Cannabis culture blossoms in Chiang Mai, Thailand – in drinks, food, clothing, massages and medicines

Thailand is delisting cannabis as a narcotic, and the plant, traditionally used in the country for medicinal and culinary purposes, has potential as a cash crop

A visit to Chiang Mai, in the north, reveals shops, restaurants, clinics, even five-star hotels and spas selling marijuana-related products and services

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Cannabis spas are among the ways to consume the plant in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Restaurants use it in food and drinks, clinics prescribe it and tribespeople make clothes from it. Photo: Ron Emmons

Published: 11:45am, 5 Jun 2022Updated: 1:15pm, 8 Jun 2022

Few plants are as controversial as cannabis, which has been deified and demonised throughout human history. And few places in Asia are as enthusiastic about the tourism potential of cannabis as Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The drug derived from the cannabis plant goes by many names – among them marijuana, weed, hemp, grass, dope, pot, Mary Jane, herb, bhang, 420 (April 20 is World Cannabis Day) and ganja.

However, these days you’re more likely to see or hear references to CBD (cannabidiol), a compound of cannabis widely used for medicinal purposes, and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive element of the plant that gets people high.

The plant was employed in Thailand as a traditional medicine and to stimulate appetite, but using it was criminalised in 1935, and in 1979 it was classed as a Category 5 drug, meaning anyone caught in possession of it faces the threat of imprisonment for up to five years and a fine of up to 100,000 baht (US$2,900).

Cannabis and its related products are soon to be delisted as a narcotic in Thailand. Photo: Ron Emmons

Despite these restrictions, during the 1960s and ’70s, Thai sticks – high quality cannabis buds tied to a stick with silk, produced by tribal groups in the north of the country – acquired an international reputation for their potency.