One million cannabis plants will be distributed to promote it as a ‘household crop’

In order to commemorate the new regulation that permits individuals to cultivate cannabis at home, the Thai government has decided to give out over one million cannabis plants for free to citizens around the country in June. Anutin Charnvirakul, the country’s Health Minister, revealed the decision in a Facebook post on May 8th, expressing his aim for cannabis plants to be cultivated as ‘household crops’.

The new law, which goes into effect on June 9, allows people to cultivate cannabis at home, but only after notifying their local authorities. However, the plants cultivated must be of medical grade and utilized only for therapeutic purposes. Furthermore, the law prohibits persons from growing cannabis for commercial purposes without first getting the necessary permits.

The rule punishes cannabis cultivation without alerting the government with a punishment of up to 20,000 baht ($605.33) and imposes a fine of up to 300,000 baht or three years in jail, or both, for selling it without a license. The move is the latest stage in Thailand’s strategy to promote cannabis as a cash crop. According to the World Bank, agriculture employs around one-third of the country’s workforce. Thailand became the first Southeast Asian country to legalize marijuana for medicinal use and research in 2018.

Thai beverage and cosmetics businesses hurried to market items containing hemp and CBD, a non-psychoactive ingredient, after their usage in consumer goods was legalized last year. Thailand expects that legalizing marijuana will stimulate job creation and economic development in the country. On May 10, Anutin said on Facebook, ‘This would enable citizens and the government to make more than 10 billion baht in income from marijuana and hemp.’