Thailand's health minister plans to offer 1 million cannabis plants to citizens

Thailand's Minister of Public Health, Anutin Charnvirakul, plans to distribute up to one million cannabis plants free of charge as soon as personal cultivation and use will be legalized in June.

Anutin declared, in a publication on Facebook, In a statement to the press, the French Minister of the Environment, Mr. Jean-François de Vaucluse, said that citizens would be allowed to grow «as many cannabis plants» as they wished in their own homes once the reforms came into force.

«This will enable the people and the government to generate more than 10 billion baht [per year, or €300 million] in revenue from cannabis and hemp. (...) Meanwhile, people can showcase their cannabis and hemp-related products and sell their products all over the country,» said Anutin Charnvirakul, picked up by Nation Thailand.

Cultivated cannabis must be of medical quality and for medical purposes only, but no registration is required. It is currently legal for registered businesses to sell cannabis products containing less than 0.2 % THC.

Under national regulations, small sellers of cannabis-related products do not need to register with the Food and Drug Administration, but large-scale operators must seek government approval.

In February, Thailand's Minister of Health signed a document removing cannabis from the list of narcotics of the country, after lawmakers legalized the use of cannabis for medical purposes in 2020, Thailand becoming the the first Southeast Asian country to adopt the this reform.

At the signing ceremony, Anutin said that cannabis «has many medical benefits, which are no different from those of other herbs» and that officials are doing their best «to ensure that the Thai people benefit both medically and economically.»