Cannabis Cafes Open New Front in Thai Tourism Revival Effort

Several cannabis cafes have sprung up across Bangkok since Thailand decriminalized the plant in June, a few weeks before it dropped pandemic-linked controls on foreign visitors.

Foreign arrivals shrank to 2 million in the first half of 2022 from nearly 40 million in 2019, and many cannabis cafe owners view their venues as central to efforts to revive a tourism industry that contributed about 12% to GDP before the pandemic struck.

In 2018, Thailand became the first Southeast Asian country to legalize marijuana for medical use. In June, the entire cannabis plant was decriminalized.

A parliamentary committee is currently debating a bill to regulate cannabis use that is expected to finalize in September and could impact the cannabis cafes.