Deputy Prime Minister Prajin Juntong denied he planned to propose that the regime exercise Section 44 to allow doctors to treat patients with marijuana on a trial basis, but admitted its use in medical research was being deliberated.
ACM Prajin said it was an opportunity to diversify the use of the drug which can be useful in the medical field.
"There's never been talk of Section 44 being invoked [to allow for marijuana-based treatment]," ACM Prajin said. However, he admitted that the National Legislative Assembly is taking too long over a new drug bill which will allow the use of marijuana in medical research.
In light of the NLA's slow progress in deliberating the marijuana research bill, rumours were floated about Section 44 possibly being rolled out to exploit marijuana's medicinal properties.
A source in the committee tasked with drafting the bill complained that lawmakers were too slow in doing their jobs with regard to scrutinising the draft. The NLA is currently spending one month on average considering each of the 200 sections of the new law.
The deputy prime minister said he has asked Prime Minister's Office Minister Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana, also the government whip chief, to get the NLA to speed up.
The new bill should be treated as an "urgent law", ACM Prajin said.
The source, however, insisted the arguments in favour of growing marijuana for research or the idea of using the illicit plant to treat the sick should not be mistaken as a government attempt to let marijuana go unregulated, the source added.
Any use of marijuana must be carefully considered and taken step-by-step, ACM Prajin stressed. Researchers are first required to provide evidence of its medicinal effects.
Even if it can be adopted as a method for alternative medicine, it is still subject to tight regulation.
The government must exert control over its growth and the extraction of chemicals from the plant.
Under the new bill, the public health minister is authorised to grant permission for growing the plant as well as processing, exporting, importing and possessing its products.
However, though the drug can be used in studies, it is still considered an addictive substance, said Sirinya Sitthichai, secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board.
ACM Prajin, also the justice minister who chairs the national centre for drug prevention and suppression, will act as the highest authority responsible for monitoring marijuana usage, Ms Sirinya said.
At present, only 30 of 190 countries allow for medical use of marijuana which is usually grown illegally among backyard plants. Police say it is usually harvested for personal consumption or sun-dried for sale to customers.
