Chadchart plans BMA order to declare schools cannabis-free zones

He said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has a policy to ensure that all schools run by the BMA be free from cannabis.

“I’m studying details of the order,” Chadchart told reporters while making an inspection trip to the Lam Salee intersection.

He said the order would not target any area in particular but it would be enforced at all BMA-run schools.

He said he did not object to the national government’s policy to decriminalise the use of marijuana but the BMA would have to get prepared in terms of medical services, and the BMA would also have to report health issues related to ganja use to the Public Health Ministry.

Chadchart was apparently responding to an angry comment by Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the leader of the Bhumjaithai Party.

On Tuesday Chadchart came out to announce that a man had died of cannabis overdose at a BMA hospital, prompting Anutin to launch a defence of the legalisation of ganja.

Anutin said the issue should not have been politicised and the report of the man’s death might have an ulterior motive.

Chadchart clarified on Wednesday that the BMA’s Medical Service Department had monitored possible impacts from the use of cannabis and he had simply reported the department finding the risk of fatality, about which the public needed to be concerned.

Chadchart said the man had died of heart failure and he had a record of marijuana use.

“The BMA has to be on alert. The BMA has to follow the law; it does not contradict the government’s policy. However, as the implementer of the policy, we have to be careful and get our medical services ready,” Chadchart said.