The Food and Drug Administration made the correct decision to reject the first private request to grow, process and sell marijuana.
One obvious reason for the rejection is that the new law liberalising cannabis forbids commercial use, as well as any recreational use. But the bid to get in on the next new thing was to be expected. The first company to make a bid was a cigarette maker -- and the government's tobacco monopoly at that.
The Tobacco Authority of Thailand's (TAT), previously the Thai Tobacco Monopoly, attempt to get a foot in the door on marijuana production, is unsurprising.
In places where recreational use of cannabis is permitted, Big Tobacco is labouring to adapt and get involved with the weed revolution. So are snack companies, because cannabis edibles such as gummies and candies already comprise about half the recreational market.
Cigarette companies already know how to pack a paper tube with cured leaves. Plus, their traditional tobacco sales are falling off. In its request for permission to grow marijuana, the TAT cited its expectation that there will be a drop in sales and revenue, after another expected rise in excise tax.
The FDA showed no sympathy, and rightly so. Just last week, the TAT issued an upbeat and optimistic report. The company handed over 12 billion baht to the Excise Department on sales of local cigarette brands between October 2018 and January. It added another 10 billion from sales of foreign imports.
But the TAT report was less enthusiastic about raw sales. During 2018, overall cigarette sales totaled 1.7 billion packs, a drop from 2.18 billion in 2017. Big Tobacco needs new customers, and marijuana is an obvious product to target. Last week's refusal by the FDA to issue a licence to market marijuana will not deter the TAT.
In addition, it is a sure bet that foreign cigarette makers will be writing applications. In North America, Marlboro's cigarette producer, Altria Group, purchased 45% of Canada's Cronos Group, which is Canada's main provider of both medical and recreational cannabis.
The government is putting up a brave face on the issue. But it is far from prepared for the onslaught of commercial forces it will face. Foreign companies are not about to shrug and walk away from their cannabis-linked patents. And pressure to expand legalisation has barely begun. Soon, alcohol manufacturers will be knocking on the FDA's door for licences.
Then there is the public demand. Medical marijuana without recreational use of the drug has not worked. Sympathetic doctors have so far always undermined such decrees, by handing out licences to "patients" to obtain the drug for imagined or fabricated medical conditions. Social media will put constant pressure on the next and subsequent governments for full legalisation.
Such pressures are difficult for governments to resist. For one thing, there is the lure of tax revenue. Medical or recreational, licensing of marijuana means income for the Revenue Department. The wider the legalisation, the greater the government's tax windfall.
Keeping the now-illicit cannabis in a tightly controlled milieu is about to become tremendously difficult. Authorities believe they can keep the drug in a tight circle, but the TAT application to get in the game is a warning that it won't be easy.
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