Transcript of the above video: 

The point of this video and the title of it pertains to the fact there is a lot of talk about regulation and rules and blah, blah, blah, and announcements and things regarding Cannabis in Thailand and the fact is, there is no law. I've discussed this at length in many other videos. There has been no law promulgated through Parliament, so all of this talk of rule changes and announcements and all of this stuff, I just find really ridiculous. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thai weed laws under review once again. Quoting directly, and again the brilliance of what Mr. Anutin did back in 2022 in pulling Cannabis off the narcotics list while we were under Emergency Powers, which he as Public Health Minister had the authority to do, but then after the Emergency Decree ended, it requires an act of Parliament to restrict us Thais from doing something; it is called the Doctrine of Codification. If you want to make something illegal in a Civil Law System you need to pass a law to do that. You can't just say Oh, we think this because we are the Ministry of Public Health. They could do the same thing with florists. They could say we think tulips need a license. Therefore because we say so and we are the Ministry of Public Health, tulips now need a license! It's ridiculous; it's nonsense. If they wanted to do that, they would need to pass a tulip law through Parliament; they haven't done it. Same deal with Cannabis. And let's not forget that about 18 months ago they said they were going to pass a law through Parliament, and they never have. They know what their procedures are, they just kind of want to sit around pretending like they don't have to go through those procedures, but they do. 

That said, quoting directly: "Thailand once had very strict penalties against Cannabis but legalized it for medical purposes in 2018." That's not true, it was simply legalized. There was no, "it was legalized for medical purposes", none of that. It was pulled off the Narcotics list during the Emergency Decree which Mr. Anutin had the power to do pursuant to the Communicable Diseases Act, the Emergency Decree then ended; we reverted back to standard legal procedure here in Thailand, and if you want to restrict Cannabis, pass a law through Parliament. It is that simple. And for all these people who go on and on about democracy and rule of law, where is that on this issue? Oh, that's just forgotten. The rule of law, the Doctrine of Codification, just throw that out the window because we say so. The notion that our Parliamentary Representatives here in Thailand should be the ones promulgating such laws that would apply to us the public. Oh no, forget about that. We want arbitrary and capricious because we say so. It's nonsense; it’s hypocritical. Quoting further: "In 2022 the Food and Drug Administration removed the drug and hemp from the list of Narcotics." No. The Minister of Public Health did it. Quoting further: "That in turn led to around 18,000 retail outlets opening up nationwide." Again, let's be specific. It's over 18,000; it's 19,000 now. People went out and detrimentally relied on the laws that was on the books at the time and got licenses to sell the product per the rules that were put out at the moment that the thing was pulled off the Narcotics list under the rules under the Emergency Decree, which that was good promulgated law. That was the Communicable Diseases Act with the Emergency Decree and then using those powers, those rules were implemented, and Cannabis was pulled off the narcotics list. If you want to make new rules about it, make them in Parliament because the Emergency Decree is now lapsed. That's where we are at, that's the state of play. Quoting further, and again this is all like sort of touted as if "oh retail outlets just opened up nationwide". No. They affirmatively went and got licenses from the Government to do that. They didn't just spring up. Stop, I'm really tired of this being framed as these people are somehow illegitimate or something. These are the most law-abiding businesspeople that there could be at this point. Quoting further: "Especially in tourist orientated cities, with minimal controls by the state. Claims that most shops and weed cafes have now closed is disputed by most residents." Quoting further: "Pattaya retailer Ake Kattiyadamrong urged the new government, under liberal-minded Premier Anutin Charnvirakul, to revert to the 2022 declaration which allowed Cannabis sales without a prescription." There's no need for reversion. That is the good law; that came in under the Emergency Decree. Everything that has happened after it is illegitimate because it hasn't been passed by Parliament. Quoting further: "Reformers are also calling for the introduction of a Cannabis health card to allow purchase in retail outlets without regular trips to the doctor's office." I'm sick of this prescription crap, okay. This notion that "oh, recreational Cannabis, there is something inherently wrong with that. What about recreational alcohol? Where is all the concern and outcry for the public health over that, or, "oh what about the children?" Well what about the children with booze? They can get access to that too. All of this is just either nonsense totalitarian stuff where it's "oh we need another ID card in order to be able to buy Cannabis" or it's just we hate Cannabis because probably there is some interest behind wherever that hate comes from. Again, there is no talk of recreational alcohol; there is no talk of need for a doctor's prescription with alcohol. 

I personally, if I want to partake in my use of Cannabis, I don't want to have to go through the facade and the charade of saying that there's something wrong with me and I need a prescription from a doctor in order to partake in that. That is nonsense hypocrisy. I disagree with it on its face, and they don't have the legal authority to do it without passing a law through Parliament. Simple as that. Quoting further: "Police have previously stated that they still await their instructions." Yeah, tip of the hat to you, Police. Those instructions come from Parliament because the Police know how laws work. Apparently, the Press doesn't. Apparently, everybody who has some kind of problem or beef with Cannabis doesn't. With everything else it's “oh yeah, you have got to pass a law to make a restriction," but on this "oh no, we'll just forget all of that; forget all our notions of rule of law or Democratic institutions, and parliamentary procedure. Oh who cares, we just want it this way, so we're just going to do it." It's nonsense and good on the Police by the way, good on them for being law enforcers. Why? Because there is no law and they know it, and they can't do their "job" of enforcing the law, if there is no law. Quoting again: "Police had previously stated that they still await clear instructions, whilst explaining that the rules should be enforced by the Food and Drug Administration. However, FDA is very short of inspectors." Moreover, it's not based on promulgated law, so FDA just needs to have a Coke and a smile and maybe be quiet on this until Parliament speaks. Parliament is the voice of the people. They need to promulgate a law and then you can start doing this stuff.

I'm really tired of this. It was ridiculous in the final waning days of the rump Parliament, whatever you want to call it, the rump coalition Government under Phue Thai. They just seem to have a bee in their bonnet. I personally think Thaksin for whatever reason didn't like Cannabis so directed all of his minions to go after it, which why? It was such a dumb move to begin with because Thailand had first mover advantage on the entire product range of Cannabis which made it paramount in the world on this agricultural product which is going to be a hell of an industry moving forward by the way. But no, that Government would have liked to have shot Thailand in the foot and caused us to go backwards and also at the same time, completely casting aside 19,000 lawful businesses. So I am hopeful that moving forward this new Government, again, to quote from this article: "Under liberal Premier Anutin Charnvirakul” doesn’t continue with these frankly maniacal and nonsensical and ridiculous bad economic policies toward Cannabis and we go to a rule of law-based initiative rather than all of this arbitrary and capricious 'because I said so’, nonsense emanating from a bunch of bureaucrats who aren't the Parliament.