Narcotics board greenlights marijuana, hemp legalisation
A meeting of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) approved a proposal to remove cannabis and hemp from the Category 5 narcotics list, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Tuesday.
Apart from Anutin, the others who attended Tuesday’s meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam at Government House included Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin and ONCB secretary-general Wichai Chaimongkhol.
The proposal was submitted by the Public Health Ministry’s controlled drugs committee to remove both plants from the list of illicit drugs. The move aims to promote the use of cannabis and hemp in medical, research, industrial and food applications and thus make them new “economic” crops. However, this only applies to cannabis and hemp grown in the country and excludes cannabidiol extracts with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) of more than 0.2 per cent.
“The plants that are still on the Category 5 narcotics list are opium, psilocybin mushroom and cannabis extract with more than 0.2 per cent of THC,” Anutin said.
“Tomorrow [January 26] the Bhumjaithai Party will present the drafts of cannabis and hemp acts to Parliament. We hope all MPs will vote for these, after which they will be announced in the Royal Gazette and become effective in the next 120 days,” he said.
“People who are interested in growing hemp and cannabis should wait until all the details of the two acts are finalised,” Anutin made it clear.
“From now on growing them will be much easier, but growers still need to register with related authorities and follow the restrictions on growing volume and application,” he added.