When Thailand in June last year made a historic u-turn in its drug policy and legalized cannabis, the populist party Bhumjaithai was the driving force on the issue, arguing for a boost for tourism and the economy.
But a year later, the promised cannabis wealth seems to have gone up in smoke.
In many of the thousands of cannabis shops in Bangkok, the tone is no longer so positive. The industry had expected a profit of between $885 million to $1.5 billion in 2023.
"This is not possible today because of the delayed laws and the large illegal cannabis imports," a shop owner told Reuters.
"Cannabis is technically illegal"
The big problem with legalisation is that, having been decided by the government in 2022, it never fully passed parliament before it was dissolved in March ahead of the upcoming elections. Now the country's cannabis market is described as a legal vacuum.
This has divided politics where the Bhumjaithai party sees it as its contentious issue while the other major parties are more hesitant and want to see legalization redone.
Come along to cannabis-smoking Bangkok and hear the political scientist's analysis of the situation in the video above.