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Tourists Are Flocking to Thailand for Cannabis? – Cannabis.net Hits Bangkok to Check Out the Thai Weed Scene
Why are tourists hitting up the Thailand as their go-to cannabis destination?
This Leafly Green Reason Is Why Travelers Are Flocking To Thailand Right Now
I just spent a week in Bangkok, Thailand.
For several decades, Thailand was among several Asian nations that were notorious for strict drug laws. In several cities around the country, however, the cops often turned a blind eye, focusing on more important crimes. The risk was greater than the reward, as it always is, in many countries in Asia if you do get caught selling, buying, or in possession of drugs. Including those that were already legalized in a growing number of nations around the world, such as marijuana.
But all that changed on June 9, 2022. Just over a year ago, Thailand decriminalized the sales of weed. Seemingly overnight, the country developed their very own brand of cannabis culture, with dispensaries popping up faster than you could say “pot”.
I went to see it for myself, and I was impressed, so to speak.
Thailand literally is the new stoner’s paradise.
Here’s what I observed in Bangkok:
- Dispensaries are a dime a dozen. There’s at least 2 dispensaries in every block, and they come in all shapes, sizes, and styles. A dispensary exists for literally everyone: whether you know what strain you want and are looking for a quick puff, or you enjoy taking your time browsing several different strains, topicals, gummies, and edibles. Certain shops also had a great selection of CBD products including CBD for dogs.
Mind = blown.
On top of that, they also cater to various budgets. Some are higher end, while there are those that are mid-range as well as affordable.
Additionally, many dispensaries try to attract customers with other offerings. As this is a recreational market, there are a growing number of options to lure customers in, stay an hour or more, and unwind with friends. For example, there are cannabis shops located within bars, and there are those that have also created drinking and smoking spaces within them. If you like having a beer or a cocktail while you are high, by all means, feel welcome to do so.
There are also dispensaries that are pet-friendly, pride themselves on the art they design the place with, and much more. Seriously, the breadth of choices is staggering.
- Anyone can go into a dispensary and buy weed. As tourists, we were not once asked for any sort of identification in any of the many dispensaries we walked into. We were able to buy by the gram, topicals, and gummies. Several shops were even open until 2 or 4AM. Technically speaking, the law says that only adults aged 20 and up are allowed to buy cannabis in dispensaries, but not a single one asked for an ID.
- Many hotels are accommodating for pot consumers. However, it’s best to be sure. We were lucky since the hotel we booked unknowingly was situated infront of not one, but two dispensaries. Our room had a balcony, and we were able to smoke our joints outdoors. We stayed respectful and ensured that the smoke didn’t go indoors. Housekeeping was even courteous as we left an unfinished joint in our balcony, and when we got back home, they left it in its place while keeping everything else around it clean.
- It’s illegal to smoke in public, just like in other countries around the world where weed is legal. That said, it’s still common to smell weed wafting through public places, especially in al fresco bars where the locals gather. Thai cops are known to accept bribes if you are caught partaking in public, but we would rather leave that to the locals instead of risking getting into any kind of trouble as tourists.
Since you can smoke in private residences, hotel balconies, and even designated smoking areas within dispensaries, there really is no need to light up in public. Again, just like in other places, there will always be some people within the vicinity that do not like the smell of weed, or could be around with their kids.
- You can get weed that’s on par with the quality in North America, but the quality will also vary from one area or dispensary to another. Finding solid, potent, and fresh weed is fairly easy; the going rate is currently around 900 baht for a gram. However, there are also some dispensaries that sell it for under 700 baht. Just be sure to check for the quality based on the price you’re paying.
That said, the cost of weed is expected to decrease significantly as the Thai cannabis market continues to develop. This is at par with the rest of the mature cannabis markets around the world.
With over 5,000 dispensaries easily in Thailand right now, many of which are concentrated in Bangkok, this is something I would have never thought possible in just a year of legalization. Having said that, it’s downright impressive and I can only hope that other Asian countries will soon follow suit. Thailand is proof that countries can be effective when it comes to cannabis law reform, while helping thousands – even millions of people – in such a short matter of time.
Legalization of cannabis in Thailand has surely boosted the country’s tourism especially after COVID. But more importantly, it’s SO EASY to get the medicine you need without any hitches or red tape.
Enjoy weed in Thailand. Just don’t try and take them abroad with you on a plane!
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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