KATHMANDU: In Bangkok’s Suan Phlu neighbourhood, teenager Toni has been summoned to help. A group of 10 Taiwanese tourists has swarmed his mother’s business, the Leaf Cannabis Cafe, and Toni, with English learnt at his international school, is patiently trying to talk them down.

“We suggest you try a mid-strength brownie first, not the strongest,” he tells the group who nod their understanding. “And don’t take a half, take a quarter.”

Since his mother, Ami Teepitra, expanded from massage and manicures into selling cannabis – first leaf and then the potent flowers of the marijuana plant – Toni says seven in 10 customers at the cafe are tourists. “Most people are careful, but we have had a few who have been arrogant and insist on ordering the strongest, and they couldn’t cope.”

Since conservative Thailand became the first country in South-East Asia to decriminalise cannabis last year, the industry has soared. Cannabis is everywhere in central Bangkok. The distinctive smell of weed wafts outside bars at swish hotels and across crowded footpaths in the backpacker haunts.

Thailand’s legal cannabis market is growing by a compound rate of 50 per cent a year, according to the US-based Grand View Research. The market was worth $US80.3 million in 2021, three years after medical use was allowed, and will be worth $US9.6 billion by 2030, its analysis says, assuming the rules don’t change.

The government tried to legislate regulations around sale and consumption. But its proposals failed to pass before parliament was suspended in March, ahead of this weekend’s general election.

Tougher stance

Now, after becoming an election issue, the cannabis industry is bracing for new rules. These could focus around the products sourced from two varieties of cannabis: hemp, which has low levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the part of the plant that gets you high, and marijuana strains with much higher levels.

Even those in the trade say more regulation is needed. While some rules are in place, including a ban on smoking in public places, police have been reluctant to enforce them without legislative backing.

What’s not clear is if the new administration will come down like a tonne of bricks or settle for giving the agreed rules the force of law and a bit more tampering around the edges.

Oddly enough, it’s the two progressive parties Pheu Thai and Move Forward that are most likely to take a tougher stance.

Pheu Thai, which is expected to win the most seats on Sunday but may still struggle to gain power, wants to restrict marijuana use to medical and research.

Pheu Thai deputy leader Suthin Klungsang confirmed this week the party opposed recreational use. “We have stood by this policy all along,” he said.

Move Forward’s position is less clear. It’s the only party committed to changing Thailand’s lèse-majesté laws, that make defaming, insulting or threatening the King, Queen or heir-apparent a crime punishable by a prison term.

Move Forward supporters are generally young Thais keen for change – but perhaps not so keen on rolling back marijuana use.

The party is risking the wrath of the young by hardening its attitude on pot, apparently reacting to wider community unease about the lack of legislative guard rails. It’s proposed first recriminalising all marijuana use and then starting again on legislating rules for isolated medical applications.

The about-face has angered some of its supporters. Prasitchai Nunuan, a human right activist who worked with the party on policy development, pointed out that in the last election, party member – now leader – Pita Limjaroenrat cited the benefits of decriminalisation on tourism and suggested Thailand could become a hub for medical cannabis.

“Did your stance on marijuana change according to the political climate and benefits … ?” the activist wrote on Facebook. “Your party’s approach to marijuana shifted from being proactive to reactive. The question is why did you change your stance on marijuana?”

Local business boom

Ib, a 27-year-old who prefers to use only his nickname, is among those who believe there is no turning the clock back. He had a brush with the law when a marijuana conviction meant jail, and he’s now working in the legal trade, serving customers at the Cloud Nine store on Sukhumvit Road in central Bangkok.

Most Cloud Nine customers are tourists, he says – Chinese, Taiwanese and Westerners.

“We are really careful at this store. We check ID if we think people may be too young (the legal age for marijuana use is 20) and explain everything to people before they buy.

“All of these businesses have invested so much money – you can’t just suddenly say ‘No, it’s no longer allowed’.”

His Cloud Nine colleague, Warisara Jaruwanno, 35, sells sleeping aids and massage oils that have been made using cannabidiol (CBD), one of 112 identified cannabinoids in cannabis plants other than THC. She is also hopeful the industry will be allowed to prosper.

“These products are really helpful and aligned with traditional Thai medicine. It’s nice to be able to give people advice about how and when to use them.”

In outer Bangkok, Sunai Wachacawakam is in charge of business development at IplusQ, a company that supplies spas and hotels around the world with personal care products including massage oils and body lotions.

The company is now working on a CBD personal care product. Sunai believes CBD products could help Thailand prosper by upping exports to developed countries obsessed with wellness and self-care.

Last year, the Thai government passed legislation that stated such products could only be made with CBD from hemp plants containing a maximum THC content of 0.02 per cent. Sunai is confident this won’t change, no matter who wins government.

“There is so much interest in CBD products from those seeking to relieve pain and anxiety and improve sleep. But we have to be careful who we supply.

“Chinese, for example, are not allowed to use product with any THC. And once our tourist trade gets back to pre-COVID levels, Chinese tourists will come in the largest numbers. So, we have to make sure spas understand the international rules.”

Judging by sales at Cloud Nine, some Chinese tourists have no qualms about going by the law of the land where they are at the time. Ib reports the only customer who has so far bought the most elaborate bong on sale – costing 7900 baht ($350) – was a visitor from China.

“He also bought 20 grams of pot and had our staff roll it all up for him. That made 40 joints. I doubt he was going to be able to smoke them all.”   Financial Review