PUBLIC Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin today (July 22) launched a random inspection of 20 cannabis shops across Bangkok that are secretly selling jelly and chocolates mixed with the herb unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Thai Rath newspaper said.
This is in keeping with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s order to stop illegal distribution of psychotropic drugs such as Rohypnol and Amplazolam as well as Kratom leaves and cannabis.
Asked whether the raids are linked to politics, Somsak replied that this action is definitely not related to the Bhumjaithai Party having pulled out of the Pheu Thai-led coalition government.
This party had successfully pushed through a legislation to decriminalise marijuana on June 9, 2022. Since then possessing and using all parts of cannabis plants, including flowers and seeds, are now allowed. However, extracted content remains illegal if it contains more than 0.2% of the psychoactive ingredient that produces a “high” — tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
At 1.30 p.m. Lt. Col. Dr. Thanakrit Chit-arirat, the Public Health Minister’s adviser, led a team comprising this ministry’s officials and officers from Narcotics Suppression Bureau and Office of the Narcotics Control Board in inspecting these 20 cannabis shops.
In Sukhumvit Soi 33/1 they checked three ganja shops with two of them, Buddha’s Kush Street and Cannabis X, found to be illegally selling cannabis-infused jelly products without FDA approval. The third shop, Way2weed (W2W) did not have an overall operation report to show and initially the ministry is going to issue a letter suspending its licence for seven days.
In addition, the team took the cannabis-infused jelly for a lab to check if the THC content exceeds the legal limit. If found to be so another charge will be filed against them.
Cannabis shops are required to report to the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine on the clients using their services. This law is aimed at controlling youths from dabbling with intoxicants and or drug precursors.
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Cannabis jelly found during raids on cannabis shops. Photos: Thai Rath
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