Thailand Eyes Medical Marijuana Tourism

Thailand is leading the growing list of countries in the move to make medical cannabis tourism legal for those who are not citizens of the Kingdom. marijuana has always had its place in Thai culture but after conclusively losing the war on drugs, Thailand has done an about face by looking into legalizing medical marijuana.

The move came in 2016 after marijuana was criminalized in 1934 and more recently in April 2020 the first two clinics opened to dispense cannabis oil. The clinics join other part-time clinics in operation but are the first in offering full-time hours. Currently, the Public Health Ministry is overseeing six cannabis facilities which produce the marijuana for the clinics.

Thailand has been quickly updating formal policies, and general perceptions to work toward dominating in this area. It has even been a major point of the Bhumjaithai party, which is one of the bigger parties in Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s coalition. It is being eyed as a great economic opportunity by providing an industry in which citizens of the country can work and earn money.

Thailand has built what’s being described as the biggest industrial-scale medical marijuana facility in Southeast Asia. The medical marijuana facility in Chiang Mai has 12,000 plants under cultivation (Photo:Chiang Mai Times)

One of the standard cannabis tourism locations is the Netherlands, where for years it has been okay to sit in coffee shops in Amsterdam and smoke weed. People from all over the world come to do this, even though the legality for foreigners taking advantage of these laws is actually questionable in some places, and often the center for debate. Over time it has remained flexible though, and open to outsiders-and Thailand is taking note.

Tourism and Sports Minister Pipat Ratchakitprakan was quoted as saying “We would like to provide medical tour packages, such as detox, Thai massage and other wellness courses that use marijuana substances.” The idea would be to incorporate it into packages that are oriented toward traditional Thai medicine and massage, and would be geared mostly toward Americans and Europeans who are already on board with medical cannabis.

 

More and more countries are legalizing cannabis for medical use, with CBD (cannabidiol) oil being popular amongst those who do not wish to experience the psychoactive properties that come with THC – a chemical that CBD does not include.

As the medicinal uses of marijuana continue to be established through research, the move to open medical marijuana tourism is growing with it, as more countries continue to write regulations to open their cannabis laws to the global public at large.

SOURCE: CBD Testers

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