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.
Banning something enjoyable that harms no one and has nil impact on society - just conservative things.
Ain’t nothing more conservative than banning fun.
You know what’s even worse than conservatives? People who vote for them.
*regressive
Did I miss it? Was there a reason given or is it just the new “conservative coalition” doesn’t like it?
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.
The equivalent to the legalization of cannabis making people think of Thailand as a 'junkie nation’s would be the rampant sex tourism making people think of Thailand as a paedo nation. And they’ve been fine with that for decades. So I very much doubt that it’s because “south east Asian cultures” are “deeply pretentious”. Also, just grouping hundreds of millions of people from vastly different cultures together as monolithic and “deeply pretentious” ironically says more about your own levels of deep pretension than about south east Asian cultures
Sure mate.
You probably mean to say I’m prejudiced or even racist or something rather than pretentious, and that would be true in this case.
Pretentious is a loaded term. One might say “heavily motivated by perceptions of class”.
I haven’t grouped culture’s together as monolithic. Merely that the many and varied cultures I’ve encountered in SEA are very concerned with the perceptions of others.
I’ve spoken to many Thais about this very issue, at length, including my partner. You don’t care whether you believe me, but it absolutely is because they worry about being perceived as a country of drug users.
You literally wrote most south east Asian cultures are deeply pretentious. Having a Thai partner doesn’t somehow magically make you an authority on a region with close to 700 million people. You’re grouping together countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Burma and Singapore and calling them deeply pretentious. Bringing up a Thai partner to demonstrate some kind of authority in the matter fits perfectly in with the rest of it. I don’t have any issues believing you have a Thai partner and have spoken to many Thais. My issue again is with you thinking that fact gives you the authority to casually judge a region of 700 million people as deeply pretentious. And then doubling down.
I don’t claim to be an authority. This is my opinion.
I’ve actually spent a great deal of time in each of the countries you mentioned with the exception of Singapore. I’m entitled to have an opinion, with which you may disagree if you wish.
I didn’t disclaim my opinion with mealy mouthed qualifications as in “well in my opinion people I’ve met in South East Asia often tend to be more pretentious than the average person in, say, Australia” because I just don’t care what you think.
I have in fact spent a great deal of time talking with Thais both in Thailand and abroad about this exact issue. I suspect you might be surprised at how many of them would just outright tell you “yeah I don’t like how everyone thinks Thailand is some kind of drug country now”.
Are you white? Because they won’t extend the same courtesy to brown people… specifically Indians.
Yes I’m white.
Skin color is a very strong indicator of class or social status in Thailand. People who work outside or in the fields will have darker skin. People who sit around all day in-doors will have lighter skin.
While logically people can acknowledge that this isn’t true in 2024, there’s plenty of wealthy people with a dark complexion, it’s so deeply embedded in Thai culture that beautiful, desirable people have light skin.
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
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.
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.
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.
Removed by mod
Great, it’s a dangerous drug after all.
a rarity in a region where many countries give long jail terms and even death sentences for people convicted of marijuana possession, consumption or trafficking.
Anything that can get you the death penalty is dangerous by proxy.
Joined today. Troll account.
So is caffeine.
Comparing the odds of developing schizophrenia: opting for marijuana may play a risky hand, with research hinting at potential links, while moderate coffee consumption stands on more stable ground, lacking conclusive evidence tying it to a heightened risk.
Choose wisely.
So is alcohol
Alcohol is the beverage of Gods
Like sugar or heroine?
Kinda, yes
Kinda what? That’s not a binary question. Is weed a dangerous drug like sugar, or a dangerous drug like heroine? What kind of dangerous drug is it? Ketamine?
Learn to ask questions if you want answers
Is weed a dangerous drug like sugar, or a dangerous drug like heroine? What kind of dangerous drug is it? Ketamine?
Bruh, your account is decked out as a McDonald’s advertisement. Nothing you say will ever be respected.