Thailand blazing trail in the great Asian marijuana rush 

There are two main points to this editorial.
“Let’s have proper debate on the medical worth of cannabis, not another junta thrill ride aboard Article 44”
It is a very valid point: Article 44 is an abomination and should never be used. The NLA is not exactly an “independent” organisation. A better way forward is to order the lazy salary-suckers to sit until they have done their job. Yes, it does mean waking a few of them up, but that is a good thing.
 The second point is quite true:
“Marijuana’s efficacy in the treatment of certain medical conditions has been proved elsewhere and little doubt remains about the benefits, and yet there is still debate over making it more accessible, even for medical purposes. That, say critics, opens a slippery slope to legal recreational use. The government insists that cannabis will only be legalised for medicinal purposes.”
The research is done and it is good medicine. And yes, it is almost a certainty that it will lead to full legalisation; the idea that it would ONLY be used for medical purposes is wrong.
The simple fact is that while the “war on drugs” was well-meant, ganja should never have been part of it. 
Stupid laws against weed have done more harm than weed itself. It is time to grow up, acknowledge that it was a mistake, and move into the future. 
Hey Thailand! The country in Southeast Asia that moves first will make a financial killing; don’t you want to be that country?
Samui Bodoh
The marijuana industry is a fledgling industry.  There are potentially huge amounts of money to be made in the future in the cultivation of medical marijuana.  Basic economics reveals that whoever establishes the dominant market share ends up the big winner over time. The longer the Thai government waits, the more market share they give up. 
connda