By now, you’ve probably heard that the cannabis industry in Thailand is all ready to produce medical marijuana and cannabis on demand.
With that in mind, you may be wondering what hoops you need to jump through, with the Thai government, to start growing your own cannabis in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Well, it rather depends on what you’re growing for, and with the caveat that this may all change when the Thai government updates the laws for the cannabis industry at some point in the near future.
Growing Cannabis For Personal Use, Rather Than As Part Of The Cannabis Industry
Firstly, let’s take a look at the case in which you just want to grow some smoke for your own benefit at home in Chiang Mai.
You have no intention of joining the cannabis industry, you just want to be able to use your own medical marijuana.
Well, the good news is that for the moment, everywhere in Thailand, there are no restrictions regarding the personal growth of cannabis in Thailand.
That is, you can go out and buy some cannabis plants and set them up in your backyard and start growing cannabis without asking for any kind of permission and no, you don’t need a license to do this.
We should note that there is an expectation that Thailand is going to limit this to 15 plants for personal use but that legislation has not, yet, come into effect.
Decriminalization is something that opposition lawmakers are heavily opposed to and things may change at any time.
If, and when, it does, it will be illegal for growers to have more than this.
But given that 15 plants are quite a substantive allowance if you’re really not selling the fruits (and products) of your labors, this should be fine. Each plant can produce up to 1lb of cannabis!
Growing Medical Marijuana On A Larger Scale
If taking part in Thailand’s larger cannabis industry appeals to you, then you’re going to have to jump through a few more hoops.
Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has made it very clear that he sees the cultivation of medical marijuana as very important for public health and the health of Thailand’s economy and he’s keen to promote the growing of ganja.
So much so, that he handed out a million plants to encourage Thai people to get involved.
However, before you set up your public health research and development team and start investing in premises for growing cannabis in Thailand, we should warn you that you need to satisfy some conditions.
Firstly, you need to have the legal right to conduct business in Thailand if you want to grow or sell cannabis for commercial or medical purposes of any kind.
This, typically, means you either need to be a Thai citizen or have a legally registered entity in Thailand for which you have a work permit to work for.
If this is the case, great, you can move on to the next part of the process and start applying to grow marijuana.
If not, you need to fix that first.
The next part of the process is to register your interest in growing, selling, or distributing, cannabis, hemp, marijuana or cannabis products in the country.
This is easy you visit the Plook Ganja portal (linked below) and fill in the forms.
You may need some help from a Thai native for this as the portal is in Thai language only (for now).
https://plookganja.fda.moph.go.th/
In addition to supplying permission to grow your Cannabis, this portal offers helpful information on how to grow cannabis in Thailand for public health and medical purposes.
Then all you need is an agricultural patch of Thailand to set up your growing operation on and somewhere to sell it once it’s cured.
Final Thoughts
If you’re only concerned with personal use – for now, at least, Thailand is happy for you to grow to your heart’s content without a license.
If, on the other hand, you need a license, you will need to make sure you have the legal right to work as well as register your intentions with the government.
This is easy and, for now, it’s also free!
