Thailand kills the high on recreational weed
Those jasmine scented cannabis cafes, street cool parlours and puff bar sanctuaries that bloomed post 2022 just received their death warrant overnight.
On 25 June 2025, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra's cabinet delivered the final blow when Minister Somsak Thepsutin's signature hit the Royal Gazette, officially ending the 2022 liberalisation that had pulled cannabis from narcotics lists.
Now the billion-dollar lifeline that once throbbed through Bangkok's backstreets and neon arteries bleeds slow and tourism now bleeds out under the weight of this move.This regulation amounts to aesthetic assassination. Cannabis flowers now carry the 'controlled herb' label. That means if you want to research, grow, trade or export, there's a licensing tango to navigate under the Traditional Medicine Wisdom Act – source tracking, timestamps, quantities and monthly data drop offs.
Public sales can be said to be extinct. No vending machine shelves, no online herb dispensaries, no ads allowed, everything's off limits. Though Bangkok's dispensaries are finding loopholes in white coats, they might soon be playing the game with pharmacists on the payroll.
Now only licensed medical doctors, Thai traditional healers and Chinese medicine practitioners can prescribe it and only in measurable doses for up to 30 days at a time. Soon scoring a joint in Thailand will mean navigating the same bureaucratic maze as getting antibiotics. The hope is to shift cannabis from a vacation thrill to clinical calm, from party accessory to medical necessity.
The activists called it: this industry has always been hostage to backdoor deals not supply and demand. Their push for cannabis freedom normalised teen access and rising addiction rates became the very ammunition used against the decision. While regulators sterilise the vibe in the name of protecting minors and cutting smuggling routes, it does affect Thailand's most intoxicating export. The internet's loudest question right now: will Thailand's cannabis renaissance revive itself, or is this the moment the high finally crashes flat, silent, done?
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