BANGKOK — Tucked away from city traffic in an alley full of massage parlors, office buildings and hotels, the place looks like it could be a cocktail bar. Customers can sit in leather armchairs or claim a high stool at the wooden L-shaped bar. The shelves, though, are absent of alcohol. In lieu of the typical bottles and glassware, there are bongs, rolling papers, grinders and dramatically lit jars of cannabis flowers such as Critical Purple Kush and Amnesia Haze, the most popular strain in the shop.
Behind the scenes in Thailand’s booming weed business
Cannabis has become part of dinner cruises, massage treatments, swanky lounges and farm tours
June 8, 2023 at 8:00 a.m. EDT
All the Smoke Lounge is one of the classier places to get high in Bangkok.
Thousands of weed businesses have opened in Thailand since the country removed the plant from its list of banned narcotics on June 9, 2022, becoming the first country in Asia to decriminalize cannabis. In that short time, entrepreneurs such as All the Smoke owner Rithichai “Mai” Chaisingharn have changed the physical landscape of the kingdom exponentially.
“Weed went from being something as sinister as heroin to as innocent as a tomato overnight,” said Chaisingharn, 39, a lifelong cannabis smoker who had fantasized about opening a shop akin to a cigar store.
Now there are swanky bars and dinner cruises in Bangkok, and you can find wooden shacks and beachside lounges on tourist-filled beaches. They’ve become so prolific that “it’s like Starbucks,” said Vanessa Dora Lavorato, 36, an edible maker and TV host who visited Thailand in January. “There’s a pot shop on every corner.”
Travelers can get a 90-minute cannabis-themed massage treatment, complete with a soak in an infused bath, at Anantara resorts, or book half-day tours of cannabis farms. In Bangkok, the cannabis tour company Budler (pronounced like “butler) is getting off the ground, taking customers to dispensaries, cultural sites and places to eat.
It’s a far cry from the country’s previous stance on weed, and where the drug stands in the rest of the region.
“Southeast Asia in general has always been really very strict [on drugs],” said Bangkok-based author Joe Cummings, who wrote the first Lonely Planet guidebook for Thailand.
Scaling back the ‘war on drugs’
Before Thailand criminalized cannabis in 1935, the plant had been a standard fixture of cooking and medicine. Cummings said there was a laissez-faire attitude toward cannabis when he lived in the country in the ’70s and ’80s, even after the country reinforced its narcotics laws in 1979.
“It was common to see it in little restaurants, especially boat noodle restaurants,” he said. “And you could go down to a dock or any kind of pier, and the fishermen would be smoking openly.”
Over time, the government grew more serious about its “war on drugs,” setting fire to millions of dollars’ worth of marijuana on the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Weed wasn’t as widely available, but it was easy enough to find in backpacker hot spots or red-light districts. Arrests for recreational use were common and could lead to fines.
But, Cummings said, punishments for possession weren’t as severe as in neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Myanmar.
The laws are even lighter today. And after the government removed the plant from its list of banned narcotics, more than 4,200 people incarcerated for alleged marijuana crimes became eligible for release.
Weed’s wide reach
On her latest trip to sleepy Naiyang Beach, less than two miles from Phuket International Airport, Marissa Caluzzi found familiar golden sand, street-food carts and whistling pine trees. But something dank was in the air.
“You can smell it,” said Caluzzi, 56, who has been coming to Naiyang Beach from Australia for decades. “People sit on their balconies and smoke and just come out on the beach and smoke.”
Smoking in public is technically illegal, punishable by a public nuisance fine of $780 or a potential three-month sentence. In April, Thailand’s Department of Health warned that the enforcement of the rule would become more strict.
Cannabis products with over 0.2 percent THC are illegal in Thailand. (Most U.S. states with legalized cannabis don’t have a cap on potency.) Otherwise, anyone can now buy and consume weed if they’re over 20 years old and are not pregnant or breastfeeding. People can even take marijuana on planes for domestic flights.
“I think it is good for tourism,” said Prawit “Wit” Chankasem, 39, who has been a tour guide in Bangkok for 13 years. Weed has become a huge presence not only in tourist areas and big cities, but also in local areas where it is uncommon to see visitors or expats. “I went to some small villages in Thailand and was like, ‘Wow, you have cannabis shops here,’” Chankasem said.
Chankasem, like some Thai people, is worried that the wide availability of the drug could put children at risk. That concern is at the center of emerging efforts to reclassify the plant as a narcotic, arguing that recreational use is bad for the country.
“They think I’m selling something that’s killing society,” All the Smoke’s Chaisingharn said of his critics.
Opportunity for agriculture
Cummings said demand for cannabis across the country is so high “that, even with hundreds and thousands of acres devoted to cultivation, right now there’s still a shortage.” In the six months since All the Smoke opened, Chaisingharn said, seven more weed shops cropped up nearby.
That’s good news for people like Cha “Ice” Na, 33, a new cannabis farmer in Rayong, an eastern province on the Gulf of Thailand. After suffering from a motorbike accident before the pandemic, Na turned to medical marijuana for pain relief. (Thailand has had legalized medical marijuana since 2018.)
Once he had recovered from his horrific wounds, Na felt so passionate about marijuana’s capacity to heal that he started growing plants himself. He now has three large rooms and an outdoor farm where he grows Wild Thai, which is considered a rare sativa strain of cannabis. Every month, he drives into Phuket to deliver it to Skushi, a new shop in Old Town that caters to tourists.
Farming cannabis won’t make him rich, particularly as the industry struggles with smuggled imports, but Na says it pays enough to support him, his wife, “Apple,” and their baby. He also thinks it will inspire repeat visits from tourists.
“People come to Thailand to eat good food, … see beautiful scenery, … relax,” he said. Cannabis enhances that atmosphere. “They’ll come back.”
So much to sample
That was the case for Lavorato, who visited Thailand to see her uncle and shoot videos for her website, the Edibles Club. After road-tripping from Bangkok to Hat Yai and island-hopping among Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Ko Pha Ngan, “I would go back tomorrow,” Lavorato said.
For Caluzzi, cannabis wasn’t the impetus for her vacation, but sampling it a few times “added an element of fun” once she arrived. With recreational use illegal at home in Australia, she and her partner, Chris Wessels, 62, decided to give Thailand’s legal weed a try. They had about six different purveyors in tiny Naiyang Beach to choose from, and after picking a place and consulting with an employee, they bought a weed cookie to share back at their hotel.
“Oh, it was disgusting,” Caluzzi said. “That really just made us a bit giggly, but nothing major.”
Their next experiment was a half an inch of a weed brownie — “that knocked us out”— then some gummy bears. They also said they tried some hazelnut and vanilla ice cream “that tasted nice, but [the high] was very minor.”
At All the Smoke, Chaisingharn said, his clientele is 50 percent locals and regulars, and 50 percent walk-ins and tourists, including travelers from countries where weed is illegal who came explicitly for the pot.
Among them have been a mother and daughter from Taiwan, a hospital director from Oman, scientists and frat brothers. Many are total beginners. Others “really know their weed,” Chaisingharn said.
He sees parallels between Bangkok and Amsterdam — both are major tourist destinations that have famous red-light districts — but doesn’t think it’s a completely accurate comparison.
“We don’t even regulate weed like Amsterdam,” he said. “It’s even crazier.”
How to experiment safely
Lavorato’s advice for exploring weed in Thailand is to make a plan for your day: where to go, what to eat, how to get home.
“You want to be in a safe place that’s relaxing and there’s food close by,” she said.
If you’ll need a ride, download a transportation app such as Grab, and input your payment information before you get high. Consider activities such as getting a massage and going to see art or popular sites, and “definitely hit the night markets,” she said. If you’re at the beach, try swimming or snorkeling.
Also consider local customs. “Thailand is a very religious country,” said Budler founder Berga Huang. “So make sure you don’t bring any cannabis to sacred places like temples.”
And although you may see people smoking in public, keep your consumption private to avoid risk of police intervention. “It’s more like a courtesy, kind of like cigarettes,” Chaisingharn said.
As far as what to smoke, eat or drink, find a shop or bar that appeals to you and talk to an expert on staff. Many places sell pre-rolled joints that are easy for beginners. Don’t be shy about asking questions.
“Most people don’t know about cannabis the first time they want to try it out,” Huang said. “A lot of travelers from Asian countries where cannabis is super illegal — they don’t really know where to start.”
Note that, although cannabis products in Thailand are supposed to contain less than 0.2 percent THC, Lavorato said she has encountered much stronger edibles during her visit.
“I’m telling you that’s not what is being sold right now,” she said of low-dose promises.
You don’t have to avoid edibles altogether, but you may want to try Lavorato’s conservative approach. Eat a nibble, wait an hour, then eat more based on how you’re feeling. If you do find yourself in too deep, Lavorato recommends “coffee and food. That is the best thing you can do.”
