Transcript of the above video: 

This is kind of a more general video but it's going to get to a specific topic but just, I'm noticing this worldwide. I don't mean to just pick on Thailand here. I mean I see it all the time in the US, the greater West; I don't even know what's going on in the UK. You talk about, I mean they're putting people in jail for memes and stuff over there, I don't know what they're doing over there. That being said, we're talking about the situation here in Thailand specifically actually we're back to the issue of Cannabis. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: New rules for pot use. First of all, there are no new rules, okay? I don't know why they keep making these headlines around here where, "this has happened" and it is like NO, they are talking about it happening. It has not occurred okay? Quoting further: "The problem is that the country", the problem, the problem, "is that the country legalized Cannabis without sufficient legal oversight." Let's all clutch our pearls. Oh my God! Wow people can do what they want? Consenting adults can consent to doing things that they want? Oh, that's a problem. Quoting further: "The two years of legal vacuum," - I do want to go back and say something. Okay, quoting again: "The problem" again problem "is that the country legalized Cannabis." Hey, credit where credit is due. Using the right terminology now. I like seeing it. It's not "decriminalized", it's "legalized". Quoting again: "The problem is that the country legalized Cannabis without sufficient legal oversight." Whose definition of ‘sufficient’? I mean they just legalized something and adult Thais are free to partake in it; that's called being Thai; Thai means free; that's your liberty as a Thai to enjoy that. Why is this a problem? Quoting further: "The two years of legal vacuum were the handy work of filibustering in the former Parliament during Prayut Chan-o-cha's Government." Well this is rather interesting because the way that's framed, it sounds like it was Prayut's people that were filibustering. Quite the opposite. It was actually that group that was trying to move this through the system and get it legalized correctly and quote: "Opposition parties at the time, Phue Thai, the now defunct Move Forward Party, or even coalition members like the Democrats -- voted down the Cannabis-Hemp Bill." So let's be clear. The reason for this vacuum and why all this liberty has sprung up everywhere is the very people that say that they want a Bill now. Quoting further: "..drafted by Lower House subcommittee. The policy is a flagship the Bhumjaithai Party." Yeah, they drafted a Bill and they tried to promulgate it through Parliament. People shot it down and then they turned around and said "well we are just going to regulate it, because we say so". That was later sort of set aside because really I think everybody agrees that's the wrong way to deal with this. I don't even think they have the legal authority to do it because we don't have an Emergency Decree in operation with regard to Public Health which was how it was pulled off the Narcotic's List to begin with, and what led us to the current situation. 

Now there is a Bill in Parliament and they are discussing it and hashing it out. I'm really getting tired of seeing this through the lens of these people that have a “problem” with adult Thais being able to decide for themselves what they ingest and put into their bodies, especially when it comes to something that doesn't kill anybody. Now as we discussed and as you will see in that article, which gets rather hyperbolic about the notion of "high THC levels" and the notion of "addicts running around", this was also like the notion that it was killing people in the past although they couldn't point to any actual data where it showed that anybody was actually dying. Again this hyperbole needs to stop; we need to handle this like adults. On one point I very much agree on, yes there needs to be heavy regulation; there needs to be stiff criminal penalties for those, especially those who intentionally sell this product to those who are underage. I couldn't agree with that more, and frankly children have no business engaging with this substance as much as possible, at all. I feel the same way about alcohol and tobacco by the way. I think a good framework for dealing with this is look at alcohol and tobacco. Let's just regulate it that way. Stop this false recreational use - medicinal use paradigm. That dialectic is pretty nonsensical and it has created frankly in my opinion to driving narrative which is antithetical to the best interest of Thailand. 

Long story short, why is it there are some people that seem to just want to be nanny minders? I do not know. Reasonable regulation is a good idea. I definitely think it should be kept and there should be criminal penalties for those who make this available to children; there absolutely should. And finally as I've discussed in another video in a very impassioned way, I very much think Thailand, which has first mover advantage on arguably one of the greatest new cash crops in Asia, should keep foreign influence out of that particular sector here in the Kingdom of Thailand.