Thai government agencies plan to sponsor a large-scale project to plant marijuana on over 2000 acres of land for medical purposes. This project follows the ideas of some high-level government officials who want to decriminalise cannabis in Thailand.
The National Farmers Council (NFC), after consultation with anti-drug agencies, has revealed a plan to create a medical marijuana farm in Sakon Nakhon.
On 15 January 2018, Prapat Panyachatraksa, President of the NFC, told the media that the Council would travel to the province on 10 February to select experienced farmers to join the medical marijuana farm project.
Prapat added that high-ranking officials of the Narcotics Control Board and the Public Health Ministry have already approved the project.
Prapat said that the Council chose Sakon Nakhon because it contains the headwaters of the Songkhram River in the Phu Phan mountains. The province is also the origin of Thai Stick, one of the best cannabis varieties in the world.
The farm will be located on military land to regulate the farmers and production.
“Farmers who wish to join the project must follow good practice and be highly moral because it is a regulated plant with high value. Farmers must not use it in a wrong way because it will create problems for the country and will affect the efforts to legalise marijuana and kratom for medical purposes,” Prapat stated.
Apart from the farm project, the President also said that the Council would host academic forums to educate the public about the medical use of marijuana. On 8 and 9 February, the council will host a seminar “Marijuana is a Medicine” where government officials, academics and physicians will discuss the benefits of cannabis. In March, there will be a seminar on the “Genetics of Marijuana” which will discuss why the climate of Thailand is suitable for growing marijuana.
Upate: On 16 January, however, the junta leader Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha said that the farm project might be halted because are not yet ready for the legalisation of marijuana.
"In foreign countries, especially the US, they plant marijuana for medicines. But for us, if we want to plant it, there must but a precise measure to contain the spread of all kind of drugs. Thai people cannot accept this yet, so we need further studies," stated Gen Prayut.
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