A woman holds a handful of marijuana flower buds in Vancouver. Photo: Don MacKinnon / AFP
The first country in Southeast Asia to legalize marijuana for medical use and research in 2018, Thailand is set to loosen its laws around cannabis further as it advances towards full legalization—with plans to remove the plant’s flowers and buds from its banned narcotics list announced last week.
“What we have achieved so far is to declare that cannabis stems, roots, leaves and sprigs are not drugs,” said public health minister Anutin Charnvirakul, also the deputy prime minister of Thailand, speaking at an agricultural event aimed to promote the cultivation of cannabis.
“Starting next year, we will remove everything—stems, roots, sprigs, leaves, buds, flowers and seeds—from the narcotics list.”
A cannabis flower in Kingston, Jamaica. Photo: Angela Weiss / AFP
The…
