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A6 WORLD NEWS
Friday 10 June 2022
Thailand makes marijuana legal, but smoking discouraged

By TASSANEE VEJPONGSA come clearer after a new
and GRANT PECK cannabis law is passed,
Associated Press said Prof. Sarana Sommano
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand of Chiang Mai University’s
made it legal to cultivate Department of Plant and
and possess marijuana as Soil Sciences.
of Thursday, like a dream “There are still risks. The
come true for an aging problem is that cannabis
generation of pot smokers is no longer considered a
who recall the kick deliv- narcotic but there are no
ered by the legendary Thai ministry regulations and
Stick variety. rules governing the use of
The public health minister’s it,” she said. “There is no
plan to distribute 1 million mention of limits on use,
marijuana seedlings, be- drug-impaired driving laws.
ginning Friday, has added This could be a mistake
to the impression that Thai- by the government in try-
land is turning into a weed ing to rush out its policy to
wonderland. please voters without really
The decision by the Food planning the details and
and Drug Administration explaining to the public
to remove all of the plant what’s going on,”
from the category of nar- Thailand mainly wants to
cotic drugs makes Thai- Entrepreneurs tour a cannabis farm in Chonburi province, eastern Thailand on June 5, 2022. make a splash in the mar-
land the first nation in Asia Associated Press ket for medical marijuana.
to decriminalize marijuana limited to selling products cannabis or ganja in Thai- tied into sticks and is the It already has a well-de-
for medical and industrial made from the parts of land. origin of many strains now veloped medical tourism
use. But it is not following the plant that do not get “As far as the government grown overseas. industry and its tropical cli-
the examples of Uruguay people high. The dozen is concerned, it’s their job Thailand’s government has mate is ideal for growing
and Canada, the only two or so people who turned to promote medical use warned that those eager to cannabis.
countries so far that have up early at the Highland only. light up for fun that smoking “We should know how
legalized recreational mari- Café were able to choose But it is pretty clear that we in public could still be con- to use cannabis,” Pub-
juana on a national basis. from a variety of buds with have come very far and fi- sidered a nuisance, subject lic Health Minister Anutin
So far, it appears there will names such as Sugarcane, nally are legalizing its use. to a potential 3-month jail Charnvirakul, a marijuana
be no effort to police what Bubblegum, Purple Afghani The government under- sentence and 25,000 baht booster, said recently. “If
people can grow and and UFO. stands that it’s more pros ($780) fine. And marijuana we have the right aware-
smoke at home, aside from “I can say it out loud, that than cons,” said Rattapon extracts, such as oil, remain ness, cannabis is like gold,
registering to do so and de- I am a cannabis smoker. I Sanrak, the café’s co-own- illegal if they contain more something valuable, and
claring it is for medical pur- don’t need to hide like in er and a longtime legaliza- than 0.2% of tetrahydro- should be promoted.”
poses. the past when it was brand- tion activist. cannabinol, or THC, the Some immediate benefi-
Some Thai advocates cel- ed as a illegal drug,” said The country is known for its chemical that makes peo- ciaries of the change are
ebrated on Thursday by 24-year-old Rittipong Bach- Thai Stick variety, which is ple high. people who have been
buying marijuana at a café kul, the day’s first customer. named after the way its po- Tourists should proceed locked up for breaking the
that had previously been Marijuana is also known as tent flowers are dried and cautiously until the rules be- old law. q

Flooding, landslides in China leave 17

dead, 4 missing

the Xinhua News Agency prone to slippages, Xinhua China’s worst floods in re-
said late Wednesday. said. Seven people were cent years were in 1998,
As of late Thursday, 10 peo- confirmed dead in the when more than 2,000 peo-
ple were reported dead landslides, one was miss- ple died and almost 3 mil-
and three missing in the ing and at least one person lion homes were destroyed,
floods that have affected was pulled out alive. mostly along the Yangtze,
around 1.8 million people in Authorities have issued China’s mightiest river.
the largely rural, mountain- warnings of continued The government has invest-
ous province, Xinhua said. heavy downpours in ed heavily in flood control
It said 286,000 people have Guangxi and the nearby and hydroelectric projects
Flood waters sweep through the ancient town of Feng Huang in been evacuated to safety provinces of Jiangxi, Fujian, such as the gargantuan
central China’s Hunan province, Saturday, June 4, 2022. and more than 2,700 hous- Guangdong, Hainan, Sich- Three Gorges Dam on the
Associated Press es have been damaged or uan, Chongqing and Yun- Yangtze.
BEIJING (AP) — At least ern Guangxi region, state collapsed entirely. nan, Xinhua said. Globally, more intense trop-
17 people were killed and media reported. In Guangxi, rescue crews China regularly experienc- ical storms are on the rise as
four are missing after flood- Storms have pummeled were still looking Thursday es flooding during the sum- a result of climate change,
ing hit the central Chinese Hunan since the beginning for survivors in several vil- mer months, most frequent- leading to increased flood-
province of Hunan and a of the month, with some lages in the area of Beiliu ly in central and southern ing that threatens human
landslide buried parts of monitoring stations report- city, where days of rain left areas that tend to receive lives, crops and groundwa-
several villages in the south- ing historic levels of rainfall, hillsides waterlogged and the most rainfall. ter quality.q