BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Wednesday that cannabis would be re-listed as a narcotic by end of 2024, in a stunning U-turn for the country two years after it became the first in the region to decriminalise its recreational use.
“I want the health ministry to amend the rules and re-list cannabis as a narcotic,” Srettha said on social media platform X.
“The ministry should quickly issue a rule to allow its usage for health and medical purposes only.”
Srettha, a property mogul, has voiced his opposition to the recreational use of cannabis since taking office last year, arguing it could exacerbate existing drug abuse problems in Thailand.
Cannabis was decriminalized for medical use in 2018 and recreational use in 2022 under a previous government, leading to rapid growth of small businesses selling cannabis products, which now number in the tens of thousands.
Critics have complained policies were changed in a haphazard way, with widespread confusion about how to regulate its sale and use, for which there are no laws, only ministerial rules.
(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Martin Petty)
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