Thailand: a pro-cannabis leader comes to power in the midst of a prohibitionist turnaround
Elected Prime Minister with a large majority, Anutin Charnvirakul, ex-Minister of Health and architect of the legalization of cannabis, inherits a country where the plant he liberated is once again corseted by medical prescription. Behind the karaoke smiles and the rhetoric of modernity, an entire economic and social sector is holding its breath.
Anutin Charnvirakul, 58, karaoke party enthusiast and father of legal pot, has just crossed the royal palace line to become Prime Minister of Thailand, on the strength of a resounding parliamentary victory: 311 votes out of 492 cast, well above the required majority. Formerly Minister of Health, this tycoon’s son – who trained as an engineer in the United States – is also the face of liberated cannabis, with the campaign to distribute one million plants at home by 2022, the flagship gesture of a policy he has pursued with fervor.
Like a green wave, decriminalization has transformed the Thai planet. With cannabis removed from the narcotics list, dispensaries proliferating everywhere, a flourishing industry and tourism attracted by vaping, Thailand became a pioneer in Asia. But the party was short-lived: faced with criticism of social disruption, unregulated access (particularly affecting young people), and growing tensions between its Bhumjaithai Party and the pro-restriction Pheu Thai coalition, the legislation abruptly took a bureaucratic turn.
Mandatory prescription, weakened entrepreneurs
As of June 2025, the government reinstated safeguards: cannabis bud becomes a controlled herb, accessible only on prescription – issued by doctors, traditional practitioners, pharmacists or dentists, for use limited to 30 days. Offenders face a one-year prison sentence and a 20,000-baht fine; advertising, online sales and sales via vending machines are banned.
There’s no doubt that this change in direction will weaken the thousands of small entrepreneurs and farmers who have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into the industry – activists are already talking of profits for the big firms and a return to the underground market.
“King of cannabis
The Anutin paradox is obvious: architect of spectacular liberalization, he returns to power while his green empire is now fragmented by medical rule. His appointment was based on a tacit alliance with the People’s Party, which in exchange promised to dissolve Parliament in four months and pave the way for constitutional reform.
The stakes are both political and cultural. On the one hand, Thailand retains the image of a place of relaxation, modernity and sabai sabai – the gentle way of life where cannabis was allowed, grown and consumed in the shade of a tropical climate. On the other hand, the state is tightening the screws: compulsory prescription, official trails, a ban on all advertising. Pot advocates denounce a triumph of the elites; officials, for their part, invoke the protection of minors and a return to order.
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