(8 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bangkok, Thailand – 8 July 2024
1. Various of pro-cannabis activists marching towards Government House
2. Zoom in of people holding marijuana
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Kitty Chopaka, cannabis shop owner & policy advocate:
“It’s no different than sex workers’ rights, or LGBTQ ‘cause it’s got to do with a small group of people that the general public don’t usually understand. It’s not like we want something that is radical. Cannabis is delisted, and now it makes sense to control and it should be controlled by an act rather than the narcotics code.”
4. Mid of people gathering before marching towards Government House
5. Close of marijuana in a box
6. Mid of person holding marijuana
7. Mid of Pock Pechthong, cannabis grower (left) & Akaradej Chaijinda, cannabis shop owner (right)
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Akaradej Chaijinda, cannabis shop owner:
“I hope they listen to the people. Today we are here, we want to go to speak in front of the house of the prime minister. I think they should listen more because from my opinion this thing is not from all the people deciding, just one man or just one group wants to take it back.”
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Pock Pechthong, cannabis grower:
“Of course I’m concerned, everybody’s spent a lot of money already. I’m a grower, so our main concern is not being able to grow and use it.”
10. Mid of police blocking road towards Government House with activists gathered behind barricade
11. Mid of Chopaka holding marijuana standing with other activists behind barricade
12. Mid of activists
13. Various of police
14. Close of government official
15. Mid of Prasitchai Nunual, pro-cannabis group co-leader with government official
16. Zoom out of letter being submitted from Nunual to government official
STORYLINE:
Two years after marijuana was decriminalized in Thailand, nearly a hundred of its advocates marched to the prime minister’s office Monday to protest a possible ban on general use.
A health ministry drug control committee approved Friday a proposal to relist cannabis as a narcotic to be only allowed for medical and research purposes.
The proposition is set to be submitted to the Office of the Narcotics Control Board this week, and if agreed on, will take effect Jan.1.
Cannabis activists and entrepreneurs, some carrying potted marijuana plants, gathered at the United Nations headquarters in central Bangkok Monday as they prepared to head to the Government House, nearly 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) away.
Prasitchai Nunuan, a representative of a pro-cannabis network of individuals, addressed the protesters, saying that marijuana should be separately regulated by the health ministry instead of criminalizing the plant yet again. He accused the government of outlawing the drug to allow only a few interest groups to benefit from its medical uses.
Chokwan “Kitty” Chopaka, a cannabis shop owner in Bangkok and activist, also accused the current Thai Cabinet of allowing politics to manipulate such a decision and called on officials to come up with a policy that benefits the majority of people.
AP video shot by Sompong Saisomboon and Sam Harshbarger
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