Thailand's Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya aims strongly to remove krathom* and marijuana from the narcotic drugs list sand trat them as medicinal herbs as he sees the government has failed to curb them.

According to the local media, Bangkok Post, Mr Paiboon said that the strict law against consuming krathom and marijuana has been proven to be unsuccessful, and therefore, thinks that it is time to rewrite the law and make them as herbs.

Mr Paiboon reiterated his stance on Friday (18 November) during a meeting, which was called because crackdowns in Thailand are believed to have forced people to buy the plants from Malaysia. He held the meeting with officials and civic groups from 14 southern provinces in Songkhla.

Some Thai elementary school students got a taste of “high” school when one lesson had them burning marijuana.

The provincial government of Bueng Karn in Thailand invited several elementary kids to participate in the ceremonial burning of police-confiscated marijuana. The event was reportedly an effort to teach Thai school children about the effects of drugs.

AN ONLINE poll seeking public opinion on whether the Thai government should legalize the use of marijuana has so far resulted in nearly 80 percent of respondents saying “yes”.

Even more interesting is that those who agreed with the proposal said the authorities should allow marijuana to be used for both medical and recreational purposes.

In the still-ongoing survey posted on Saturday by Thai Visa, respondents were asked to select one of three answers to the question: Should marijuana be legalized in Thailand?

As of 9am Monday, of the 230 who voted, only 14 respondents or 6.54 percent said they felt it was not a good idea.

When various forms of cannabis decriminalization and legalization take hold in major nations like Canada and the United States, smaller countries become less fearful about stepping out from behind the cannabis reform shadows.

Now, reports out of Thailand show various government organizations looking into decriminalizing cannabis.

As a rookie smoker years ago I probably couldn’t tell what type of strain I was smoking based on its smoke, appearance, or smell but with time I was able to determine the effects of the strains I obtained. The differences in strain appearance were always vivid with almost all strains showing plenty of sticky resin but the smell would always differ. It wasn’t until about a few years down into smoking medical marijuana I was able to tell the difference between sativa and indica strains. Also, with the introduction of “hybrid strains” the possibilities of effects are almost endless.

Thailand’s Minister of Justice, General Paiboon Koomchaya, recently ignited a heated debate when he proposed re-scheduling methamphetamine as a ‘medicine’ rather than a ‘narcotic’ drug. But given that one of the Minister’s objectives is to avoid punishing people who use drugs, in particular ensuring they do not end up in prison,’ the proposal to reschedule is essentially a ‘red herring’.