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Thailand Tightens Up Cannabis Sales
TaiwanPlus News
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2 days ago
Thailand now requires a medical prescription to buy cannabis after being legal to use recreationally for the past three years. This shift is expected to impact nearly 20,000 licensed cannabis shops.
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00:01
In Thailand, streets lined with cannabis shops have become a familiar sight
00:05
after the country became the first in Asia to decriminalize the drug three years ago.
00:11
Tourists flocked to the country as cannabis became easily accessible for recreational use.
00:16
But that's all changed.
00:18
The government has added cannabis back onto the list of prescribed narcotics,
00:22
making it illegal to use without a prescription for medical use.
00:25
This shift is expected to impact nearly 20,000 licensed cannabis shops.
00:31
Some provinces with heavy stigma is pretty much using this as a crackdown,
00:37
while some other provinces realizing that they have way too many shops within their area
00:43
and don't know what to do with the overwhelmed work that is about to come out,
00:48
are also saying to the shop owners to calm down, we're not changing the rules yet.
00:53
So there's a lot of confusion that's going on, owners are freaking out, a lot of them are scared.
01:02
A lot of shops are now closed, but now we changed the plan, maybe open to cleanliness.
01:16
So what does the law change entail?
01:18
Cannabis is now for medical use only.
01:22
No recreational use is allowed.
01:25
Sales will be limited to a 30-day supply.
01:28
Violators may face up to a year in prison and a $600 fine.
01:33
But some customers think there will be ways to get around the restrictions.
01:37
Now they want to solve the problem by just putting in the license, putting in the license.
01:41
In the end, it's just the same, right?
01:42
I can ask someone that I know, if he or she may be a doctor, I can get a license for what?
01:48
I don't know how many baht I have to pay, right?
01:50
So the problem still exists.
01:52
But why is Thailand doing this?
01:54
The government says legalized cannabis has caused social problems,
01:58
with increased use among young people, addiction, and complaints about foreigners using it in public.
02:04
Cannabis advocates like Kiri say they are working on finding ways to raise public awareness in favor of it,
02:11
increasing acceptance and understanding to keep the plant legal.
02:16
Devon Tsai and Isabel Wang for Taiwan Plus.
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