Hemp legal status issues in the Narcotics Act, B.E. 2522

Abstract

This research aimed to study concepts and theories related to hemp. The study was conducted by reviewing the international legal measures, international law, and the legal measures of Thailand that has related or comparable to hemp. The data has been analyzed and compared with the legal measures related to the legal status of hemp and provides suggestions to solve the aforementioned issues.

The study found that at present, hemp has the status of a narcotic drug in each country. Many countries have focused on the development of hemp as an economic crop and for medical use. Each country has criteria and measures to control the THC volume extracted from hemp. The aforementioned measure used for controlling THC content must be under the control of government agencies.

For Thailand, hemp is considered a narcotics category 5 as stated in the Narcotics Act B.E 2522. Any person or agency who wants to produce, import, export, distribute or have in possession of hemp must have legitimate authorization only.

The suggestions for this research included applying for the government roles in social control and economic control of the tobacco industry to be applied with hemp for further development of hemp to be an economic crop same as tobacco.