prohibiting consumption in public areas, and not allowing shops to open near schools."

Yeah, as noted in prior videos, I have been on board with regulation of cannabis from the get-go. I think that's a very good idea; I think it's a very good idea for Thailand; I think it's going to be massively beneficial to have a regulatory structure in place. It is absolutely imperative that we have a regulatory structure in place that not only keeps children from coming in contact with the substance, but places criminal penalties on those who in fact actually purvey such substances to children. At the same time, I think that people need to be aware of the legal structure. The problem we have right now is opacity. People don't know what is okay and what is not. Everybody is just kind of operating in a sort of a state of limbo. Again things like specific zones for usage, not a bad idea at all. There currently already are penalties in place for public usage, nuisance laws as we have discussed in other videos, but long story short we have yet to see what the actual legislation on this topic looks like. So it remains to be seen exactly what a regulatory structure is ultimately going to consist of but we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.