Thailand: medical cannabis effective but regulations not yet ready

Two months after the Thai Parliament has approved the legalization of cannabis for therapeutic and research purposes, a royal decree has made it effective. Nevertheless, the, as the According to Dr. Tares Krassanairawiwong, Secretary General of the Thai health authorities, this law is only the skeleton of legalization. Further regulations are expected, specifying the conditions for obtaining, holding and exercising production and distribution licenses.

Regulation in dribs and drabs

Amending the previous Narcotics Law, the new law authorizes government agencies, healthcare professionals, educational or research institutions, patients with a prescription for cannabis and state-registered agricultural enterprises to possess medical cannabis. Details on licensing, export, production, cultivation, advertising and more will be published in the coming weeks.

The authorities are currently working on an amnesty plan. This amnesty will concern organizations, researchers and patients. Provided they register within 90 days, they will be able to use cannabis without being prosecuted. Illicit users and growers will also be granted amnesty, provided they dispose of their stock. These amnesties will allow the individuals and institutions concerned to use cannabis while the industry gets up and running.

The Ministry of Health has been assigned the task of preparing a training curriculum for doctors and healthcare professionals wishing to obtain a license to prescribe medical cannabis. The Ministry also has 90 days to set up this training program. Doctors will be able to prescribe natural plant extracts as well as flowers if they deem it necessary.

The patent controversy continues

Local organizations and activists had protested against the registration of patents by foreign pharmaceutical companies (Otsuka Pharmaceutical and GW Pharmaceuticals) on certain varieties of cannabis, accusing the authorities of promoting monopolization of the local market by foreign companies. Following this civil protest, the authorities were forced to reject the patent applications, but according to some experts, the threat still exists.

Panthep Puapongpan, Dean of the Rangsit Institute of Integrative and Anti-Aging Medicine, explains that the current state of the law allows multinationals to appeal against the decision to reject their patent. When the law came into effect, the order cancelling the patents became invalid, as it was based on the unamended law: cannabis being illegal, the granting of the patent was made impossible. Now that certain uses of the plant are legal, these companies have the arguments to appeal.

The order was dated January 28, and the appeal period is 60 days. According to Panthep Puapongpan The National Assembly (NLA) betrayed the public by breaking its promise not to make the law effective until the controversial patents had been definitively removed. The NLA should have waited for the 60-day period to expire before implementing the law. This would have prevented Big Pharma from appealing.

Full legalization?