Op-ed: Ganja Rescue An Open Letter to The Prime Minister of Thailand, Anutin Chanvirakul

Thailand has been racing toward making history for the wrong reasons: becoming the first country to decriminalize cannabis, then criminalize it again

Dear Prime Minister,

It is with utmost respect and enthusiasm that I, a Senior Adviser to a Thai medical cannabis business, brand journalist, developer of medical cannabis business English curriculum for Thais and humble guest of the Thai Kingdom, address you in this public forum to inquire into the measures you might take to rescue Thai medical cannabis from the jaws of stigma, manufactured crises and demagoguery.

In its broadest sketch the question is this: might you be able to save the world’s most progressive medical cannabis sector with compromise, science and innovative access?

Thailand’s cannabis industry narrowly escaped disaster when the party behind re-criminalization efforts was ousted on August 29, 2025 – just months before a November deadline to relist cannabis as a narcotic.

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As the CEO of one of the largest cannabis companies in the country puts it: “Cannabis was in the hands of the Pheu Thai Party, which is the group that is against it the most.”

(We’re keeping the business leader’s identity confidential to protect his regulatory discussions with The Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine, DTAM.)

Prime Minister Anutin, today Thai medical cannabis is in the hands of your party – you, celebrated architect of cannabis decriminalization and commercialization – and your Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) has made cannabis reform the “flagship policy” of its platform since 2019.

This uncanny power shuffle offers a window for you to build permanent defenses around Thailand’s over-the-counter medical cannabis sector – to shield the infant industry from the types of assaults launched by the previous leadership.

For over three years, Thailand has been expressing a new cannabis vision that expands medical concepts beyond tight quantifiable definitions, in keeping with traditional understanding of therapeutic practices as well as the most recent scientific research.

No sooner did you unleash the world’s most progressive cannabis sector that, in a flash, the industry it birthed was caught up in political sabotage.

Until your re-entry into the coalition on September 7, bureaucratic warfare threatened to eviscerate a billion-dollar industry.

The Pattern Repeats

We have been here before. When an earlier PM moved to relist cannabis in 2023, he was removed from office and the relisting pressure evaporated. Before the demise of his campaign to recriminalize cannabis you said, “the proposal lacks convincing proof that justifies the re-criminalisation of the plant”.

Today we are in a new place: What has not been seen before is an anti-cannabis PM replaced by a world-historically pro-cannabis leader.

Political instability has twice interrupted prohibition attempts. Now your Premiership offers the chance to transform a defensive posture into permanent protection through regulatory stability.

The Revolution That Built an Industry

When Thailand decriminalized cannabis in June 2022, it wasn’t incremental drug policy reform – it was a revolution.

Your actions led to the release of 4,000 cannabis prisoners on the day cannabis was decriminalized, and the distribution of one million free cannabis plants to encourage growing Ganja at home.

Unlike America’s slow state-by-state crawl, Thailand went all-in overnight, creating a medical cannabis market where adults could walk into dispensaries and purchase flower without prescriptions.

The results were immediate and dramatic. Within months, over 3,000 dispensaries opened. Today the number of licensed shops is around 18,000.

Farmers pivoted from struggling rice and rubber cultivation to cannabis, many earning significantly higher incomes. Medical tourists and expats – comprising 90% of the customer base – flocked to Thailand for cannabis therapy and wellness retreats unavailable elsewhere.

But there was one potentially fatal weak spot in this historic process: the move to decriminalize did not produce a comprehensive policy to regulate the new market.

The Vulnerability That Invited Attack

You drafted a thoughtful Cannabis and Hemp Act to provide the regulatory framework your decriminalization policy needed.

Political rivals, sensing an opportunity to embarrass the BJT, systematically torpedoed the legislation.

Since 2022, five different cannabis bills have been floated. None have been accepted.

As the regulatory vacuum persisted, opponents filled it with “chaos and mayhem” narratives.

Stories of children accessing cannabis, Thai users experiencing temporary adverse reactions, tourists misbehaving, and dangerous unregulated products flooded Thai media. Never mind that serious incidents were rare, or that the same problems exist with alcohol – the narrative was set.

Even now the media accepts the validity of a poll, we are told, that shows 60 percent of Thais want the plant relisted.

Yet the poll was conducted by government contractors; alas, when the first relisting attempt failed in 2023 and Thai cannabis marched on, the national reaction was silence.

Announcements and New Laws

On June 26, 2025, the Ministry of Public Health made prescriptions mandatory for cannabis purchases. The ousted PM promised law enforcement was coming. Even with the promised enforcement, possession without prescription papers stays legal – thanks to your earlier success in getting and keeping ganja delisted.

The Pheu Thai Party also announced in June 2025 that the plant would be relisted by mid-November 2025, making personal possession without paperwork criminal.

The ouster of the Pheu Thai party’s leader has stalled the wrecking ball. “They created the chaos they now claim to be solving,” explains Assoc. Prof. Dr. Panthep Puapongpan, Dean of the College of Oriental Medicine at Rangsit University. “If the government declares cannabis flowers a narcotic again, it will create worse, new problems for patients, Thai traditional-medicine practitioners, and the health system. Most importantly, it will push consumers to the black market even more.”

Not all regulatory news is bad. Contrary to the objections of more radical cannabis advocates, I see no elitist conspiracy behind the enforcement of quality standards that require dispensaries to sell only export-grade flower; indeed, these steps are reasonable if overdue.

It is a good thing that quality regulations are being enforced, with surprise inspections by police accompanied by reps from DTAM.

Dispensaries that cannot show proof that their plant inventory complies with the quality controls of international medical cannabis are warned and then shuttered.

Some shops use the threat as a face-saving off-ramp for a dying business in an oversaturated market and go from first warning to bankruptcy.

The practice of some wayward dispensaries selling low grade often compressed cannabis, sprayed with PGRs, smuggled from Laos then fluffed to look like fresh flower, will continue to disappear as surprise visits from inspectors squeeze out bad actors.

Like the prescription mandate, quality compliance aims at industry players and leaves consumers alone.

The threats to patients lay in the toxic cocktail of rigid prescriptions for all cannabis access mixed with the nuclear option – relisting cannabis as a controlled narcotic.

According to the CEO mentioned above, this threat will not be raised again in the foreseeable future: “The worst case scenario of cannabis turning back to the narcotics list lost support and was dropped from the conversation of the government, Minister Somsak and DTAM.”

Mr. Anutin, do you agree that the industry and DTAM ought to work together to provide a protective shield against stigma-driven attacks – regulatory frameworks that protect innovation while neutralizing opponents’ ammunition?

Are you open to the proposal that a practical approach would include specific elements – based on lessons learned from recent assaults – within a reboot of your original Thai Cannabis and Hemp Act?

If so, would you consider emphasizing the following five pieces of patient protection in a revised Act?

Component One: Compromise Through Innovative Access – Cannabis Access Cards For All

Provide education and data collection without restricting access.

No card, no cannabis. Period. The Cannabis Access Card system would represent the culmination of the defensive strategy – issued by the Department of Traditional and Alternative Medicine as 3, 12 or 36-month permits requiring applicants to name their qualifying medical challenge, complete a bit of education about responsible use, dosing guidelines, and Thai cannabis traditions.

The card could serve as both an educational tool and a membership pass for licensed consumption spaces, with anonymized data collection supporting research.

Imagine tourists arriving in Bangkok obtaining Cannabis Access Cards after brief online modules or face-to-face interviews at the local clinic covering dosage, strain differences, and cultural respect and warnings — like getting a driver’s license in a new country.

The card would unlock access to regulated clinics and licensed lounges, retreats, cups, cruises. And the card could generate valuable data on usage patterns and medical outcomes.

Component Two: Mandatory Prescriptions for Online Delivery; Optional for In-clinic Transactions –

The prescription requirement isn’t just a threat – it’s the law. Since implementation, the cannabis industry has hemorrhaged businesses. Many who still operate ignore the prescription requirement, others forge prescriptions at the cash register – creating a bizarre legal limbo where the law exists but isn’t enforced.

In licensed clinics, make prescriptions optional for those who would not engage in treatment without them, while maintaining over-the-counter access for educated consumers.

This element would require clinics to expand their capacity to provide prescriptions on demand.

In theory, one positive outcome of prescriptions is that when a patient presents one at the counter, no one will attempt to sell anything other than what is on the script.

In practice, well-capitalized dispensaries attempting compliance discover what critics predicted: most Thai doctors remain largely unfamiliar with cannabis medicine, having been trained in Western pharmaceutical models emphasizing isolated compounds over whole-plant therapy.

Worse, each prescription expires in 30 days, forcing patients into monthly renewals for a plant they may use daily for chronic conditions.

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The prescription requirement has begun handing cannabis policy back to a medical establishment with little cannabis treatment experience while creating an expensive, repetitive bureaucratic maze.

The exception? Traditional Thai Medicine doctors, who can write prescriptions and fill positions as on-site medical professionals.

Many TTM doctors have emerged as the most sophisticated cannabis practitioners, operating educational farm-to-table attractions, wellness retreats and cannabis therapy cruises integrating food and ancient healing principles with modern cannabis knowledge.

These specialists understand what conventional medicine misses: cannabis works best within holistic treatment frameworks that transcend simple pharmaceutical prescriptions.

The new prescription regulations force TTM doctors to provide holistic cannabis therapy and education with one arm tied behind their backs.

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The 30-day expiration mandate eliminates space for the essential trial-and-error discovery of the right plant-based medicinal match for each individual.

The mandate also makes it legally problematic to nurture the social ecosystem of interconnected cannabis groups and events that provide the information superhighway that lets facts about insight, experience and experimentation travel from one location to another through face-to-face encounters.

“Cannabis has proven therapeutic value,” explains Prof. Dr. Apichai Mongkol, Former Director-General of the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine. “It should be managed responsibly as a health product, not banned as a narcotic.”

“Cannabis therapy requires flexibility,” notes American Dr. Ethan Russo, neurologist, psychopharmacology researcher, and Founder/CEO of CReDO Science. “Patients respond differently to various cannabinoids and terpenes. Rigid prescription models can’t accommodate that reality.”

Even with Thai Traditional Medicine doctors in dispensaries writing prescriptions, the prescription trap risks reducing Thailand’s evolving integrative, holistic vision to the conventional pharmaceutical model that created America’s opioid crisis: identify symptom, prescribe molecule, hope for positive results.

On the other hand, the convenience of online delivery opens threats of bad actors gaming the system in the digital shadows.

Consumers will understand that there are trade-offs involved to take advantage of this convenience – to avoid criminal activities facilitated by unregulated online sales prescriptions make sense.

Practitioners will be able to incorporate a prescription mandate within a regime that also allows over-the-counter exchanges.

Component Three: A Unified Front – The new Thai Herbal Investment and Promotion Association (THIPA) finds its voice, – from small craft farms to mid-sized commercial operations to multi-acre export-heavy enterprises.

“Relisting got so close. Too close!” said an industry leader engaged in talks with DTAM. “Until the Cannabis Act is out, it [over-the-counter medical cannabis] is never 100% safe.”

With relisting, the prescription mandate grows teeth: once relisted as a dangerous narcotic, ganja possession without proof of prescription becomes a criminal offense.

Dispensaries would close overnight, and many patients would return to the black market.

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Your BJT Party, affectionately nicknamed the pot party, had left the coalition government, giving anti-cannabis factions their chance to strike without internal resistance.

They rushed their relisting initiative while you operated from the political sidelines.

How the tables have turned! You are now the person in Thailand with the most political power to permanently protect cannabis access. You have the support of the recently established THIPA, a community of business owners who speak with one voice on political and cultural issues impacting Thai cannabis.

“Do we want to limit access to cannabis? Yes, but only to children and uneducated users,” said the CEO and THIPA insider.

The association’s agenda is “approved by all members, from small craft farms to commercial scale craft facilities to massive greenhouses that blend indoor and outdoor tech, an enterprise that catapulted Thai cannabis to the top tier of the export hierarchy.”

The CEO continues: “We never support relisting, however we support regulatory frameworks that endorse and support business owners doing everything by the book and respecting the law.”

THIPA’s unified voice creates the second shield component – coordinated defense against future attacks – with an organized business bloc to provide a platform for leaders from business, science, medicine and advocacy groups.

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As their name suggests, the new association sees cannabis as fitting with the plant-based medical paradigm that is at home within the larger frame of integrative, holistic therapy and is skeptical (but not dismissive) of conventional, single isolated molecule approaches.

Their therapeutic perspective is evidence- based and supported by physicians across the country. “Cannabis should not be listed as a narcotic,” warns Dr. Smith Srisont, President of the Forensic Physician Association of Thailand. “The focus should be on controlling misuse through clear regulations, not criminalization.”

Component Four: The Right Scientific Foundation – Expanding what counts as medicine in a patient-centered framework

What makes the relisting threats particularly tragic is that they ignore mountains of evidence about cannabis safety and efficacy.

Cannabis contains hundreds of therapeutic compounds – THC, CBD, CBG, THCa, and terpenes like myrcene and beta-caryophyllene – that work together in what researchers identify as the “entourage effect.”

Whole-plant synergy offers therapeutic benefits far beyond isolated compounds, helping conditions ranging from chronic pain and anxiety to epilepsy and PTSD.

Thai researchers have documented improvements in mood, sleep, appetite, and immune function among patients who would otherwise rely on opioids or sedatives.

“Cannabis can support public health and reduce reliance on imported pharmaceuticals,” notes Dr. Prasert Suebchana, Senior Researcher at the Government Pharmaceutical Organization. “Regulation should prioritize patient access and safety.”

The safety profile is remarkable: cannabis has never caused a fatal overdose, shows low addiction potential compared to alcohol or opioids, and produces manageable side effects. Cannabis researchers consistently note that it ranks among the safest therapeutically active substances available.

Yet the previous government was determined to classify this remarkably safe plant as a Category 5 narcotic – not as severe as heroin or methamphetamine, but still carrying legal repercussions and opening the doors to police enforcement that could devastate the tourism industry.

This second attempt to shrink the domestic medical ganja market exponentially serves as a wake-up call to BJT and the entire cannabis community.

Cannabis therapy, like holistic medicine in general, asks us to look at the bigger picture. The role of diet, sleep habits, exercise, stress relief and social interaction figure into the therapy equation.

Component Five: Wellness/Medical Tourism – Focus on tourism benefits while improving quality to protect Thailand’s position as Asia’s premier cannabis wellness destination

Relisting cannabis would deliver devastating blows to Thai cannabis.

Industry Collapse: Tens of thousands of farmers, processors, retailers, and support workers would lose their livelihoods overnight. Even without relisting, market oversaturation naturally reduces dispensary numbers. Relisting would accelerate this into total economic catastrophe.

Black Market Explosion: Restricting legal access wouldn’t eliminate demand – it would drive consumers to unregulated dealers who don’t check IDs, don’t test products, and don’t pay taxes.

Research Shutdown: Thailand has emerged as a global hub for cannabis clinical trials, thanks to streamlined ethics approvals and integration with traditional medicine networks.

Relisting would hand this competitive advantage back to countries with sensible policies.

Tourism Disaster: The Pheu Thai Party claimed prohibition would attract “family travelers,” but tourist arrivals are already down 6% year-on-year due to safety concerns and economic pressures, not cannabis. Destroying a successful wellness tourism sector to chase an imaginary demographic would be economic suicide.

A Reckless Invitation To Corruption: Perhaps most ominously, relisting as a Category 5 narcotic would tempt some in law enforcement to engage in illegal shakedowns.

Foreigners carrying cannabis – legally purchased just months before – could become targets for searches, arrests, and compelled bribes.

As long as cannabis stays delisted, possession remains legal – on your person, in a car, train, boat, or domestic plane.

Visitors to Thailand over the 2025-26 high season will find that some dispensaries/clinics require prescriptions and some don’t. The ones who do not are violating the law.

Whether a purchase is more like grabbing a treat at 7-Eleven or picking up a prescription at a local pharmacy, possessing cannabis in Thailand will remain as legal as carrying a bag of holy basil.

Deflector Shields Activated

These five shield components address every legitimate concern raised by prohibition advocates while preserving the innovation and access that made Thailand’s program a global model.

The access card can become the symbol of Thailand’s commitment to nurturing an enlightened medical cannabis culture.

Thai cannabis policy can remove the conditions for the possibility of non-scientific objections to over-the-counter medical cannabis and the extreme.proposals that accompany them.

Dispensaries can become clinics of the future where customers start with medical wellness mindsets and receive education through infographics as wallpaper, Thai traditional herbs on offer alongside herbal tinctures and edibles, prepared with medicinal dried flower and traditional medicinal herbs, ganja tea, and the buds themselves, presented with their genetic stories and terpene profiles.

Policy As Patient Protection

Prime Minister Anutin, your ascension to power creates the optimal window to transform chaos into permanent protection.

Your original Cannabis and Hemp Act, rebooted with an integrated deflector shield system, isn’t just policy innovation – it’s a blueprint for how nations can embrace plant medicine without surrendering to stigma and demagoguery.

Are you willing to build those deflector shields around delisted medical cannabis? If so, I humbly submit that Thailand won’t just preserve its cannabis sector – it will demonstrate that progress, once achieved, can be made permanent.

Beyond the immediate economic and health consequences, a cannabis reversal would send shockwaves through the global reform movement. If a country can build a successful, popular cannabis program and then destroy it for political reasons, what does that say about the durability of drug policy reform anywhere?

“The path forward is clear regulations, medical research, and patient education,” emphasizes Dr. Chanchai Sittipunt, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University. “Criminalization will set Thailand back years.”

This is not about getting high while ignoring others’ preferences. This is about getting free – free from stigma, free from prohibition’s failures, free to explore plant medicine’s full potential. Thailand has the chance to lead that liberation.

“We have erased the stigma of cannabis,” you told constituents in the football stadium of your home province of Buri Ram the day cannabis was delisted. “We have wiped it out like you remove an old tattoo – now it is up to all of you to make sure the stigma does not return.”

That message echoes through the rolling hills and ancient temples of your home province – and speaks to all of us more urgently than ever. But words alone won’t protect Thailand’s cannabis future.

Only systematic defensive strategy – deflector shields built from smart regulation – can make cannabis reform permanent.

Respectfully and sincerely yours,

Carl K Linn

SIDEBAR: CANNABIS BY THE NUMBERS

$1.2 billion USD — Projected Thai cannabis market value by 2026 (Prohibition Partners)

90% — Percentage of Thai cannabis sales to tourists and expats

1 million — Number of free cannabis plants handed out in 2022 by Anutin to encourage growing at home

11,000 — Current number of licensed dispensaries operating

30 days — How long each cannabis prescription lasts before expiring

0 — Documented cannabis overdose deaths in Thailand

5 — Shield components needed for permanent cannabis patient protection

2— Number of PMs announcing plans to recriminalize cannabis

2—Number of PMs ousted before their cannabis relisting plans were realized