Bangkok –
A total of 851 medical personnel have signed a petition for the government to immediately call off the current basically law-free period of marijuana decriminalization until final rules and regulations being drafted by the government are completed.
Dr. Smith Srisont, the president of Thailand’s Forensic Medical Association, on Sunday, July 24th, posted a statement online from 851 representatives from resident doctors, medical teachers, and medical alumni of the Faculty of Medicine at Ramathibodi Hospital, urging the government to immediately shut down the law-free status.
In the statement, the group also demanded the government to provide collaboration to discuss with all relevant parties in order to jointly and potentially draft Thailand’s cannabis policy.
The group says their primary concern and reason for wanting the suspension is that many people are using cannabis for recreational use which was not the intention of the decriminalization and they have specific concerns for youth.
The group also said they had concerns for the health of the public and only want to keep people safe.
This comes as popup cannabis cafes and shops have begun to proliferate especially in tourist zones like Pattaya.
Additionally, the association also encouraged the public to sign the petition demanding a similar issue via change.org.
As of press time, the government has not officially responded to the petition which has met divisive opinions and points of view online. Many netizens stated that they feel it may be too late and the genie is already out of the bottle.
TPN notes that Islamic groups based in the South of Thailand have also pushed hard to end the decriminalization of cannabis, although this push is mostly based on religious and moral grounds.
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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