- Recreational use has exploded, creating a grey area of law enforcement and prompting calls for plant to be heavily controlled
- Tussle over unclear policies could drive booming industry back underground, as free cannabis advocates urge for a law that is clear and enforced
Around the corner from “Lucky Luke’s Tiki Tiki Joint”, a few yards from the “Thai Cannabis Club” and just outside the “Mary Jane Dispensary”, British tourist Bill lights up a spliff, blissfully unaware of the maelstrom of law and opinion engulfing the issue of weed in Thailand.
“What can I say? I’m from England and everyone smokes back there,” the 40-something visitor says from the curb, before retreating behind a smoker’s cough and a wall of weed smoke.
His actions are not strictly legal, but for now it is unlikely he will be stopped. Thailand decriminalised cannabis in June, but without establishing the fine print of who is allowed to smoke, what, where, when and how.
Mary Jane on South China Morning Post