Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to crack down on illegal drugs, saying that possessing “even one pill” should be punished, and ordering officials to press ahead with plans to recriminalise cannabis.
The Thai government announced plans to re-list cannabis as a narcotic in February, after decriminalising the drug in 2022.
The kingdom was once notorious for its tough drug laws, but it has sought to cash in on the global boom in medical marijuana in recent years.
Thailand is also an important transit country for opium and methamphetamine
“The drug problem is a national agenda that all agencies must work together to solve the problem seriously,” Srettha said Wednesday on social media platform X saying he wanted to see progress within 90 days.
Anyone involved in drugs should know that “even one pill” could mean prosecution, he wrote.
Since taking office in August of last year, Srettha has made it clear that he opposes the usage of cannabis for recreational purposes. He stated that he has urged the health ministry to expedite the process of recriminalizing the drug.
Though not much has changed since the ministry announced in February that it will take immediate action, hundreds of legal cannabis “dispensaries” that sprung up after legalization are still in operation.
Thailand was the first nation in Southeast Asia to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 2018, but the government now wants the drug to only be used for those purposes.
