Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing more recent developments with respect to Thailand's Cannabis Laws. As we have discussed in some recent videos, things have been kind of in a state of flux. Definitely a lot of good news for those who are interested in this topic, Medicinal marijuana in sort of the, I hesitate to call it decriminalization in a western context because that implies perhaps a much more broad interpretation of what one can do with respect to Cannabis insofar as when they say decriminalized. For example in the US, I think it was Seattle did it and it was just like overnight nobody cared at all about it anymore. As we will talk about this here in a minute, there still are some levels of this where there is illegality still attached with cannabis depending on what kind of activity, depending on the amount, depending on how much THC and these kinds of things that are involved with a specific product. So as with everything, I know I am a broken record, it's going to be fact specific with respect to specific cases. A big issue that's going on here is it is very clear as we will get to and it is implied in what we are going to quote here, the authorities in Thailand are not overly concerned with this anymore. I remember quoting an article from the Justice Minister in Thailand years back when they kind of first put this on track to get to the point that we are at now, and I remember him and I am sort of quoting this off hand but I mean the basic premise of what was being said at that time was "look, we've got better things to do going after major hard drugs than going after cannabis violations." It seemed to me that the thinking was that is not the greatest use of time and resources by the law enforcement apparatus here in Thailand. 

In any event, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com. I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article for yourself, the article is titled: Tourists baffled by new Thai laws on cell phones and marijuana use. I am just going to quote a little bit out of here. A pretty in-depth article, a lot of good analysis for those who are watching this video, go check that out for yourself. Quoting: "The new law on marijuana use and abuse came into force this month, largely designed to allow Thai citizens to grow the plant for medical and agricultural benefits." That is noteworthy and that is well said. Take note of the fact "Thai citizens". Foreign nationals need to be very careful with this stuff. If you feel like you are not fully understanding where things stand on this with respect to a foreigner, it is definitely a good idea contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance. Quoting further: "And to make a profit provided they register. But Western tourists have been turning up at the Pattaya Tourist Office to try and find out if smoking pot is now allowed. They have been told that recreational use is still illegal but that no action is likely if you smoked in "your own home". Well interesting that it is said that way. 

What I would say is again maybe look at this as some level of decriminalization but again presumption of legalization is not a good idea. I know that is kind of a gray area and I know people love it when us lawyers get into these semantic points and gray areas but kind of the way the law works. Quoting further: "On penalties, the new law specifies a three-month jail sentence and/or a fine of 25,000 Baht, around US$800 for use of marijuana extracts containing more than 0.2% of THC, the chemical that makes you high. (They are quoting somebody I don't like using names in these videos but they are quoting, I will just say name deleted) A tourist from Manchester asked if it was safe to smoke pot in your hotel room. Hard to say but the advice from the Pattaya Lawyers Association is to steer clear for now. "Questions could be asked by the police about where the stuff came from whilst a party in the room is different from being alone." Again, going back to this quotation here above, "smoked in your own home", that seems to be something the police are definitely not interested or overly interested or particularly interested in worrying about.

But again, especially for foreigners, there is still a lot of gray area here so again if you don't understand what's going on and you feel unsure, you really should probably contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.