International reporting
Thailand: the legalization of cannabis, a way to reconnect with the local culture
Audio 02:27
A cannabis plant grown in Thailand.
© AP/Sakchai Lalit
By: Carol Isoux
3 mins
Thailand is the first country in Asia to legalize the use of cannabis.
A great first in the region, all the more surprising when we know that some of its neighbors in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia or Singapore, still provide for the death penalty for traffickers.
But for many Thais, this legalization is ultimately just a way to rediscover a plant that has always been part of local culture, and to reconnect with traditions.
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From our correspondent in Bangkok,
On Khao San Street in Bangkok, which was refurbished during the pandemic, most bars and restaurants have reopened, with something new.
In recent weeks, they have almost all started selling cannabis, like at Mischka Cheap, a bar on three floors, a little away from the main street.
“
Here is the music floor, for dancing.
Upstairs, on the terrace, we have a space to relax, smoke, meditate.
We offer grass from small producers, whom we know well, who grow at home.
It's the Thai variety, quite strong
,” says the bar owner.
“
For now, I would say that the clientele is 50% tourists, 50% Thai.
It will help our economy, for sure.
There are a lot of ganja enthusiasts all over the world
,” he adds.
A plant that has always been part of the Thai landscape
Cannabis derivatives like oils or edibles must contain less than 2% THC, the active ingredient, but the law says nothing about the leaves in their natural state.
Thais of all ages have become adept at the plant's relaxing properties.
In Pattaya, the owner of the Rabbit Resort, recalls that cannabis has always been part of the landscape.
“
Cannabis has been used in Thailand since ancient times as an aromatic herb, in cooking, and as a medicinal herb.
It was an integral part of the traditional pharmacopoeia and appears in more than a hundred medicinal formulas recorded in Buddhist temples
,” he explains.
A use that deviates from tradition, alerts the medical community
This anchoring of cannabis in tradition undoubtedly explains the lack of opposition to legalization, whether in the political class or in civil society.
For many Thais, it is even a question of reclaiming their past, since the prohibition of the plant in 1979 would only be due to American pressure, advances the owner of the Rabbit Resort.
During the Vietnam War, Thai cannabis was very popular, GIs loved it… It was young men in extreme stress situations, going to war and not knowing if they were going to die the next day.
So, on leave, they smoked a lot of joints.
The US government wanted to ban cannabis, and as a member of the United Nations, Thailand was pressured to ban cannabis.
Some voices are beginning to rise in the medical community, to emphasize that the new uses of cannabis by young people, which are inspired by the Western model, no longer correspond to traditions, that they represent a danger.
They call on the government to back down, or at least ban sales to minors.
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Thailand
Health and medicine
consumption