What can Australia learn from Thailand a year after cannabis was decriminalised?
By Annika Burgess
Thailand's weed industry has boomed since the drug was decriminalised, but now even cannabis advocates are calling for more rules. (Reuters: Chalinee Thirasupa)
Over the past year, thousands of marijuana businesses have flooded the streets since the country decriminalised cannabis to help boost the tourism, agriculture and wellness industries.
"There's just so much available ... There's 10 shops opening up every day," Col, a British expat living in the northern city of Chiang Mai, told the ABC.
"Every time we drive down the street, there's another one. It's gone crazy.
"I never knew there could be that many names!"
Col and his partner Jules — who have lived in Chiang Mai for 13 years — were surprised when in June last year, Thailand became the first country in Asia to take marijuana off the banned narcotics list.
Before the new rules took effect, possession of cannabis could have landed you in prison for up to 15 years.
A sign reading "Sorry, we're stoned" with a KFC in the background.
The tourist city of Chiang Mai has become saturated with weed businesses since the drug was decriminalised. (Supplied. )
The government's intention was to allow people to grow, sell and use the plant for medicinal purposes — not promote it for recreational use.
But from the outset, the rules were foggy.
"It wasn't clear where you can smoke it, how much can you buy, what kind of things you can buy," Jules said.
"There was a lot of confusion."
Jules and Col say they are supportive of the new industry boom in Chiang Mai because of the opportunities it is bringing locals.(Supplied)
Promised legislation has failed to pass through parliament, leaving the country without an umbrella law to regulate the plant's use.
Bills introduced in three states to legalise cannabis for personal use
The Legalise Cannabis party made the move to reform cannabis legislation to help shift Australians out of the criminal justice system.
While smoking weed in public is illegal, recreational use at home is unregulated.
So far, more than 1 million people have registered to grow the plant, and there are about 9,000 legally registered sellers.
Although there have been benefits generated by a new industry "goldmine", even cannabis advocates are calling for more rules and regulations.
Kitty Chopaka, a pro-cannabis activist and owner of Chopaka — a marijuana shop in Bangkok — said the new industry stemmed out of nowhere.
Now, she says the government is left questioning "how do we deal with this?"
"I would say it is beneficial … but it can also be predatory and damaging," she said.
"It's kind of like back in the wild west."
Kitty Chopaka says changes over the last year helped remove some of the stigma around the medicinal use of cannabis.(ABC News: Mazoe Ford)
With concerns raised by some MPs over substance abuse and protections for children (here we go again) Thailand's new coalition government led by the Move Forward Party remains locked in debate over legislation.
It has flagged reinstating cannabis as a narcotic until a bill is passed. Refer is hard to shake!
As discussion ramps up to relax cannabis laws across Australia, Professor Simon Lenton, director of the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University, said it was important to look at Thailand's one-year experiment to help get the model right.
"What we've seen in Thailand really shows us what we shouldn't be doing rather than what we should be doing," he said.
Although weed was intended to be sold for medicinal use, no prescription is required to purchase it.
Balancing the 'blowout'
Ahead of the laws changing last year, the Thai government celebrated by distributing one million free cannabis plants across the country.
And thousands of "ganja-preneurs" jumped at the chance to benefit from an industry which is forecast to be worth as much as 42.9 billion baht ($1.8 billion), by 2025.
Professor Lenton said people saw an opportunity to make money very quickly.
"Although there was discussion about it being primarily focused on medicinal use, there has been a huge blowout in the number of outlets and reports of increasing rates of use," he said.
A worker inspects marijuana leaves at a Thai cannabis farm.(Reuters: Chalinee Thirasupa)
WEED.TH, a cannabis related search site, has been mapping the shops and their abundance of offerings for both locals and tourists.
As of February 2023, it had more than 8,000 products listed on the site, the platform's managing director Lita Stitranadej, told the ABC.
"The growth we've seen since 2022 has been nothing short of phenomenal," Ms Stitranadej said.
"In June, when cannabis was first decriminalised, only two brave shops opened their doors."
But as more shops appeared, confidence grew and now WEED.TH has 5,100 approved shops on the platform, she said.
A map of Phuket with cannabis leaf symbols showing where weed shops are.
A map from WEED.TH shows the concentration of cannabis businesses in the popular tourist destination Phuket. (WEED.TH)
Ms Chopaka believes the shop saturation will begin to level out, but there's concern about international imports which are impacting costs and taking business away from local growers.
"I hope that we will be able to find our own way with less influence from the international market," she said.
"There's nothing really being done about it."
The highs of cannabis tourism
The new reality for tourists returning to Thailand
It was once known for its zero tolerance policy. Now it has some of the most lax cannabis laws in the world.
In Chiang Mai, a tourist city which has become one of the country's weed hubs, many locals and businesses still see the law changes as largely positive.
More than 300 shops have appeared over the year, according to WEED.TH, and much of the country's supply comes from nearby farms in the north.
Amanda Gedney, who runs a local cannabis shop, Green Dog, said people tend to respect the rules and the weed influx "hasn't changed the pace of normal life".
"People are still being responsible and not just smoking anywhere, and the whole city doesn't smell or anything," she said.
Dispensaries are being creative with their offerings, selling everything from marijuana flowers in different strengths and flavours, with sommelier-like customer service, to pre-rolled joints and locally-made CBD beauty products.
Meanwhile, local resorts have been providing cannabis-infused spa treatments and five-star restaurant menus laced with marijuana leaves.
Pitak Norathepkitti, general manager of Anantara Chiang Mai Resort, said their cannabis spa treatments have been popular, and marijuana massage oils and products made up one-third of their store's sales.
But, the resort still only sees weed as a "micro-trend" which provides opportunities for tourists "looking for something memorable" rather than being a main focus.
A woman getting a massage with a massage cloth with a marijuana leaf on it.
Cannabis-infused spa treatments have become a popular wellness offering.(Supplied: Anantara Spa)
From what he has witnessed over the past year, Mr Norathepkitti isn't worried about weed bringing the "wrong type of tourists to Chiang Mai", and believes eventually only the serious players will remain.
However, he said if cannabis were to be used to attract tourism, it needed better control and planning.
"It is positive. If everyone comes together then it's positive," he said.
"It can be done well if local authorities, experts in the field and businesses come together to move in the right direction."
Pitak Norathepkitti is positive about weed legalisation, but doesn't want weed to be the main tourism driver. (Supplied)
In February, Thailand's prime minister said he was confident the country would receive more than 30 million foreign tourists this year.
In 2022, Thailand beat its tourism target with 11.15 million foreign visitors, a surge from just about 428,000 the previous year when broad pandemic-related travel curbs were in place.
Although it is difficult to attribute numbers to cannabis tourism, Ms Stitranadej said it had definitely played a role.
Many shops are "flourishing in tourist-populated areas," she said.
A petition launched by WEED.TH to keep the weed off the banned narcotics list has so far garnered more than 7,000 signatures, of which 25 per cent are from tourists and expats, Ms Stitranadej added.
What path could Australia take?
Professor Lenton said Australia should start moving away from strict cannabis prohibition, but it is important to take a community-focused, middle-ground approach.
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He said in Thailand and parts of North America lax regulation has allowed the industry to become commercially driven.
"The industry wants to maximise profit and public health goals are lost," he said.
"We shouldn't be repeating the same mistakes we've made with alcohol and tobacco."
Last month, the Legalise Cannabis party introduced bills into parliaments in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia proposing to legalise marijuana for personal use, using a model similar to the ACT.
The ACT has decriminalised cannabis so users can carry up to 50g of the drug without a prescription, but it still can't be sold or smoked in public.
"What we're trying to achieve is a collaborative approach around harmonisation and a sensible and meaningful reform to end the criminalisation of people who consume cannabis for personal use," Rachel Payne, a Victorian Legalise Cannabis MP, told the ABC.
Rachel Payne says there is broad support across the community for regulation and meaningful conversations around cannabis. (Supplied)
The bills, which will need support from major parties to become law, follow plans announced by the Greens to introduce legislation at a federal level.
The Greens model proposes up to six plants should be allowed to be grown at home and that weed could be sold through regulated cannabis cafes and dispensaries.
The party said there was a potential for at least $28 billion in tax revenue to be raised over nine years.
Professor Lenton said it was worth considering having a small number of retailers selling a limited range of products under strict government regulation.
Other countries have also introduced "cannabis social clubs", where groups of cannabis users register to gain rights to grow a certain number of plants for the club.
So, rather than following aspects of Thailand's approach where it's "difficult to put the genie back in the bottle," Professor Lenton believes Australia can start by taking smaller steps.
"Interventions that really keep the profit model out of it, and are really about maximising public health benefits and minimising public health harms," he said.
