Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Cannabis Law here in Thailand. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Nation, that is nationthailand.com, the article is titled: Anutin dissatisfied, but will 'respect' decision on marijuana. Quoting directly: "Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has instructed Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin to return marijuana to the controlled Narcotics list by year end." 

Again, I have gotten in to some of the analysis on this. People have said they have made this look like it is like a foregone conclusion. The reality is there's quite a bit more going on here. This is not like everything is going to change from one minute to the next kind of thing. Quoting further: "Anutin said he has met both Srettha and Somsak and presented the data he has available to support the decriminalization of Cannabis." You know again, I'm really tired of that word; it's legal okay? "Decriminalization" is a nonsensical word if you really think about it. It's basically a word where you are saying law enforcement is not doing their job; that's not what's going on here. There isn't a law, it's legal because in a Civil Law System, unless you have a codified law making something illegal, it is by default legal. Quoting further: "This way NCB can review this issue," he said.  "Nobody can undo it out of the blue, because it has been decriminalized for a reason." I think again, they're taking a quote here. I'd be curious to see if maybe the right word there is "legalized" but never mind, quoting further: "In 2022, the NCB voted unanimously to delist it. If the policy will be changed, we should hold talks." Quoting further: "Once the NCB voted to delist it as a drug 2 years ago, Anutin issued a directive as Public Health Minister to remove it from the list of Category 5 Narcotics." Quoting further: "He said he is also part of the current board and will join the vote on the issue. Quote: "If the NCB has new information on the abuse of marijuana, then it should present it. Don't politicize the issue, because that will only result in the policy bouncing back and forth. We can't take a personal attitude toward this," he said." Quoting further: "Anutin also promised not to rock the boat if NCB votes to relist cannabis, adding quote "I won't create repercussions because I'm now heading the Interior Ministry." he said."

You know at the end of the day, and full disclosure, I've made it clear in the past, I have something of an Infinity for this person, Anutin and his dealings if you will. Again the notion of rocking the boat, yeah he doesn't want to create a bunch of controversy and a bunch of conflict over the thing, but at the end of the day you can't just change the law to quote again, "out of the blue" and again, what is the underlying policy reasoning behind the notion of listing this is a narcotic? I have gone into great detail in many prior videos on this. First of all, I don't think they can do it without emergency power because they did it last time under emergency power and that's how it got de-listed and now they just sort of say they can do it even though again I think that whole notion runs counter to the Doctrine of Codification. Leaving that aside though, it's nice to see some cooler heads at least discussing this rather than speaking hyperbolically and talking about this as if it is some kind of horrible scourge on society when in reality from what I've seen, it is basically just something that some people opt to consume some people don't. I often wonder if perhaps there may be a profit motive back there in terms of certain interests including Alcohol, Big Pharma has issues with Cannabis and again it begs the question, why would anybody care that much about this unless they had certain interests involved? 

That being said, it's going to be interesting to watch. I don't think anything on this is going to change overnight. In fact I think it's going to be a long slow slog through all of this because quite honestly it is a minefield of legal issues and those types of things just are not solved overnight.