DoA to instruct farmers how to grow cannabis

The Department of Agriculture (DoA) is producing handbooks on growing cannabis as part of efforts to register wider varieties of the indigenous plant, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

Deputy of Agriculture Minister Mananya Thaiset said on Thursday the DoA was making plans to accommodate the delisting of cannabis.

Earlier this week, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) endorsed the delisting of cannabis and hemp as a Category 5 narcotic substance. The measure excludes cannabis and hemp extracts containing more than 0.2% by weight of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical responsible for most of cannabis’s psychological effects.

The delisting was urged by the governing coalition’s Bhumjaithai Party, whose election platform includes cannabis legalisation. Ms Mananya is a member of the party. The party has also sponsored a bill to legally recognise…