Dana Vespoli: Thailand is giving away One Million Free Cannabis Plants to households

Thai Pot Advocate Dana Vespoli

The health minister said he wants cannabis plants to be grown like “household crops”

The Thai government will hand out one million cannabis plants to households across the country, marking the landmark new legislation that will allow people to grow the plant in their homes for medicinal purposes, Thailand’s health minister has said.

Thailand’s Public Health Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul looks at the cannabis trees during the opening of a cannabis clinic under Thailand Traditional Medicine at the Museum of Public Health

In a nutshell

Announcing the plan in a Facebook post on 8 May, Health Minister Anutin Charnviraku said he wished for cannabis plants to be grown like “household crops” with the new rule.

The legislation, which comes into force on 9 June, will give people the right to grow “as many cannabis plants” as needed in their own homes once they have notified their local government. The plants must be of medical grade as well as only being used for medicinal purposes only.

However, cannabis cannot be used commercially without a further license. These announcements are all part of Thailand’s intention to capitalize on cannabis as a cash crop, as over one-third of the country’s force is engaged in agriculture.

Thailand made history as the first south-east Asian country to legalize cannabis for medical use in 2018.

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Cannabis-related businesses

As well as revealing the nationwide one million plant giveaway, Anutin explained in the Facebook post that Thai companies that have been registered will be legally allowed sell cannabis products containing less than 0.2 per cent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the part of the plant responsible for getting people high.

“This will enable people and the government to generate more than 10 billion baht per year in revenue from marijuana and hemp,” the health minister said in the post.