Helen Clark, former New Zealand Prime Minister and a current member of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty, applauded Thailand for decriminalising cannabis. However, she also urged the nation to place an end to capital punishment, significantly for drug-related offences.
During the Harm Reduction International Conference 2023 (HR23), Clark counseled Thailand as one of the international locations that has managed to efficiently decriminalise cannabis, which she believes is a vital step in ending pointless criminalisation. Clark informed Bangkok Post…
“In Thailand, there have been prisons with a lot of people convicted of drug offences. [It is] fully unnecessary and wrong to criminalise people who are using drugs. We would save considerably on the police system and the courtroom system if we transfer away from the criminalisation [of drugs] and promote good well being for those utilizing medication.”
Cannabis was officially faraway from Thailand’s Category 5 narcotics list in June last year. Possession, cultivation, distribution, consumption, and sale of all cannabis plant supplies have since been legalised, whereas cannabis extracts and products containing over zero.2% THC by weight stay categorised as narcotics.
Import and export of cannabis proceed to be regulated, and recreational use is discouraged however legal. Sales are prohibited to minors below 20 years old, pregnant girls, and breastfeeding mothers. Cannabis smoke is deemed a public nuisance and restricted in public spaces.
Clark, who can be the current chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, addressed harm reduction methods, together with decriminalisation of drug use and campaigning against the dying penalty in nations all over the world.
Southeast Asia is known for its stringent approach to medication. Although the decriminalisation of cannabis in Thailand is seen as encouraging, and Malaysia has abolished its obligatory dying penalty for sure drugs and other offences, Clark emphasised the need for hurt discount in drug policies.
Capital punishment for drug offences, which remains to be present in Thai law, is disproportionate and unlawful beneath international legislation, in accordance with Clark. The 2022 World Drug Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimated that round 284 million people had used a bootleg or controlled drug within the previous 12 months, a number that had increased by 26% since 2010.
Harm discount targets minimising the harmful consequences of drug use for individuals, families, and their communities. Greatest urges governments in Southeast Asia to prioritise people’s health and welfare and to reconsider restrictive prohibition regimes that put users in unsafe conditions..