Cannabis in Thailand: the rules that apply in October 2026

Decriminalisation took effect on 9 June 2022. The plant left category 5 of the narcotics list, except for extracts containing more than 0.2% THC by weight. The day before, on 8 June 2022, members of parliament had passed a bill to regulate it at first reading, by 373 votes to 7 (Thai PBS World, 2022).

The health minister at the time, Anutin Charnvirakul, presented the bill as aimed first at medical and health uses. In his words, it was not meant to encourage public use that bothers other people. Decriminalisation therefore came into force before the law meant to regulate it, which had only passed its first reading.

According to France 24, use legally remained reserved for medical purposes. Smoking in public could bring a fine of 25,000 baht, or 673 euros, and up to three months in prison. Our article on the four legal models for cannabis around the world places this choice of decriminalisation among the others.

Shops multiplied after 2022. The country counted up to 18,433 of them, according to Ministry of Public Health figures (The Nation, via Asia News Network, February 2026). The 0.2% THC ceiling only applies to extracts, not to the flower, unlike the threshold applied to hemp sold in France.

The decline followed the tightening. By 28 December 2025, 8,636 licences had expired and only 1,339 had been renewed, or 15.5%. The ministry then counted 7,297 closures and 11,136 shops still open. To operate, a shop must now have a licensed or registered traditional medicine practitioner on site.

On 22 September 2026, the Minister of Public Health, Pattana Promphat, put figures on the monitoring of businesses. More than 10,000 shops and growing sites, over 95% of the total, are in a government system. Those outside it should be presumed illegal (The Star, Bloomberg report, 22 September 2026).

The text is a Ministry of Public Health notification on controlled herbs, in force since 26 June 2025. It ends recreational sales: the buyer must show a medical prescription (franceinfo, 25 June 2025). According to franceinfo, breaches of the retail rules that predate this order (a licence to sell, no promotions, no sales to under-20s) are punished by fines of 500 to 1,300 euros.

The law firm Tilleke & Gibbins sets out the conditions. The prescription must come from one of seven recognised practitioners. The list covers doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and practitioners of Thai traditional medicine, applied Thai traditional medicine, folk medicine or Chinese medicine. Written on an official form, the prescription covers 30 days at most and can only be used once (Tilleke & Gibbins, 3 September 2025).

A cursory consultation with a prescription sent by email or over social media would not comply, according to the same analysis. Shops must keep prescriptions for at least one year. The firm notes no provision specific to foreigners: the rule applies to every buyer, tourists included.

According to franceinfo, 800 travellers, including more than 50 Britons, had already been arrested in one year at Thai airports with cannabis in their suitcases.

Two further steps followed in 2026. A ministerial regulation on extracts came into force on 26 April 2026. Extracts with more than 0.2% THC remain category 5 narcotics under it (The Nation, via Asia News Network, 29 April 2026). They are only allowed under licence, for four purposes, including medicine and research.

On 22 September 2026, the cabinet approved a cannabis control bill. It would restrict the plant to medical, health and scientific uses, and rule out recreational use (Gavroche Thaïlande, 23 September 2026). Sales would be banned to people under 20 and to pregnant or breastfeeding women.

According to Gavroche, the bill provides for three-year licences to grow, produce, import, export or sell. It bans sales in several sensitive places, including temples, schools and public parks, as well as advertising for flowers and resin. According to The Nation, shops would have to become medical establishments with a doctor on site to renew their licence (The Nation, 23 September 2026).

The bill is not in force. It still has to be examined by the House of Representatives, and its content may change from one reading to the next. Until then, the June 2025 rules apply: according to Bloomberg, they already require a prescription and limit sales to licensed medical establishments.

The bill comes from the government of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, whose party had championed the 2022 decriminalisation. No date for a vote appears in the sources consulted. On 6 October 2026, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs was still writing that cannabis use is "decriminalised" in Thailand.

Buying legally requires a prescription, on the conditions described above. For smoking in public, the known rule dates from 2022: a fine of up to 25,000 baht and three months in prison. The sources consulted report no more recent text that would have lifted it.

The main risk comes when you leave the country. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs points this out in its travel advice for Thailand, updated on 6 October 2026. It states that while cannabis use is decriminalised in Thailand, exporting it is strictly prohibited.

The same advice reports tighter checks at departure points since 18 June 2026. It mentions a customs fine of 30,000 baht, about 790 euros, per kilo seized, and detention if it is not paid. The penalties range from two to ten years in prison, and several young French nationals have been arrested in recent weeks.

The ministry advises never to carry cannabis, even in small amounts or under pressure from someone else. It also advises never to carry luggage for another person without knowing what is inside. Stopovers count too: our guide to flying with CBD points out that the law of transit countries applies.

Worked example A traveller buys a few grams of flowers from a Bangkok shop, on prescription. The purchase can comply with Thai law as it stands. Slipping what is left into her suitcase before the flight home would still make it a banned export at departure, then an importation of narcotics on arrival in France.

Not cannabis. Bringing narcotics into France, like possessing or transporting them, is illegal (Service-Public, page checked on 24 November 2025). Illegally importing narcotics is punishable by up to ten years in prison and a fine of 7,500,000 euros (Criminal Code, article 222-36, Légifrance).

The French public service website mentions an exception for medicines in the narcotics family, such as methadone or morphine, carried for personal use. The sources consulted do not link flowers sold in shops to this exception, even with a Thai prescription.

In Thailand, the plant escapes narcotics classification whatever its THC content; only extracts above 0.2% remain subject to it. Nothing therefore requires a Thai flower to meet the French rule. That rule requires a variety listed in the European or French catalogue and at most 0.30% Δ⁹-THC (order of 30 December 2021, Légifrance).

Our feature on the legal THC threshold explains what that ceiling applies to. A "CBD" label bought abroad guarantees nothing without an analysis of the batch.

Products to swallow raise a further difficulty. In France, CBD foods are unauthorised novel foods, which the Ministry of Agriculture asks to be withdrawn from the market (Ministry of Agriculture, 20 May 2026). THC gummies or drinks fall under narcotics law, as our article on THC products to swallow explains.

Sending it by post does not get around anything, because a parcel is judged on its contents: see our article on CBD parcels sent from abroad. Use in France remains a criminal offence. Since 20 August 2026, a fixed fine of 500 euros can end the prosecution (article L3421-1 of the Public Health Code, Légifrance).