Thailand, which became the first Southeast Asian nation to decriminalize the production and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in 2020, moved to further loosen regulations on the drug, reports AP News.

The Public Health Ministry’s Food and Drug Administration proposed to completely remove cannabis, including marijuana and hemp plants, from the official list of prohibited narcotics and psychotropic substances.
The government’s Narcotics Control Committee agreed to submit the FDA’s proposal to the Narcotics Control Board at the end of January. If it agrees, the public health minister will sign the measure, which would then become effective with its publication in the government gazette, the report said. The new proposal would facilitate previous measures liberalising the use of cannabis for medicinal and commercial purposes, such as its use in food.
Thailand has not legalised recreational marijuana and has regulated the production and trade of legal cannabis. By law, legal cannabis must contain less than 0.2 per cent by weight of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This limit would be maintained under the current draft of the new proposal.
Under the 2020 legal changes, most parts of the cannabis plant were dropped from the Category 5 list of prohibited drugs, but seeds and buds associated with recreational use were retained. According to the report, the measure now proposed by the FDA would remove all parts of the plant from the list.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said that the proposal “responds to the government’s urgent policy in developing marijuana and hemp for medical and health care benefits, developing technology and creating income for the public.”