Transcript of the above video:

I find it rather interesting, there has been a lot and I am not even going to cite articles in this video, this is kind of more of an opinion piece. There has been a lot of talk in a lot of the press. I think it's funny like Bangkok Post seems to have like a real grudge against Cannabis and I don't understand why. Meanwhile, I've seen some other authors who write in the sort of ether that is the internet of Thai headlines, Thai news; I have seen a lot of folks' editorial pieces kind of talking about, there just seems to be this movement that does not like Cannabis and they have got this bee in their bonnet if you will about people, what they are doing with Cannabis and “Recreational Cannabis”. I have noticed a whole bunch of people are saying "we can't have “Recreational Cannabis". I don't get it, I really, really don't.

We have now seen for over a year what the consequences would be if Cannabis was just pretty much free and easy legal; anyone over 20 could get it who is not a pregnant woman or with medical conditions that preclude them being able to purchase it and use it, whatever. The sky has not fallen; dogs and cats are not living together; there is not mass hysteria; things are pretty all right and in fact we have seen an entirely new sector being added to the Thai economy. On top of it all and coming off of 3 years of shutdown and really terrible tourist numbers, I don't see where this is a drawback for the nation. But what I really think is interesting is this ongoing sort of kerfuffle, it just seems to be a theme in the narrative right now, this notion of "recreational cannabis". I have never seen anybody, have you heard anyone refer to alcohol as "recreational alcohol"? Alcohol has medicinal properties. Anybody that has ever gotten a jab, ever gotten a shot from a doctor has used medicinal alcohol. They rub it on your arm before they stick the needle in. It's a method of maintaining hygiene; it is a method of maintaining cleanliness, it's a good thing but it's alcohol. Then you can walk out and if you are of age, you can walk out to a bar and get the same product poured into a glass, on the rocks or whatever and you can enjoy that same thing recreationally. I never see folks up in arms about the notion of "recreational alcohol!"

Now in a prior video we did, we were citing an article from the Pattaya Mail you can utilize where they were talking about 'maybe we should utilize prohibition methodologies for dealing with cannabis and things of this nature!" Come on everybody, come on. Let's just be adults about all of this. At the end of the day people do things that they want to do and in my opinion as long as they are not doing something, it's like if it's a 'one in three' it's like Russian Roulette, I'm not in favour of allowing people to play Russian Roulette, like literally or not. I think that's a bad idea, it's bad public policy. People aren't playing Russian Roulette when they are using "recreational cannabis", again whatever that means just like people aren't playing Russian roulette when they are engaging in imbibing of "recreational alcohol", that's not what they are doing. Yes they're adding a little bit of risk that there may be some detrimental impact of that substance upon them, but adults are allowed to take those kinds of risks; adults are allowed to choose for themselves within reason what goes into their body and what they like to enjoy, either recreationally or whatever.

So this notion of "recreational cannabis" and that this is some scourge I think that in fact the facts on the ground just do not warrant that conclusion. Again, we have seen what the outcome of this would be over the past roughly year and a half. All I have seen is a mitigation of possible problems in the commercial real estate sector because we have seen so many of these stores pop up. I also see a lot of people who are employed in this sector who have jobs and are productive members of society, presumably paying their taxes etc. And I have said it before and I will say it again, I do agree with reasonable regulation. I think regulation needs to happen; I think we definitely need to keep it away from kids, we need to make sure children are aware of the risks just like we make sure children are aware of the risks of alcohol. It's not really all that different at the end of the day and we can see some benefit to the Thai economy. I don't know where this “nanny minder” subset of folks is coming from where they have just unilaterally decided that they need to be out there telling folks what to do and that "Recreational Cannabis, is something that they need to guard against and they need to protect us from ourselves. I just don't see the logic behind that. I especially don't see the logic behind that when again nobody sits around pulling their hair out or running around clutching their pearls because of "recreational alcohol."