Bangkok police remove unauthorized ‘roll a joint’ sales on Khaosan Road for lack of a business license

Bangkok –

Bangkok police are eradicating unauthorized ‘roll a joint’ sales at Khaosan Road in Bangkok after pictures of several merchants caught selling rolled marijuana on the streets went viral on social media.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Tharadol Hempat, director of investigation at Metropolitan Police Division 1, along with the Chana Songkhram District and Phra Nakhon District police had inspected the road on June 29th, to monitor the orderliness and facilitate tourists.

There, one of the marijuana retailers, who was identified as Wattawee “Dave” Taweewat, was found on the footpath and was about to set up a table for selling cannabis. When asked to present a selling license, he did not have one. Therefore, the police asked him to remove his belongings and request a license for selling on the footpath of Khao San Road first.

Phra Nakhon District police chief Wasan Boonmuenwai told the Associated Press that selling cannabis was not illegal but because this trader has set up shop on the sidewalk without permission and registration of hawker stalls, he was unable to set up the shop in this area.

“The establishment of marijuana sales on Khao San Road can be done like a general food store but it must register and follow the guidelines of the district office. As of now, no cannabis shops/stalls have been registered for sale on Khao San Road. Therefore, we suggested that the vendors must register their business first,” the police stated.

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt also stated that many people are concerned about free joint sales in different areas. However, the roles of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) are limited to some certain extent. The authorities and the prosection of law may mostly be conducted by the police.

“We didn’t want to have pictures selling rolled marijuana in public, whether it was legal or not. The problem was that the role of Bangkok is limited because we are not drug law officers. What we could mostly do was to take care and organize places to sell,” Chadchart added.

The original version of this article appeared on our sister website, The Pattaya News, owned by our parent company TPN media.

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Nop Meechukhun
National News Writer at The Pattaya News from September 2020 to October 2022. Born and raised in Bangkok, Nop enjoys telling stories of her hometown through her words and pictures. Her educational experience in the United States and her passion for journalism have shaped her genuine interests in society, politics, education, culture, and art.