Thailand’s weed industry says it’s ready for ‘serious money’

A customer selects marijuana for purchase at a dispensary in the Asoke neighbourhood of Bangkok. - PHOTO: NYTIMES

BANGKOK: In Bangkok these days, it is hard not to notice the weed dispensaries catering to tourists that have multiplied since the government decriminalised the drug in 2022.

Many of them take advantage of lax regulations to openly sell visitors dried cannabis flowers imported illegally from Canada or the United States. On a recent afternoon, one shop advertised its pungent offerings – weed strains with names such as “Ice Cream Cake” and “Lemon Cookies” – as “California’s finest”.