Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Cannabis in Thailand specifically "exporting". I have that word in quotation marks because indeed, depending on the underlying facts in a given case and the jurisdiction, one may be trying to “export to”, one could also use the term smuggling. Look at the end of the day, cannabis is a precarious legal issue, not so much domestically here in Thailand. We have a very good idea with regarding legalities of it domestically, but in an international context where you're talking about trade, there are a lot of legalities that come up, a lot of complexities, and some of them are not so complex, they're just insofar as how they are pertinent, they have a particularly harsh set of consequences associated with them, notably criminal penalties. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Thai Examiner, that's thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: UK man ends up behind bars in Ireland after being duped by Thai drug traffickers into smuggling pot. Now my question is, is ‘duped’ the correct word? Because I urge those who are watching this video, read that article in its entirety if you feel like it. There's a lot of good information in there. As usual, Thai Examiner does a good job of fleshing out a lot of the facts and things. Was this person in a difficult position? I don't know their fact patterns, whatever. It sounds like they were. They felt like they were in a desperate position; they did some things that it sounds like they might not have otherwise done, but there they were. That said, is the term "duped" exactly correct? I mean were they fooled into it or were they just in a bad situation? Again, maybe reasonable people can disagree on how they interpreted the facts in this. That said, quoting directly: "A 23-year-old man from Coventry was jailed for three and a half years in Dublin last Thursday. James Kearns was arrested by Gardai in February, carrying nearly 25 kgs of Cannabis in his suitcase on a flight from Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport. The first-time offender from a respectable family told the court that a £4,000 drug debt in the UK drew him into a Thai trafficking network. He said he was lured by the promise of his debt being cleared and a paid-for trip to Thailand." Quoting further: "Kearns was stopped by Irish Customs during a routine random search on February 12. His flight had arrived from Bangkok via Doha. Customs officers found 48 vacuum packs in his suitcase. The total quantity of Cannabis was valued at €489,400. During questioning, Kearns admitted he carried the drugs for a gang operating in Thailand and also disclosed a personal £4,000 drug debt in the UK. Court documents showed Kearns did not pack the suitcase himself. Furthermore, he made full admissions regarding the Cannabis in his possession. Garda Peter Mullins from Dublin Airport Garda Station confirmed the facts in court. Kearns signed guilty pleas for breaches of Section 15A and Section 15B of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. Kearns' age and family background were considered during sentencing. In addition, the Judge noted he was otherwise of good character. Court records show he had worked at a Royal Mail warehouse and as a furniture delivery driver. Importantly he had no prior convictions. The mandatory minimum sentence for such offenses is 10 years. However, Judge Nolan departed from this minimum. He said young people sometimes make poor decisions. As an English national, prison would be especially difficult. Nevertheless, he ruled that a custodial sentence was necessary. The headline sentence was set at four to six years. Kearns was jailed for three and a half, backdated to his arrest. He received credit for time already served." 

Yeah look, I think the Court it sounds like went out of its way to not completely throw the book at this guy, to use sort of a euphemism. Three and a half years though is a substantial prison sentence. I mean this is not an unserious offense.

And the reason I bring it up is look, I get that people when they're I don't know, sometimes in the Cannabis space, I see it just generally speaking sort of in the profession of law that people kind of shirk the law when they feel like it. It's like a lot of people, when they want that pesky neighbour to quiet down, oh they're sure to be able to cite whatever city ordinance there is. But when it's something like, "oh I'd really like to make half a million Euros by selling some weed or moving some weed", they just kind of disregard these things. The point I'm trying to make is, as Cannabis legalizes more and more throughout the world - and I think that's going to be an inevitability for a variety of different reasons. Now I think different jurisdictions are going to handle it differently, that I think is clear where some jurisdictions are going to say look, we're looking at this purely medicinally, although I think once it legalizes, getting into the whole medicinal versus recreational debate if you will in my opinion is just a waste of time. Again I have talked about it on this channel before. The notion of a medicinal beer is kind of ridiculous and yet here we are talking about medicinal cannabis and things of this nature. Especially with something like Cannabis where the product, the substance, the agricultural by-product which is what it really is, itself doesn't kill anyone. And at the end of the day I would say, if you look at the stats, alcohol has probably killed more people, especially tobacco, killed more people than Cannabis ever has. So there's that side to look at it, just at the moral imperative. 

But then if the legal side of it, okay have to look different jurisdictions handle this differently. Right now in Europe for the most part, it's my understanding, with some major exceptions like Germany, it's still very illegal in certain jurisdictions. The UK it is very illegal in many jurisdictions; Ireland's kind of sitting in there in a strange kind of almost legal combination between the two, and this person was sentenced to three and a half years. That is a significant amount of their life that they are going to be spending in jail and even with the time served and all the credit given, I mean it's still going to be substantial; not something you want to do. 

Now again, look there may be legal solutions in the Cannabis space here in Thailand. I've done videos before. We have talked about we can be able to provide Legal Services regarding documentation pertaining to Import and Export; again depending on the underlying facts in the given case we may be able to do that. Also storage facilities as well as assisting folks with licensing and various other legalities associated with Cannabis here in Thailand. We can do that, but again there are certain things that are just illegal. In the case of Ireland, exporting or importing into Ireland, Cannabis, is illegal and it's going to fetch a significant criminal penalty. I mean this person that sounds like probably got about the “best deal" if you will that someone could have gotten from that particular legal system, and it looks like they took a special care to take a look at the underlying facts in that person's case, in order to grant that sort of extra, not extra consideration but making that consideration. 

So the thing to take away from this video is yeah, Cannabis in Thailand, it's legal. We have a legal system that we're dealing with it in. If you are somebody that is looking to try to import and export, it is really a better idea than anything to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.