Thailand's new govt mulls to ban cannabis for recreational use, permits only for medical purposes

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CNN. The newly appointed coalition government that came to power last year aimed to tighten the rules and only allow cannabis for medical use. The relaxed laws saw a lucrative cannabis industry catering to locals and foreigners alike boom across the Southeast Asian nation, according to CNN.

Thailand's health ministry released a draft bill on Tuesday, stating hefty fines or prison sentences for up to one year for offenders, or both. It further welcomed feedback from the public.

Cannabis and cannabis-related products will be limited to medical and health purposes only, the bill states, echoing Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin's pledge in September that his new government will "rectify" laws on cannabis within the next six months. ALSO READ: Cannabis-based drug launched to treat epilepsy in children Even with the relaxed laws, smoking Marijuana in public was illegal, but the proposed new laws will ban advertising and marketing campaigns for cannabis bus extracts, and other cannabis products, as reported by CNN.

However, earlier, a draft bill failed to win parliamentary approval in November. Thavisin has been vocal about banning recreational cannabis and stated in several media interviews that drug abuse is "a big problem for Thailand." Notably, Thailand became the first country in Asia to fully decriminalise cannabis in June 2022, a move years in the making and a rarity in a region where many countries give long jail terms and even death sentences for people convicted of marijuana possession, consumption or trafficking, according to CNN. In Hong Kong, even non-psychoactive cannabidiol (CBD) is outlawed.