Thailand’s new Prime Minister, Srettha Thavisin, said her government would “rectify” the country’s cannabis policy and limit its use for medical purposes within six months.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Mr. Thavisin, who was elected in August, said it was necessary to “rewrite the law” to stop the widespread sale of recreational cannabis.

“The drug problem has become widespread in recent times,” he said in the interview.

Thailand moved from having some of the strictest drug laws in the world to decriminalizing cannabis last year, after removing the plant from the list of narcotics. In a short time, the country would have seen more than 6,000 licensed dispensaries open.

Srettha’s government, which leads an 11-party coalition in the country, has promised to eradicate drugs from Thai society. Earlier this week, the prime minister attended an event where he presented a series of confiscated narcotics, promising to “decisively reduce” the threat within a year.

“The drug problem has become widespread in recent times, especially in the northeast and northern regions of Thailand,” Mr Srettha said. “We don’t need another problem to add to this one. »

The tourism industry welcomed the decision. A spokesperson insisted the unregulated cannabis trade had done more harm than good to tourism over the past year.

“You can now easily find a cannabis store every 200 to 300 meters on the streets of Pattaya, and 90% of them are not for medical purposes,” said Thanet Supornsahasrungsi, executive director of the group Sunshine Hotels and Resorts in Pattaya, at the Bangkok Post.

Cannabis was decriminalized by the previous coalition government to allow local farmers to capitalize on the potential income from cannabis as a high-value crop, and to advance research into medical use. However, the lack of additional regulation allowed cannabis sales to the public to flourish, while farmers complained that the majority of cannabis on sale was imported illegally.

Despite the new Prime Minister’s strong speech, the Thai cannabis industry, which is in its infancy, is not shaken. Poonwarit Wangpatravanich, president of the Phuket Cannabis Association, seems to welcome some form of legal control. “Cannabis is here to stay, but its status is not yet clear. »

According to our information, the legalization of medical cannabis for 2024 will not be supported by the Macron government. The future Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS) will in fact not include a budget line to generalize cannabis for medical use, the dispensation of which is currently limited to some 2,000 participants in the experimentation of therapeutic cannabis.

When asked by us about the reasons for this absence, the General Directorate of Health has not yet responded.

We are also awaiting the reaction of the various patient associations and influential groups around medical cannabis in France. We will add them as we receive them.

Franck Milone, founder of the medical cannabis producer LaFleur, was able to answer us and tell us that they had “mobilized with the authorities in recent months in order to participate in the various working groups for the integration of medical cannabis into the law common. The legislative texts are ready, patients and healthcare professionals are waiting for a clear framework, allowing secure access to medical cannabis. The situation for patients is critical, many have already been impacted last year with product shortages. The government needs to get more involved in this public health issue! France should not be a submarket. »

What future for medical cannabis experimentation?

The experiment should be extended to continue to support current patients and provide them with the medications they need. However, it may not be able to incorporate more sick people.

What chance remains for medical cannabis in France?

The inclusion of the generalization of medical cannabis in the PLFSS 2024 was the royal road to moving away from experimentation and leading to delivery for patients suffering from at least one of the 5 eligible pathologies (epilepsy, oncology, neuropathic pain, healthcare palliatives and painful spasticity).

The legalization of medical cannabis could still be proposed by amendment during the debates around the PLFSS.

A coalition of CBD producing companies, ONE HEMP, whose objective is to mobilize Congress and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American food authority, presented to American authorities a study showing that a maximum dose of 70 milligrams of CBD per day is safe for healthy adults. The study also showed that a maximum dose of 160 milligrams per day is safe for healthy adults who are not trying to conceive, are not pregnant, or breastfeeding.

The study was submitted following a request for information from committees in the House and Senate and was specifically designed to address concerns previously expressed by the FDA that CBD is potentially harmful to the liver and reproductive health.

In a statement, Dr. Rayetta G. Henderson, principal investigator at ToxStrategies LLC, which conducted the study, said the research found that the upper limits of CBD consumption suggested for healthy adults “closely match the recommendations made by major regulatory bodies”, including Health Canada which places it at 200mg per day, the Therapeutic Goods Administration from Australia which places it at 60mg per day and Food Standards Agency from the United Kingdom which places it at 70mg/day.

Marcel Bonn-Miller, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Charlotte’s Web and a member of the research team, said the study “will help inform legislators and regulators as they determine data requirements.” manufacturing and labeling of food supplements containing CBD”.

“Implementing science-based safety limits is essential to protect consumers. This research also supports ONE HEMP’s recommendations for accurate product labeling and ultimately holding CBD companies accountable for manufacturing and selling safe, quality products.” Bonn-Miller said in a press release.

Charlotte’s Web, known for its shared history with Charlotte Figi, is a founding member of ONE HEMP, whose goal is to work toward higher regulatory standards, including independent third-party testing and accurate labeling , the company said in a press release.

Jared Stanley, co-founder and COO of Charlotte’s Web, said the CBD market needs “clarity and stability” and “it is time for Congress to clarify the FDA’s mandate and definitively regulate the CBD products as dietary supplements once and for all.”

The study submitted by ONE HEMP was published online August 25 in the journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology.

A report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) calls for abandoning punitive measures to tackle the global drug problem in favor of policies based on human rights and public health , believing that the disproportionate use of criminal sanctions is harmful.

The report urges states to develop effective drug policies, including considering decriminalization of drug possession for personal use.

“If designed and implemented effectively, decriminalization can be a powerful instrument to ensure that the rights of people who use drugs are protected,” the report says.

“Laws, policies and practices implemented to combat drug use must not have the effect of exacerbating human suffering. The drug problem remains a serious concern, but treating drug users like criminals is not the solution,” said Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“States should move away from the current dominant orientation towards prohibition, repression and punishment, and instead adopt laws, policies and practices rooted in human rights and aimed at harm reduction” .

The report by the United Nations Human Rights Office, commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council, finds that the disproportionate use of criminal sanctions discourages people who use drugs from seeking treatment and fuels the stigmatization and social exclusion.

According to the latest available statistics from the World Drug Report 2023, people who use drugs are disproportionately affected by blood-borne viruses, with almost 660,000 people dying each year from drug-related causes, and 10% of all new HIV infections globally in 2021 were among people who inject drugs.

The harmful effects of these policies are profound and far-reaching, according to the report. The militarization of law enforcement in the “war on drugs” contributes to serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings. The disproportionate use of criminal sanctions contributes significantly to prison overcrowding.

The report highlights that the effects of these policies are most severe for people of African origin, women, indigenous peoples and young people from poor backgrounds.

“Current drug policies have the greatest impact on the poorest and most vulnerable people,” emphasizes Turk.

The use of the death penalty for drug-related convictions has also increased around the world, contrary to international human rights standards. The number of people executed for drug offenses more than doubled in 2022 compared to 2021, accounting for 37% of all recorded executions worldwide, the report said.

“The current excessive emphasis on coercion and control in the fight against drugs is fueling increased human rights violations despite mounting evidence that decades of criminalization and the so-called war on drugs have neither protected people’s well-being nor deterred drug-related crimes,” said Mr. Türk.

The report shows that a growing number of countries in all regions are adopting policies and practices that decriminalize drug use and treat it as a public health and human rights problem, and are applying evidence-based approaches. evidence-based, gender-sensitive and risk-reducing.

The High Commissioner called on States to take advantage of this positive trend.

A group of United Nations representatives and human rights experts already called for an end to the “global war on drugs” last June.

Much of the medical cannabis produced as part of the Danish medical cannabis experiment was not placed on the market and was intentionally destroyed for various reasons, according to government data relayed by MJBizDaily.

Just over 300 permits were issued for the destruction of 145,541 kilograms of cannabis, the Danish Parliament’s Health Committee said in a response to a parliamentary inquiry earlier this year.

This figure includes all cannabis destroyed by businesses licensed to grow cannabis – under the country’s pilot program – from the date those businesses were granted permission to operate, a spokesperson for the government to MJBizDaily via email.

The amount of legal cannabis destroyed under Denmark’s medical pilot program, initiated in 2018, has exceeded the total cannabis production reported by the country to global drug regulators.

A list of companies currently authorized to manufacture bulk cannabis and primary products is available here (Excel file). This list includes Canadian company Aurora Cannabis and Australian company Little Green Pharma, as well as Medican, a medical cannabis production company headquartered in Helsinge, Denmark.

What led to the destruction

Various reasons can lead to the destruction of production: poor quality, regulatory factors or insufficient demand…

“As our destruction procedures are not specific to the purpose or origin of cultivation, the quantity destroyed may include cannabis grown for the pilot program, imported for the pilot program as well as cannabis grown under the development, the spokesperson for the Danish Medicines Agency told MJBizDaily.

Although the government cannot say why the cannabis was destroyed, the response to the parliamentary inquiry says the destruction figure could include faulty or discarded products and all cannabis grown under the development programme, which allows companies to grow medical cannabis so they can perfect their growing and manufacturing methods and be allowed to participate in the national pilot program.

The Danish Medicines Agency reported that for 2022, ‘lost or destroyed’ cannabis amounted to 10,753 kilograms – an amount that does not include cannabis destroyed under the development programme.

Last year, Danish companies recorded sales of around 62.5 million crowns, or just over 8 million euros.

California cannabis regulators have issued several warnings requiring state-licensed testing labs to accurately report test results or face severe penalties, including potential license revocation.

The Department of Cannabis Control’s (DCC) Laboratory Division has undertaken inspections to confirm (or not) test results on flower and other cannabis products that have already been tested, according to an email notification sent to laboratories Thursday accredited and obtained by MJBizDaily.

“Random testing of over-the-counter products will continue to give consumers confidence that the cannabis products they purchase have been tested and that the results of those tests are accurate,” said Nicole Elliott, Director of the DCC, to MJBizDaily via email Friday.

The letter warns testing labs that inflating THC content and falsifying scientific data is a violation of state law.

“Reporting inaccurate results and falsifying data will result in action against your license, up to and including revocation,” the notice warns.

If the results confirmed by the DCC do not coincide with the results of laboratory tests, companies may be forced to relabel their products, the DCC said.

“This may also result in the recall and/or embargo of cannabis or cannabis products,” according to the warning.

Why inflate THC levels?

Studies show that the price of a product, the percentage of THC and the recommendations of the budtender are the main elements taken into account by consumers when choosing their cannabis. However, there has been a disproportionate emphasis on THC percentage, partly because of the misconception that potency is directly related to product quality, and partly because of a lack of understanding of the important role of terpenes and other cannabinoids.

This focus on THC content has incentivized cannabis companies (brands, growers, distributors) to game the system, especially when economic conditions are difficult for legal operators. If consumers remain fixated on THC content, some companies are willing to deceive customers because they can charge them more.

High-THC cannabis products sell for more, which has encouraged some cannabis companies and testing labs willing to commit fraud to manipulate results. The industry calls this practice “lab shopping.”

Regulations generally require that the THC content listed on the label be within a relative percentage range of actual test results. In California, this threshold is 10%, which allows certain laboratories to fudge results or brands to be creative in their claims.

These questionable practices have led to a systemic problem of power inflation, detrimental to all parties involved. THE lab shopping has often allowed the worst brands and labs to achieve better results, while high-efficiency brands and science-first labs have suffered.

In recent years, state agencies in Arizona, Colorado, Florida and Nevada have stepped up crackdowns on noncompliant testing labs, issuing hefty fines and suspending licenses in some cases.

In the coming days, the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) plans to present a preliminary resolution to the Health Committee, a first step that aims to create a working group to study the legalization of cannabis.

Eurico Brilhante Dias, PS deputy, however, clarified that the bill will not be presented until 2024. In the meantime, the party intends to seek expert advice and organize two conferences on the subject.

“The non-medical use of cannabis is an issue that the PS is discussing, there will be a conference at the Assembly of the Republic later this month; this summer, there was an important step forward in a member state of the European Union, in Germany,” said Eurico Brilhante Dias.

The working group will be created within the Health Committee “because it is a public health issue” and will aim “to study and listen to specialists from different fields in order to deepen the reflection” which should conclude by the end of the year, with a conference “focused on the non-medical use of cannabis and, from there, the parliamentary group will consider moving forward with a legislative initiative.

If this timetable can be met, legislation on this issue could be introduced before next year’s summer recess. This could prove difficult, however, as much of parliamentary activity will be suspended from mid-October to the end of November to allow for the review and discussion of the state budget for 2024.

Eurico Brilhante Dias stressed that dialogue on the recreational use of cannabis also takes place within other political parties and parliamentary groups. The Left Bloc presented a bill in June 2022, and the liberal initiative bill was accepted in Parliament in April.

The Portuguese Socialist Party does not intend to take this path unilaterally, but rather seeks to collaborate with other parliamentary groups during this legislative session. The head of the socialist bench stressed that “Portuguese society should engage in this discourse, and Parliament should serve as a platform for this conversation.”

The Left Bloc and the Liberal Initiative are both reintroducing proposals that they had already tabled during the last legislature, which had not been submitted to the vote of the health committee and which became obsolete with the dissolution of Parliament.

The Left Bloc had already encountered the rejection of one of its legislative proposals at the beginning of 2019, when the socialist parliamentary group had displayed a divided position, with abstentions, positive votes and negative votes. After Parliament approved the medical use of cannabis, the Left Bloc quickly warned that the next step would be recreational use. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) has already adopted a motion to this effect in the Portuguese Congress.

The Left Bloc’s proposal provides not only for the creation of authorized points of sale and online sales, but also for the cultivation of a maximum of five plants per individual.

The liberal initiative would authorize the online and retail sale of cannabis in various types of establishments, excluding educational establishments, health establishments, sports facilities, leisure spaces intended for families or children, and gas stations. Each citizen would be allowed to grow up to six plants.