The medical cannabis business is one of the most prominent and fast-growing business sectors in Thailand. From a legal perspective, Thailand have evolved from one of the most restrictive and punishable regulation to a completely very modern and vanguardist one allowing a new business sector to come after the end of the pandemic in 2022. Thailand is now one of the leading countries in Asia when it comes to attract foreign investment into the new medical cannabis sector.
During 2022, H&P, as a leading corporate law firm in Thailand, have advised a wide number of foreign investors to move from the decriminalization of the medical cannabis and turn this into profitable model by structuring different type of businesses. We would distinguish the requirements and licenses as follows: A) plant cannabis and B) licenses to sell medical cannabis:
A) The procedure to obtain a cannabis planting license in Thailand
The license holder qualifications are:
- Individual/juristic person.
- Must be operated under the cooperation and supervision of the licensee of modern drug production or a licensee to produce herbal products.
Procedure for obtaining permission
- Submission via E-submission system.
- Officers check the request for permission.
- Check out the place where cannabis is grown.
- Proposal to the provincial committee for consideration.
- Seek approval from the governor, and send the matter to FDA for consideration.
- Narcotics Control Committee to consider.
- Proposal to the secretary of the FDA to sign the license.
Based on H&P experience the timeframe is no more than 120 days from the date of documents are submitted, and the land is inspected. H&P also can provide some guidelines for structuring the cannabis plantation in compliance with the Thai Government guidelines. Moreover, although the supporting documentation to obtain the permission is not extensive, there must be a plan for the utilization of the production, identifying a specific purchaser, planting schedule, and harvesting schedule.
B) The procedure to obtain a license to sell cannabis
For this license it is key to provide the purpose of requesting such permission or license and should be as follows:
- For medical purposes
- Prepare medicines for specific patients.
- International Cooperation
The licensee will be the one who can produce or import marihuana. The proceeding to obtaining a license to sell marihuana is as follows:
-Submission of application forms and supporting documentation
-The officer will check the accuracy of the request for permission.
-Nominate the provincial public health physician to sign the license.
Based on our experience the processing time or timeframe is no more than 45 days from the date of submission.
If you need to discuss with a Bangkok lawyer about your business plan for the medical cannabis in Thailand, please contact us at [email protected]