Thailand opens legal cannabis cafes to attract weed-smoking tourists

Thailand 's new weed cafes are already crammed with tourists just over a month since the country lifted a ban on cannabis, reports the Mirror.

In 2018, Thailand became the first Southeast Asian country to legalise marijuana for medical use and in June, the entire cannabis plant was decriminalised.

That has reportedly led to an explosion in its recreational use and many cafes selling the drug have opened up.

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Tourists would be forgiven for thinking twice before inhaling, given Thailand's long and infamously harsh approach towards drugs – the country has a history of handing out punitive sentences for those caught with illegal substances.

But, the RG420 cannabis cafe opened in July in Khao San, an area of Bangkok popular with backpackers and already it's popular.

Several outlets have sprung up in the capital since Thailand decriminalised the plant in June, a few weeks before it dropped Covid entry rules for visitors.

Foreign arrivals shrank to two million in the first half of 2022 from nearly 40 million in 2019, and RG420's owner Ong-ard Panyachatiraksa views his cafe as central to efforts to revive a tourism industry that contributed about 12% to GDP before the pandemic struck.

He said hundreds have been visiting the cafe every day, and he plans to open others.

"Europeans, Japanese, Americans – they are looking for Thai sativa," Ong-ard told Reuters, referring to a cannabis strain. "Cannabis and tourism are a match."

Technically, most tourists shouldn't be able to buy cannabis.

"The law does not cover recreational cannabis use… and so tourism promotion is focused on medical (aspects)," the national tourism authority's Deputy Governor, Siripakorn Cheawsamoot, said.

The pushback against the way the new policy is being interpreted has caused some confusion, with authorities resorting to issuing legislations designed to control its spread.

This includes a ban on smoking it in public and under 20s are not allowed to smoke the plant.

Recreational use can see those caught charged for creating a public “smell nuisance” under the Public Health Act, landing them with a 25,000 baht (£580) fine and three months’ imprisonment.

A parliamentary committee is now debating a bill to regulate cannabis use that is expected to finalise in September and could impact the cannabis cafes.

Akira Wongwan, a medical cannabis entrepreneur and one of the committee's advisers, said she expected recreational use to be subject to zoning laws.

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