Thai politics drags marijuana industry into weeds

Thailand will vote on Sunday in an election many hope will begin the task of restoring Southeast Asia’s oldest democracy.

A Buddhist monk makes his way past campaign posters in Bangkok this week. Picture: AFP

The death of Thailand’s marijuana industry has been predicted almost from the moment of its chaotic birth last June when – overnight – a drug classified as a dangerous narcotic was suddenly being sold legally nationwide.

But as Thais prepare to vote on Sunday in an election many hope will begin the task of restoring Southeast Asia’s oldest democracy, the budding industry is under siege from all sides.

While the incumbent, pro-military government decriminalised cannabis for cultivation and sale by licensed businesses – supposedly for medicinal use – the national parliament failed to pass the relevant legislation before it was dissolved ahead of elections.

That legal vacuum has allowed an industry that for years thrived underground to bloom. Ganja shops have sprouted like weeds to cater for recreational smokers across Bangkok and other Thai tourist centres. In conservative Thailand that has made many unhappy, and handed an easy win to the country’s politicians as they vie for votes.

The most popular pro-democracy parties, exiled billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai and the reformist Move Forward, have both criticised the chaotic liberalisation process and vowed to restrict sales for medicinal use if they win government.

The Bhumjaithai party – which campaigned for legalisation and is tipped to win the third-largest number of votes this weekend – says those who now oppose legalisation are endangering an industry in which Thai farmers have invested heavily, and that is estimated to be worth at least $US1.2bn by 2025.

Kitty Chopaka, a Thai-Australian raised on the Gold Coast and NSW north coast, and one of Thailand’s most recognisable advocates for decriminalisation, says the industry is being used as a “political football” but concedes it has also suffered from a lack of regulation. That is slowly changing, however, with a raft of new regulations requiring all shops to have a sales licence and to keep paperwork of sales and clients. Stiff penalties are slowly being enforced for those who break the law by selling marijuana edibles, joints, hash and tinctures. Smoking weed in public is also prohibited.

Kitty Chopaka in her Bangkok shop this week. Picture: Amanda Hodge

“We do things differently in our shop. We stick to the rules so people who want to enter the industry have an example to follow,” she tells The Weekend Australian from behind the counter of her shop in Bangkok’s downtown Sukhumvit, which is covered in baskets filled with local marijuana “flower” strains and “terpene” gummy bears.

Ms Chopaka argues the industry needs time to find its equilibrium but that some regulations could benefit retailers. “Because Thailand doesn’t limit the amount you can buy, people actually buy less,” she says, pointing to the sales ledger, which shows most customers buy only one or two grams at a time. The industry is also under pressure from a deluge of illegal American and Laotian imports, which are driving down wholesale prices and hurting local growers. Still, the most immediate threat is political.

“We have politicians who own massage parlour chains screaming ‘save the kids’, political parties pushing for free craft beer and legalised sex toys, but they want cannabis to be illegal again? It makes no sense but they’re saying it to attract the conservative vote,” Ms Chopaka says.

“They say there are no rules but there are fines and jail terms for anyone selling to people under the age of 20, there are fines and jail terms if you’re caught smoking in public, laws against selling without a licence.

“I know it’s just politics but in Thailand anything can happen.”

With that in mind, she is carving out an export market for her sugary gummies that contain none of the cannabinoids that contribute to a “high”, but instead are made with naturally occurring “terpenes” that contribute to cannabis’s flavour and aroma and can enhance the marijuana high from smoking. Ms Chopaka says she sold five tonnes of the sweets last year and is preparing to export them to Australia – where the only regulation left to overcome is the need for recyclable packaging.