Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are asking the question, should Cannabis be considered a narcotic per Thai Law? and specifically a kind of narcotic per Thai Law. I thought of making this video after reading recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: No lese majestic changes in coalition MoU. A lot going on in that article, the thrust of it is not exactly what we are talking about. In fact it is not at all what we are talking about in this video. I am going to quote one small excerpt here, quoting directly: "The eight parties would have Cannabis relisted as a kind of narcotic and introduce a law to regulate Cannabis use."

So it is this whole notion of a "kind of narcotic" that has been vexing me, I'll put it that way. Because the sole purpose of these changes and if you go back, I was actually looking, I went into the search function of our channel and just looked at how long I have been talking about Cannabis, it has been like 5 years, it could be like even more, like 6 now at this point. We've done a lot of videos on this, I've been following it really since kind of the inception where they started talking about it, industrial use, medicinal use, even as recreational use became a topic of discussion, we discussed all of this so I have been really following this for a while. For those that sort of ask "why are you so on this?" Well it was an issue that popped up and it's one that I find rather interesting. I think it's, if it's not readily apparent, I think economically it's good for the country. As I have said in many other videos, I absolutely think it needs to be regulated; there was a Regulatory Act on the docket if you will in Parliament here in Thailand to go ahead and do that. Due to a bunch of political wrangling, and I don't really want to get into all that, it just didn't happen so we are in this position right now. People call it "limbo", they call it "decriminalization" it isn't, it's legalized, okay? It's not illegal and therefore in a Civil Law country, it's legal; in a Civil Law country you need to use positive law to illegalize something. So as we sit right now it's legal. It's regulated, as we have discussed in other videos, it's considered a controlled herb. There is licensing associated with it, I will deep dive into that a little bit further but first I want to get into this whole definition of narcotic stuff. First of all, let's go over to the oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com for the definition of Narcotic. 

-       narcotic: formal, a powerful illegal drug that affects the mind in a harmful way. Heroin and cocaine are narcotics. 

Well it is my understanding CBD has no effect on the mind per se. It also, depending on how you use these products, it may have no effect whatsoever ones sort of cognitive abilities. Yes there are strains of Cannabis that can have some effect on the mind but remember alcohol has an amazing effect on the mind as well and nobody sits around calling that a narcotic. So again, narcotics to my mind are kind of like a hard drug as it were. That said, going over to the National Cancer Institute, that's www.cancer.gov, this is a US Government website, quoting directly under the definition of narcotics:

-       A substance used to treat moderate to severe pain. Narcotics are like opiates such as morphine and codeine but are not made from opium. They bind to opioid receptors in the central nervous systems. Narcotics are now called opioids.

So again, this doesn't seem really in line with what you would call Cannabis even in layman's terms, this doesn't really seem to jive if you will. Meanwhile I was reading another more recent article, again from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: MFP to shield 'registered businesses'. There has been a lot of concern, I am among the concerned, about you know 'hey, people went out, they got licensed, they got their documentation in order, they have been doing these things legally and they have invested money and now this is a major industry that does provide jobs and is having a significant impact on the commercial real estate sector here in Thailand, to the positive by the way and a so-called U-turn on this, it really is cause for concern. Now that said, quoting directly, again bangkokpost.com, MFP to shield 'registered businesses' quoting directly: "The Move Forward Party on Thursday assured registered marijuana growers and Cannabis business operators that they are protected even when the new Government relists Cannabis as a Narcotic." Quoting further: "Some new laws will be passed to control the use, production, growing and import and export of cannabis which is work left undone by the caretaker Government. I insist Cannabis business operators and marijuana growers will also be protected and allowed to go about their business as usual as long as they have registered and have permission to do so. A proper announcement will be issued to ensure this." and this is a spokesperson for the Move Forward Party. Okay, good news in the sense that yeah if you invested in this industry and you got your ducks in a row, you have your legal documentation sorted out, it looks like this is going to be more or less looking like a regulatory change. That said, they keep talking about narcotics and on top of this, "a proper announcement will be issued to ensure this." An "announcement?" What does an announcement do? If you are going to do this, it needs to be by law. A law needs to be promulgated. Again we have discussed this. There was a law that was up for promulgation, and again not getting into politics here but it didn't pass even though it looked like it could have. It at one time had what seemed to me to be pretty broad-based support. Now again I don't want to get into all of that because quite honestly it's beyond the bailiwick of this channel but the thing that concerns me is it's just all these terms that seem to be used without a lot of thought, I shouldn't say thought, but it's just again it may be a by-product of this digital era we live in, people just throw around terms and I don't know that they really think or are cognizant of how those terms can be applied or should be applied but at the end of the day, again I have said it before and I'll say it again, I didn't agree with everything the last Government did. I was very vocal when I did it, this was not one of them. This was something, the legalization of Cannabis and presumably that legalization was going to come with regulation, I think that was a good move for Thailand for a bunch of different reasons that I have outlined in many other videos. Now again, I've said this before and maybe reiterating it, it's worth reiteration, much like alcohol, it might be good to look at Cannabis much like alcohol wherein alcohol in and of itself is not considered a narcotic, but it is considered what for lack of a better term, sort of a controlled substance, you have to have a license to sell it; you're not allowed to sell it to underage people. If you sell it without those things or if you sell it to an underage person, there is possible criminal repercussions for that as well as civil fines and penalties. Again, that seems like the more commonsensical approach because as even folks, the Minister of Justice going back quite a while sort of noted at the time that pulling Cannabis off of the narcotics list has some benefits, most notably they can essentially concentrate their efforts on going after actual narcotics as noted: opiates, heroin, methamphetamine, these kinds of things, cocaine even, these kinds of things rather than worrying about something that, all hyperbole aside, it's not a killer. You can argue the definition of a drug but this isn't something that kills a bunch of people. 

So again, the thing to take away from this video, before I sort of sum up, I even saw an article in the Bangkok Post the other day and I am not going to cite it or anything, it was quite a poignant article actually. It was written by a young person talking about dealing with the issue of Cannabis with their parent but sort of buried in there was talk about 'well there could be Cannabis that is laced with fentanyl.' Uh huh, yeah let's go after fentanyl. I mean anything can be laced with anything if you think about it. My point being I think that there is a major drive, sort of a scare campaign out there on this issue. For those who are unaware yeah I am involved in it; I've been completely transparent in how I feel about this I think. I am hoping people understand. I think that there is a middle path through this. There is a commonsensical approach where Thailand can benefit people can benefit medically people from benefit from usage of this however they need it because each individual may need Cannabis products for different reasons. The point I am trying to make is I think neither are just 'hey it's the wild west of Cannabis, do whatever you want!' that's not a good approach but at the same time, fear-mongering and even really discussing the notion of relisting this as a narcotic to my mind is going too far. This framework that was already being set up where it is a controlled herb; you have got to be licensed for it; you have to be licensed for certain functions with it, and then obviously selling to underage children, yeah that is a crime and you know what, put some severe criminal penalties on to it, like really heavy stuff. Like "hey you sell to a kid you are doing 10 years in jail”, whatever. Put some stiff criminal penalties behind selling to minors. Of course, why wouldn't we? Quite honestly, I think we could do a little bit better on that score as far as alcohol goes but nobody seems to be worried about that. The fear mongering all seems to be over in the Cannabis space. So again, as you can see I am sort of passionate about this but I would like to believe that I am keeping my objectivity here. At the end of the day Cannabis has proven to be an economic boon to the country, it has I think proven to have been a shot in the arm to the tourism industry especially coming off of two and a half years of total shutdown in that sector. To throw the baby out with the bathwater at this point, to use a euphemism, but to throw the baby out with the bath water at this point I just don't think it's particularly prudent.