Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the Cannabis sector here in Thailand. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Thai Examiner, that is thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: Thriving Cannabis extract business operated by 31-year-old Israeli seized by police and owner arrested. Quoting directly: "Krabi Cannabis factory seized in second raid as Israeli promoter arrested. Police find illegal production after license suspension, seize 29 kg extracts, freeze assets, and probe nominee ownership in widening foreign business crackdown across Thailand." I want to repeat that: "probe nominee ownership in widening foreign business Crackdown across Thailand." That is the crux of this. 

I have talked about this since the inception of Cannabis being first researched when Prayuth used Section 44 power to allow that, and then ever after, that look, at the end of the day Cannabis is an agricultural product in and of itself. Agriculture is highly restricted in Thailand. It is looked at as something that is exclusively a Thai endeavour. I expect, especially moving forward and likely in this newly convened Parliament, we will see increasing scrutiny of foreign involvement in this business overall. That said, quoting further: "A once thriving cannabis production business with valid licenses was seized by police and authorities in Krabi last Saturday. At the same time, the Israeli principal was arrested and taken into custody. The enforcement action followed the suspension of the company's license to operate the plant as a Cannabis manufacturing facility at the end of January by local authorities after an initial raid. That raid was linked to an investigation into the company's legal ownership and saw four arrests as police examined its finances."

Again, the issue of legal ownership is becoming increasingly one that authorities here in Thailand are heavily scrutinizing in terms of especially nominees which are illegal per se in Thailand, nominees being utilized by those who are running Cannabis businesses. And again, Cannabis is considered an agricultural product, so this is pretty much in line with the Thai paradigm of that is a protected industry. And again the root of this came from the underlying scrutiny on the ownership; that's where this started. That's an important point to take away from this. At the end of the day the priority from law enforcement is that there is no undue foreign influence in Thailand's Cannabis sector. Quoting further: "Raid follows license suspension and renewed intelligence of continued Cannabis production activity at site." Quoting further: "Previously, the facility was fully licensed. However, the raid in January targeted the ownership of the company," - again, targeted the ownership of the company. That was the issue. Not what they were doing, it's who owned it. Quoting further: "which was believed to be de facto controlled by an Israeli businessman. Last Saturday, officers acted under a search warrant issued by the Krabi Provincial Court." 

So the thing to take away from this video and understand is yes, it may be possible for there to be some foreign participation in the Cannabis sector, but you need to be very, very careful with it. I've been talking about this for a number of years. You need to very cognizant of the legal rules regarding corporate construction here in Thailand as well as the rules against nominees in Thailand. And again, this is especially acute in the context of Cannabis because one, it's a highly regulated highly scrutinized sector, but it's also at the end of the day agricultural, which is a highly restricted field if you will in Thailand to begin with.

How this all plays out remains to be seen; what the wider ramifications are for the Cannabis industry in Thailand remains to be seen, but we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.