As Thailand greenlights cannabis, patients welcome cheaper supplies

A customer holds a piece of cannabis in the Highland Cafe, after being removed from the list of narcotics under Thai law, in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 9, 2022. Photograph taken on June 9, 2022. REUTERS / Athit Perawongmetha

BANGKOK, June 20 (Reuters) – For Jiratti Kuttanam, easing cannabis restrictions in Thailand meant one thing above all: a cheaper supply of products he uses to control the pain and illness caused by his anti-cannabis treatments. breast cancer.

Thailand became the first Asian country to legalize private marijuana cultivation and consumption last week, a move the authorities said would boost agriculture by giving farmers a new valuable commercial crop. Read more

Jiratti, 42, said she and other patients would also feel the benefits closer to home.

Medicinal marijuana has been legal there since 2018. But before the law change, it had to depend on costly foreign imports. Some patients went to illegal traders.

Imports of imported cannabis used to cost up to 700 baht ($ 20) per gram, but since then prices have been halved, Jiratti said.

“I’ve been taking cannabis regularly, so I shouldn’t feel any pain,” she said as she shredded and boiled marijuana leaves to make infused tea, filling her one-bedroom apartment in Bangkok with her distinctive scent.

She was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer five years ago. Two years later he began using cannabis oil and other products to relieve the pain, vomiting, fatigue, and anxiety he suffered after chemotherapy.

A legal local crop would mean a more reliable supply of these products, a good thing as long as patients know how to use them, he said.

“I think you need education. You have to study how to use it … in the right way. It can be harmful. It can also be dangerous, you know.”

Relaxing restrictions in Thailand has not meant total freedom for all. Last week, new regulations came into force banning cannabis smoking in public, as well as selling it to under-20s, pregnant women and nursing mothers. Read more

($ 1 = 35.2300 baht)

Report by Juarawee Kittisilpa; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor and Andrew Heavens

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