Thailand mulls banning recreational cannabis again

DW (English)

Thailand was among the first Asian countries to decriminalize recreational cannabis. Now, the country is considering a U-turn that would ban recreational weed use once more.

Transcript

00:00Since Thailand legalized weed, this young lady has been riding the wave.

00:07My name is Ploy Nattapornsiksa. I'm a weed seller.

00:11One of her main jobs is to make sure customers get the appropriate type and amount of weed.

00:17There are three types of the cannabis. Sativa, Indica, and Hybrid.

00:25For Sativa, we normally use it for creativity.

00:29It's giving the effect of talkative, focused on the work.

00:33While Indica gives you the effect of calming and relaxed.

00:42But Ploy's young business is facing an uncertain future

00:45as the Thai government might further regulate cannabis for recreational use.

00:51It's really hard to predict the next step.

00:55I'm worried about the staff that I have. I'm worried about the stock that I have

01:00that might be going to waste and that's when the business is going down.

01:08You might wonder why the Thai government is trying to restrict the rules

01:12after only two years of legalization.

01:15The answer is on the streets.

01:21I'm not really against it, but I feel like sometimes people overuse it.

01:27They just use it whenever they want.

01:31But back in Ploy's store, the beliefs are quite different.

01:34Since she opened the store with her friends back in 2022,

01:38she has always been personally connected to it.

01:41All the partners of this shop, we all love cannabis so much

01:45since before the legalization.

01:48On a personal level, cannabis helps me a lot with creativity

01:54because my main job is to do the graphic design,

01:58not only for the shop but for other brands too.

02:02If cannabis ends up being illegal again in Thailand,

02:06the whole industry might just return underground,

02:09a decision Ploy is not willing to make.

02:12I can change this place into other purpose,

02:17like hanging out space, creative space,

02:20but it's going to be so sad for me if I can't sell cannabis.

02:26That's what I love.

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