Thailand to ban recreational cannabis use by year-end, says health minister

Jars containing marijuana at a cannabis shop in Bangkok, November 17, 2022. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand will ban the recreational use of marijuana by the end of this year, but continue allowing its use for medical purposes, the health minister told Reuters in an interview.

Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to decriminalise cannabis, initially for medicinal use and research in 2018, then for general growing and consumption in 2022.