Thailand wants to protect its cannabis strains

Thailand hasn't always been a progressive country when it comes to cannabis. By rolling out its medical legalization at breakneck speed, however, it has made up for lost time and become more progressive than many European countries, including France.

Thailand was the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize medical cannabis. Launched in 2018, Thailand’s medical cannabis program initially restricted cannabis cultivation to a university near Chiang Mai. As a symbol of the commitment to widespread access to cannabis, all Thai households are now able to grow cannabis for medical use and sell it to cooperatives.

The Thai government even provides loans at very low interest rates to aspiring cannabis growers. Given the the strictness of cannabis laws in the region, Thailand's policy in this area is particularly innovative.

UNESCO Recognition

The Department of Traditional and Alternative Thai Medicine announced its intention to register local cannabis varieties as part of the national heritage, promote research on their use, and then seek recognition from UNESCO.

The department has collected more than 30 local varieties and sequenced the DNA of each one to create a database of strains natively cultivated in Thailand, the information from which will be used to register geographical indications. The country is already using its own cannabis strains derived from landraces to create its medications.

Research on the benefits and uses of the strains will be conducted by the ministry, in collaboration with the University of Technology Rajamangala Isan Sakonnakhon Campus and the University Kasetsart Chalermphrakiat Sakon Nakhon Campus, said the deputy prime minister.

Promote Research

«This will generate economic benefits for the country and strengthen farmers» ability to compete in the global market, which will help reduce the trade deficit with other countries," he said.

In addition to its designation as a national heritage site, Anutin Charnvirakul, Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health, said that the Department of Medical Sciences has discovered that the cannabis roots can help restore lung function in patients whose lungs have been damaged by COVID-19.

Anutin Charnvirakul stated that he fully supports research on the subject, saying that it would be a huge benefit for Thai healthcare professionals if they could offer a treatment based on cannabis for patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

At the opening of a cannabis-themed event in Nakhon Phanom last December, Anutin Charnvirakul promised that cannabis, as well as the hemp, would be removed from the list of controlled substances in 2022, a process that has already begun by removing certain parts of the plant from the list. However, products containing more than 0.2% of THC are still illegal for recreational use at this time.

The start of a trend?

Thailand is, of course, not the only region in the world where cannabis strains are synonymous with the country itself. Jamaica is well known for its cannabis strains, as are South American countries such as Colombia and its famous Colombian Red strain.

Mexico, which is in the process of legalizing, like Jamaica and Colombia, is also famous for varieties such as the’Acapulco Gold, Michoacán and Oaxaca.