Procuring cannabis with a legitimate prescription in Thailand for medical purposes has already been legal since 2018. In June 2022, Thailand decreed that possession, cultivation, distribution, consumption, and sales of all cannabis plant parts are legal. While, cannabis extracts and cannabis products (including edibles, food supplements, cosmetics, etc) containing Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) more than 0.2% by weight are still categorized as narcotics, there is no restriction on THC content for cannabis plant parts.
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the main psychoactive cannabinoid found in cannabis, which means it causes the sensation of getting high that’s often associated with cannabis. However, unlike THC, cannabidiol (CBD) is not psychoactive. Can I trust that a brand makes its products as CBD oil properly without THC in it? Perhaps the regulatory protocols aren't as strict yet. Definitely not in Thailand, I'm sure.
Sure, weed is not cocaine or heroin. When we discuss addiction, is there really a level of severity attached to it? An addiction is an addiction, there isn't a 'not so bad' version or otherwise. Tsk tsk. However, the accessibility is something we can compare. Weed is like sugar and alcohol or nicotine. I don't want it and I need to be able to say no to it.
It is very clear that Singaporeans and her residents have no need to bother about what's legally permitted or for recreational use in Thailand. Unless you're staying there for months and you know that whatever THC amounts ingested it will clear from your system by the time you land at Changi Airport or do that long road trip back to Singapore, and you don't blab about it.
There are soooo many shops selling cannabis in Bangkok. You don't even have to look very hard for one. They're on every street. We are bound by our own laws to not go near cannabis in any form because we can be prosecuted for it when we return. For us, cannabis and its derivatives in all forms are a Class A controlled drug.
On this trip, I simply avoided all smoking parlors, stayed far away from those gathered to have a smoke, food and beverage items that stated 'cannabis-flavored'. That included soaps, hand gels, massage oils, aromatherapy mist things, et cetera. I could only do my due diligence according to how much information I could get off of a menu and brochures in a shop or a restaurant. Or via Google.
As for eating food cooked with cannabis, Talking Point invited some Thais to dine at Kiew Kai Ka and do self-tests for THC for three days after that. Their tests all were negative.
But Rasmon Kalayasiri, the director of Chulalongkorn University’s Centre for Addiction Studies, cautioned that lab tests and tests of hair samples could be more sensitive than self-test kits. “The THC in the leaves is very low in concentration,” she said.
"However, if you don’t want to have THC in your system, no need to try cannabis food or drinks at all, even small (amounts).”
~ 'Cannabis-flavoured gummies, ‘CBD’ massages in Thailand: Why Singaporean visitors must beware', by Neo Chai Chin on CNA Insider, published on 28 May 2023.
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