In Thailand, Govt Leads the Monetization of Cannabis

Wirot Poonsuwan
Khao Sod English

Selling dried cannabis to pharmaceutical companies as well as Cannabidiol (CBD) and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) extracts as soon as it is licensed, is the intention of Thailand’s tobacco authority among new measures to turn a profit on its dwindling cigarette business.


The Tobacco Authority of Thailand, or TOAT, is one of two governmental entities that has looked to capitalize on the sale of cannabinoids as soon as it received approval from the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA.


The other, the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, or GPO, broke ground in February to grow Thailand’s first legal cannabis plants indoors at its ultra-modern pharmaceutical factory in Bangkok’s northern suburbs. It aims to turn the plants’ chemical compounds into 2,500 5-milliliter bottles – the size of a teaspoon – of cannabis oil and sublingual drops for clinical trials among volunteer patients as early as July.

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