Thailand’s medicinal cannabis sector has been up for business for 10 months. However, it appears that cannabis legalization and the advancement of Thailand’s cannabis sector to the world stage is progressing at a snail’s pace. Until far, Thailand has only required every residence in a trial area in Buriram province to cultivate 6 cannabis plants for medical purposes. Yet is still unable to do the whole country until Thailand can attaining the objective of liberalizing cannabis under the leadership of “Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul”, the Public Health Minister and head of the Bhumjaithai Party’s leader, who praises democratizing cannabis in Thailand.
Many causes have contributed to the delay of Thailand’s cannabis industry. The first issue is the pandemic of the COVID-19, which has caused a supply chain crisis and disruption of operations ranging from manufacture to transportation to customers. The second issue is that Thai cannabis regulation is still restrictive, which increases the competition of cannabis-related enterprises. Another problem stems from different Thai herbal goods, including cannabis, which is of poor quality, does not meet the international standards, and cannot compete with rival nations’ medical plant industries, such as India.
Moreover, Thailand has found that it can export fewer medicinal plants, averaging only 2,000 million baht per year. From 2017 to 2019, the government imported herbs from overseas for the consumption of medical raw materials and herbal products, totaling 11.2 billion baht, 11.5 billion baht, and 12.4 billion baht, respectively.
On 24 August 2021, the Memorandum of Understanding for the development of medicinal plants was signed. The Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO) presided over the signing ceremony of this Memorandum of Understanding, which was fully incorporated into the region of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) under the “EEC Agricultural Development Project.” This has been a key factor in the Thai cannabis market in recent months, and many people believe it will serve as a catalyst for the growth of herbs, including cannabis, which is a significant commercial crop in Thailand. To monitor results and collaboratively research viable business models effectively and thoroughly drive the development of medicinal plants in order to be successful for 2 years, according to the terms of this MOU.
“By aiming to assign the ALRO area Herb patches cover around 10,000 rai in the EEC region. Develop commercial crops with high global demand, such as cannabis, marijuana, turmeric, white galingale, and paniculata. It will fall under the National Herbal Policy Board’s Master Plan on Thai Herb Development 2017-2022. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha presided over the meeting. He realized that medicinal plants had a lot of business potential. And the demand continues to rise steadily in both the domestic and international markets.” Capt. Thamanat Prompow, the former Deputy Minister of the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry of Thailand said.
The MOU would assist in developing integrated medicinal plants in the EEC. Regarding the “cannabis industry.”
As a result of this latest collaboration, the cannabis-hemp industry has benefitted as well. It will be improved to meet international quality requirements. According to other medicinal plants, the government can regulate quality production volume, perform contemporary marketing, enhance productivity, and cannabis producers have sustainable incomes by completely encompassing cultivation, marketing, product innovation, and creating new or developing cannabis species.
Additionally, the MOU for herb research and development was inked with a scientific research and development company in the USA, Grow True Nature, which is owned by “Dr. Gamhom Nalanchang Suankaew” or “Cannabis Witch”. After the MOU was signed it will effective for a 5-year period beginning on 21 April 2021, and ending in 2026, which will allow Thai cannabis production to easily enter the US market. Initially, Cannabis Witch will purchase all of the items that will be exported to the United States and help deliver cannabis from Thailand to many other nations as well.
However, with the government’s support, cannabis has not yet been unlocked for farmers to produce efficiently. Farmers that wish to cultivate cannabis plants must seek permission to do it and need to establish a community business. Then, they have to go to the Ministry of Health and ask for a plant, that must be located near a hospital that accepts the purchase. So complicated, isn’t it?
The ALRO-EEC collaboration initiative will give little benefit to the Thai economy as a whole for now.
The ALRO-EEC project to drive the cannabis industry forward through collaboration has just recently begun. At the moment, it may not benefit Thailand much because the current situation of the Thai legal cannabis industry is still relatively low value.
“Cannabis” is frequently used as a component in Thai medicinal formulations. Despite cannabis being legalized earlier this year, it is still in the early phases of clinical studies for usage with patients. They must also be under control by different government agencies and state-owned enterprises.
Even so, if there is a coherent push and support for the use of medical marijuana, Thailand’s medicinal cannabis industry is expected to be worth around 3.6-7.2 billion baht in 2021, which is still very small, accounting for only 0.02-0.04 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in comparison to the United States, which has a large medical cannabis industry worth at least 100 billion baht.
When you’re looking at the value of Thailand’s medical cannabis industry in the medium to long term, it may not yet be estimated. It depends on the patient’s reaction to therapy, that is, whether the effects of cannabis use help the patient live a better and longer life. if it could, it would certainly enhance the value of Thailand’s medicinal cannabis industry. On the other hand, if the cannabis users don’t found the improvement after using cannabis products, the commercial value of medical cannabis may not rise.
There are still numerous difficulties in both the economic and social dimensions that must be addressed by all sectors. Through numerous stringent and explicit laws and agreements, especially considering the influence on individuals engaged along the supply chain, from cannabis farmers to carefully consider specific cultivation knowledge, pricing, and competitiveness with cannabis or medicinal cannabis products imported from overseas. (In the event of an import permit, the entrepreneur or investor group will assess cannabis patents and investment value competitiveness.)
Additionally, each cannabis product needs to be trusted to use by patients. And cannabis producers need to be carefully aware of the safety concern or possible effects of using cannabis products in a patient group.
After all, projects to push the cannabis industry through cooperation, whether from the ALRO or the EEC, are essential to pushing the Thai cannabis-hemp industry to grow in accordance with international standards in a responsible way. And I think the government continues to support it. Not inhibited by Thailand’s political environment within and outside of parliament and Thailand’s ambition of becoming ASEAN’s cannabis hub can be accomplished. And it would be fantastic if this project could be extended throughout Thailand’s 77 provinces. This project is recently implemented in the Northeast region.
This is a great vision and the most important thing to keep in mind is that even the law permits farmers to grow cannabis and hemp. The Thai government should ask Thai banks to provide loans to all cannabis business owners. To make it much easier to fund company growth. Otherwise, Thailand’s cannabis industry would be deprived of quality competitors. Lacks of new interesting cannabis business because the cannabis market will be dominated by large capitalists.
According to Prohibition Partners’ most recent research, The Global Cannabis Report, a leading global provider of insights and strategic advisors, the global cannabis market is estimated to grow. By 2024, the medical marijuana industry would account for approximately 60% of the total legal cannabis industry and 40% of the recreational marijuana market. I expect that the value of the global cannabis industry will increase in the future and extend to a wide range of businesses.