Thai PM Srettha and the Cannabis Ban: Not Having it His Way

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s recent flip-flops on cannabis control confirmed two widely held public opinions: he is not in charge, and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is the real mastermind behind the Srettha administration. More importantly, Srettha’s sudden reversal on the cannabis ban has ignited new speculation that Thaksin will back Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnveerakul as Srettha’s successor.

Srettha tried to deliver what the Pheu Thai (PT) Party had promised during the 2023 election campaign: to ban cannabis (marijuana and hemp). He ordered Public Health Minister Somsak Thapsutin to put cannabis back on Schedule 5 of banned narcotics.

A health ministry announcement on banning cannabis was quickly drafted. A public hearing on the ban was held from 11 to 25 June. If all goes well, the ban will go into force on 1 January 2025.

Somsak reported that more than 100,000 people commented on the draft announcement, and over 80 per cent of them agreed with it. Minister Somsak, a senior PT member, welcomed the public’s support.  He likened the current situation of “free” cannabis to driving downhill with the gear in neutral. There is no control over the widespread recreational use of marijuana, not only among tourists but also among Thai youth. And this is dangerous.

If and when cannabis is banned again, the production, import or export, sale, or possession of cannabis buds or flowers with more than 0.2 per cent of tetra hydro cannabinol (THC) per weight will become a crime, punishable by a jail term up to five years, or a fine up to US$14,000 or both. Consumption of the banned cannabis buds and flowers will also become a crime, punishable by a jail term of up to one year, or a fine of up to US$595, or both. 

THC is a chemical which causes euphoria, disorientation, paranoia and memory impairment.  In Singapore, cannabis is a banned narcotic.  Possession of more than one kilogramme of cannabis is punishable by the death sentence.

In Thailand, however, cannabis was removed from the banned narcotics of Schedule 5 on 9 June 2022 to be in line with the World Health Organisation’s expert committee on drug dependence’s recommendation to decriminalise the use of cannabis. Consequently, the production, possession, trade and indoor consumption of cannabis are no longer crimes. 

Decriminalisation of cannabis has been the most prominent policy of Anutin’s Bhumjaithai (BJT) Party, which is the second largest in the 12-party ruling coalition.  When he was the public health minister in the previous government of PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Anutin succeeded in “freeing” cannabis from the ban, ostensibly to promote the medicinal use of marijuana and planting the “weed” for export.

However, one dangerous unintended consequence of removing the ban is the widespread sale and recreational use of marijuana.

The BJT has tried but failed to pass into law its draft bill on cannabis control because of strong opposition in the House of Representatives.  Other parties — including the PT, as well as the Move Forward Party (MFP), the leading opposition party — want to ban cannabis. They suspect the BJT’s bill was intended to liberalise the use of cannabis further.

Anutin has voiced his displeasure in response to the Public Health Ministry’s move to reimpose a ban on cannabis. He threatened to vote against it in the National Narcotics Control Board and the Cabinet. Anutin knows he now has more influence because a majority of the new 200 senators are allies of his party. Moreover, Anutin apparently managed to win Thaksin’s support to defend “free” cannabis. He had served as a junior minister in Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai-led government administrations in the early 2000s. 

The prime minister sought to scrap the cannabis ban announcement. In its place, a new law to regulate cannabis was to be implemented.

Anutin invited Thaksin and his family, including Thaksin’s youngest daughter, Ms Paetongtarn, PT party leader, to a weekend get-together at his luxurious Roncho Charnvee golf and country club in Khao Yai from 19 to 20 July. The outing was widely covered in the Thai media. Conspicuously absent from the festivities was PM Srettha.

During the welcome dinner, one of the songs sung by Thaksin and friends, with Anutin at the piano, was “My Way”. 

Undoubtedly, Thaksin likes to do things his way. By 22 August, he is going to be “free” after the end of his parole. After 17 years in overseas exile, he returned to Bangkok on 22 August of last year. The king soon commuted his combined jail term of eight years to one year. But he served the first six months of the reduced jail term in the Police Hospital, undergoing several “life-saving” treatments and surgeries. On 18 February, he left the hospital to serve the remaining six months of his jail term under parole at home.

Being a convict, Thaksin cannot join any political party or hold public office. Yet, since his return from exile, Thaksin has been active in helping Ms Paetongtarn run the PT. He is widely seen as the “owner” of the PT, and the mastermind behind the Srettha administration.

Most likely, one of Thaksin’s recent instructions to PM Srettha was to reverse the cannabis ban suddenly. 

On 23 July, PM Srettha summoned Minister Somsak and DPM Anutin for an urgent meeting. The prime minister sought to scrap the cannabis ban announcement. In its place, a new law to regulate cannabis was to be implemented.

DPM Anutin was jubilant after the meeting. “This is a victory for the people!” he said on his Facebook page on 25 July. To save Minister Somsak’s face, PM Srettha has asked the PT to draft a new cannabis control bill, which will be considered alongside the existing BJT bill.

In the meantime, PM Srettha seems unperturbed by Minister Somsak’s warning of an imminent disaster from “free” cannabis. His immediate worry is the upcoming ruling of the Constitutional Court on 14 August on whether he had failed to uphold ethical standards by appointing a delisted lawyer as a minister. Should he be found guilty, he will lose his premiership.

Since Thaksin’s family is not ready to put Ms Paetongtarn, a 36-year-old mother of two infants, on the firing line of national politics, he can back Anutin to succeed PM Srettha. Thaksin’s behind-the-scenes manoeuvring to save Anutin and BJT’s “free” cannabis campaign should be enough to convince Anutin to work with him for their mutual interest. Thaksin will likely get his own way, while Srettha may have to hit the highway.

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