Thailand’s cannabis draw: Asian tourists are eager to sample a drug that is strictly banned in their home countries – ‘I wanted to try it’

Many Asian countries have strict drug laws with harsh penalties – Singapore, for example, executed two people this year for trafficking marijuana

Thailand’s de facto legalisation of marijuana, while other Asian countries are penalising people for consuming it, draws plenty of tourists from the region

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Thailand’s de facto legalisation of marijuana, when many other Asian countries still penalise people for it, means that it draws plenty of tourists from the region. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 1:45pm, 14 Jul 2023

A Japanese tourist reaches into a baggie of cannabis he has just bought in a central Bangkok weed shop, pulling out a gram of buds to chop down in a small black grinder, before rolling them neatly into a joint.

Only the slight spillage onto the smoking lounge’s table – and his cough as he lights up and inhales deeply – betray the fact that until two weeks ago, he had never tried marijuana.

Most Asian nations have strict drug laws with harsh penalties, and Thailand’s de facto legalisation of marijuana last year has brought a wave of tourists from the region like the visitor from Japan, intrigued by the lure of the forbidden leaf.

“I was curious about how I would feel after smoking,” says the 42-year-old tourist, who spoke on condition that his name not be used, for fear his experimentation in Bangkok could lead to legal issues at home. “I wonder why Japan bans it?” he ponders. “I wanted to try it.”

A Japanese tourist smokes cannabis at a shop in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: AP

Even as more countries around the world legalise marijuana, Thailand has been the outlier in Asia, where several countries still have the death penalty for some cannabis offences. Singapore has already executed two people this year for trafficking marijuana and its Central Narcotics Bureau has announced plans to randomly test people returning from Thailand.