Last week, Thailand became the first Asian country to legalise the cultivation and consumption of private marijuana. A new cash crop for farmers is expected to help the country’s agriculture, according to officials.
With Thailand’s decriminalisation of marijuana, Jiratti was able to get her hands on lower-cost items to help her deal with the side effects of her breast cancer treatments.
For Jiratti and other patients, the advantages will be seen closer to home, she added.
Medical marijuana has been legal in Thailand since 2018. Until recently, she had to rely on pricey imports from abroad. Some of the patients even turned to illicit drug traffickers for aid in their recovery.
It used to cost as much as 700 baht ($20, 1 dollar = 35.2300 baht) per gramme to import cannabis buds from outside, but Jiratti claims that prices have subsequently fallen by half.
In her one-bedroom Bangkok apartment, she was shredding and boiling marijuana leaves for an infused tea, saying, “I’ve been using cannabis frequently so I don’t have to feel pain.”
Five years ago, she was told she had advanced breast cancer. In the two years following her chemotherapy, she began utilising cannabis oil and other products to alleviate her pain, nausea, exhaustion, and anxiety.
As long as patients knew how to use them, a legal, local crop would provide a steady supply of those items, she added.
“I believe you should be educated. You’ll have to spend some time learning how to apply it correctly. It has the potential to be hazardous. You should realise that it can be risky.”
Thailand’s limitations have not been totally lifted. Marijuana smoking in public has been banned, as well as the selling of the drug to pregnant women and lactating moms.