Things have moved slowly in authoritarian Thailand since passage of a medical marijuana law last year. But now one of the country\u2019s\u00a0leading universities is launching a \u201cGanja Studies Department,\u201d and attendant research facility.<\/p>\n
It may elicit chuckles from stateside readers, but\u00a0Rangsit University<\/a>, just outside Bangkok, isn\u2019t playing its new department for laughs. Ganja is the word for cannabis in the Thai language \u2014 a loan word\u00a0from Sanskrit<\/a>. The new undergraduate program, overseen by the school\u2019s Agricultural Innovation Facility, will include classes in the history of the cannabis plant, its medicinal applications and training in cultivation, all under terms of the medical marijuana law that Thailand\u00a0passed last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n The agricultural facility dean, Banyat Saitthiti, told the\u00a0Thai Public Broadcasting Service<\/a>: \u201cThe world has advanced greatly in marijuana research, especially medical marijuana. But in Thailand, we don\u2019t have skilled workers that know much about cannabis\u2026 We will be the pioneers of marijuana education programs in Thailand.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we have knowledge about marijuana, we can develop our own strains, and in the future we\u2019ll have marijuana farms,\u201d he added. \u201cI believe that\u2019s where we\u2019re headed.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week,\u00a0Public Radio International<\/a>\u00a0was given a guided tour of the new cannabis facility, where researchers are already working to develop new products and preparing to begin cultivation. And according to Thanapat Songsak, dean of the university\u2019s College of Pharmacy, they are actually using seed from stuff confiscated by police to do so, which means they don\u2019t even know what strains they are working with.<\/p>\n Importing cannabis into Thailand remains illegal, even for research or medical purposes. But earlier this year, the scientists at Rangsit were given some 40 kilo-sized bricks of compacted cannabis that had been seized from illicit-market traffickers. Much of it was found to be tainted with pesticide residue and other contaminants, but there was enough usable stock to create a small batch of quality THC\u00a0oils.\u00a0<\/p>\n Several new prototype products have already been developed at the facility, some based on traditional culinary and medicinal use of cannabis in Thailand. One is a flavorful powder that can be used in cooking with coconut oil. It blends cannabis with such signature Thai ingredients as sandalwood, ginger and various types of hot pepper. \u00a0<\/p>\n Thailand remains in a \u201ctransition period,\u201d according to Supachai Kunaratnpruk, a former official with the country\u2019s health ministry who is now helping to oversee the Rangsit cannabis facility. Cultivation is taking place in only a few government-approved greenhouses. Doctors at some state-run hospitals have been approved to dispense THC oils to a handful of select patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some 8,500 individual users have also registered with the\u00a0Thai Food & Drug Administration<\/a>, which oversees the program, according to\u00a0Coconuts Bangkok<\/a>. Cultivation and possession of herbaceous cannabis by patients is permitted under the program, but neither importation or commercialization have yet been approved despite language in the December legislation.<\/p>\n Supachai told Public Radio International that many government officials remain skeptical of ambitions for a cannabis economy. These include cultural conservatives who fear that medical marijuana will be a first step toward a general legalization \u2014 but also more progressive-minded leaders, who fear that the country\u2019s cannabis\u00a0industry could come under monopolistic control by one or two corporations, focused more on profits than health \u2014 Thailand\u2019s rich genetic stock in cannabis strains (including ancient\u00a0sativa\u00a0landraces) could come under private, possibly foreign ownership.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t let it fall into one [set of] hands, one big company,\u201d Supachai said. \u201cOur responsibility is to develop special Thai strains of world-class cannabis used in medicine. We want to cooperate with farmer co-ops. They grow it, we provide knowledge and it\u2019s all sold to the medical profession. That\u2019s the model.\u201d<\/p>\n Others are displaying more enthusiasm than caution.<\/p>\n Last year,\u00a0Coconuts TV<\/a>\u00a0produced a documentary series \u2014 now available on Netflix \u2014 entitled \u201cHighland: Thailand\u2019s Marijuana Awakening<\/a>,\u201d exploring plans for a cannabis economy and giving voice to those who are indeed calling for full legalization. Coconuts TV spoke to doctors, patients whose lives have been improved from CBD oil and activists with the\u00a0Highland Network<\/a>, a legalization advocacy group.<\/p>\n As Public Radio International notes, even some members of Thailand\u2019s traditional conservative political class are now speaking hopefully of producing \u201cworld-class cannabis\u201d in the country\u2019s lush farmlands, and stealing the lead before other Asian nations build their own cannabis industries.<\/p>\n South Korea has\u00a0taken modest steps<\/a>\u00a0toward a medical marijuana market, and the Philippines may be following suit, despite\u00a0recent reversals<\/a>. And in a\u00a0strange paradox<\/a>, the People\u2019s Republic of China, with some of the world\u2019s harshest cannabis laws, has quietly opened the way for research into the plant\u2019s medical applications.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, would you consider studying cannabis at a college level?<\/p>\n The post Thai University Opens \u2018Ganja Studies Department\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Things have moved slowly in authoritarian Thailand since passage of a medical marijuana law last year. But now one of the country\u2019s\u00a0leading universities is launching a \u201cGanja Studies Department,\u201d and attendant research facility. It may elicit chuckles from stateside readers, but\u00a0Rangsit University, just outside Bangkok, isn\u2019t playing its new departmentContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,7849,696,99,687,3735,11744,3245,6184,128],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37554,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37553\/revisions\/37554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Working with Police-Confiscated Cannabis<\/h4>\n
\u2018Transition Period\u2019<\/h4>\n
High Ambitions<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Thai University Opens \u2018Ganja Studies Department\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"