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Thailand moves to ban recreational cannabis use, 18 months after historic decriminalization (www.cnn.com)

submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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Thailand’s new government is moving ahead to pass new legisalation banning cannabis for recreational use in a major reversal 18 months after the country became the first in Asia to decriminalize the plant.

The relaxed laws saw a lucrative cannabis industry catering to locals and foreigners alike boom across the Southeast Asian nation, but a new conservative coalition government came to power late last year vowing to tighten the rules and only allow medical use.

A draft bill was released on Tuesday by Thailand’s health ministry outlining hefty fines or prison sentences of up to one year for offenders – or both.

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[-] mibo80@lemm.ee 238 points 10 months ago

Banning something enjoyable that harms no one and has nil impact on society - just conservative things.

[-] atro_city@fedia.io 71 points 10 months ago

Ain't nothing more conservative than banning fun.

[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 32 points 10 months ago

You know what's even worse than conservatives? People who vote for them.

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[-] SheeEttin@programming.dev 14 points 10 months ago

*regressive

[-] boredtortoise@lemm.ee 12 points 10 months ago

Potato tomato

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[-] _number8_@lemmy.world 137 points 10 months ago

why are people still so backwards about this? what's the point? everyone uses caffeine and/or alcohol and that's fine but weed is horrible and bad? just blatantly denying reality

[-] ono@lemmy.ca 48 points 10 months ago

In most places, there's money in enforcement, and power in disenfranchisement.

I don't know what Thailand-specific motives might be in play here, if any.

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 18 points 10 months ago

And tobacco.

I think the idea is that they can't fight a war on those drugs since they're already there, but they can still win against the others by keeping them out.

It helps when you have relatively tight borders and your neighbours agree.

[-] Rediphile@lemmy.ca 13 points 10 months ago

I smoked weed in Thailand as a 15 year old in like 2006 lol. It's always been there and always will be.

I've also smoked hash in Saudi Arabia. I have yet to find a single country in which I could not find cannabis in if around for more than a week or two. Literally no one has ever won the war on drugs or even come close.

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[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 117 points 10 months ago

A pity. That country is very dependent on tourism and really hasn't recovered since the virus.

There is something about being high as a kite in Bangkok and eating one of the best meals of your life from a stand for a 100 Bhat.

[-] fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de 34 points 10 months ago

Yeah I agree, it's sad.

When I heard they had legalised weed I thought it was a really clever move.

There were some other changes to visas around the same time which made Thailand a really great destination for young remote workers. I remember thinking how unusual it was for a south east asian country to be so progressive.

Now they're going to shoot themselves in the foot just because they're worried about what people might think.

[-] Pandantic@midwest.social 73 points 10 months ago

Did I miss it? Was there a reason given or is it just the new “conservative coalition” doesn’t like it?

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 75 points 10 months ago

Right-wing gonna hate. Conservatives just got nothin else to do.

[-] stoly@lemmy.world 37 points 10 months ago

You can't be a conservative without hating things that make people happy while allowing things that make people sick like alcohol, cigarettes, and motor vehicles.

[-] fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 10 months ago

It was part of their election campaign I presume. Vote for us and we will walk back the law.

I've spent a lot of time in South East Asia and I've found most south east asian cultures to be deeply pretentious. It's fine to live in a shoe box provided that you're carrying an iPhone, et cetera.

A lot of Thais felt that legalisation had meant that the world suddenly identified Thailand as some kind of "drug country", which is absolutely unacceptable to many Thais.

It's not a question of whether weed ought to be legal, it's a question of whether Thai people wish to be thought of as some kind of junkie nation.

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[-] bl4ckblooc@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

I’ve seen article in the past couple of months that basically said the regulation for cannabis when it became legal was next to nothing, and that caused some issues with locals when some people tried to take advantage of the lack of regulation.

I can’t remember the specifics, but I’m sure it had to do with an over abundance of stores popping up in major tourist areas.

Anecdotally, I will say that it has caused an increase of selling weed to other neighbouring countries. When I went to visits friends in Cambodia this summer, there was lots of ‘hydro’ available in cities close to the border that is 100X better than the stuff in Cambodia, where it’s legal-ish.

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[-] Ohi@lemmy.world 48 points 10 months ago

What year is it?!

[-] verdantbanana@lemmy.world 36 points 10 months ago

think we replaying the 1920s right now all over the world progress is going backwards at a phenomenal rate

[-] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 29 points 10 months ago

Conservatives should really be called something like Regressionists

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[-] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 34 points 10 months ago

Nothing good in all of human history has ever come from conservatism. Nothing at all.

[-] Lemminary@lemmy.world 34 points 10 months ago

"God forbid we do something good for society!" - Conservatives

[-] BeerMedic@lemmy.world 29 points 10 months ago

Dumb

[-] robocall@lemmy.world 26 points 10 months ago

lame!

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this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024

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