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Thailand’s health minister on Wednesday discouraged tourists from visiting the country to smoke weed, two months after new laws banning the drug were introduced.
“We don’t accept these types of tourists,” Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters when asked about recreational marijuana by foreign visitors.
In the year In 2018, Thailand became the first Southeast Asian country to legalize cannabis for medical use. In June, the entire plant was closed, which led to a wide range of recreational activities.
Cannabis businesses with special smoking rooms have become popular with locals and visitors, despite government pleas to keep them to a minimum.
But people who smoke in public can face up to three months in prison or a fine of up to 25,000 baht ($705.82).
An employee prepares cannabis for customers at the Happy Bud cannabis truck on Bangkok’s Khaosan Road.
Atit Perawongmata/REUTERS
Anutin’s comments come as foreign migrants begin to flock to the tourism-dependent country. Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is expected to reach 8 million to 10 million this year, up from an earlier forecast of 7 million.
Last year, the pandemic reduced foreign immigration to just 428,000, compared to a record 40 million in 2019.
Thailand has focused its cannabis policy on the 28 billion baht ($790.29 million) industry built around its medicinal and health benefits.
Anutin, however, said recreational use could be explored once a better understanding of the drug is developed.
“It may come in the near future,” he said.
Thailand’s cannabis policy has drawn interest from regional neighbors such as Malaysia, which is studying the use of cannabis for medical purposes.
Top Image: A pot with cannabis at a grocery store in Bangkok, Thailand on August 17, 2022. Credit: Atit Perawongmata/Reuters
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