Read this before you post anything about buying, selling or promoting cannabis flower. It protects your licence and keeps this forum within Thai law.
This guide is for everyone who posts on Asiannabis: growers, patients, farms, laboratories and licensed shops. Part 1 covers what Thai law says and what you may and may not post here. Part 2 covers penalties, common mistakes on LINE, Facebook and Google, and borderline cases.
Summary in one minute
Since 26 June 2025, cannabis flower in Thailand has been a controlled herb. Two rules from that change apply to every post here:
- Selling cannabis flower online is prohibited. Messaging apps, forums and private chats are not exceptions.
- Advertising cannabis flower is prohibited on every channel. Clause 4(7) of the Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Re: Controlled Herbs (Cannabis), B.E. 2568 prohibits advertising controlled herbs for commercial purposes through any channel.
You can still discuss cannabis here. You can teach, debate, review, publish research, show your grow room and say where your licensed premises are. You cannot sell flower or advertise it.
Before your next post, run the checklist at the end of this part.
1. What the law says
The legal basis
In Thailand, cannabis flower (ช่อดอกกัญชา) is not a narcotic. It is a controlled herb under the Protection and Promotion of Thai Traditional Medicine Knowledge Act B.E. 2542 (1999). “B.E.” is the Buddhist Era year used in Thai law. Subtract 543 to get the Western year.
The day-to-day rules come from the Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Re: Controlled Herbs (Cannabis), B.E. 2568 (2025). Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin signed it on 23 June 2025. It was published on 25 June 2025 in the Royal Gazette (ราชกิจจานุเบกษา), the official journal that publishes Thai laws. It has been in force since 26 June 2025.
Two Ministerial Regulations followed in 2026. This topic explains both.
- Extracts. Extracts with more than 0.2% THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the main intoxicating compound in cannabis) remain in Category 5 of the Narcotics Code (ประมวลกฎหมายยาเสพติด), Thailand’s main narcotics law. You need a licence to produce, import, export, sell or possess them. That licence comes under the Ministerial Regulation on Cannabis or Hemp Extracts B.E. 2569. It was published on 26 March 2026 and has been in force since 26 April 2026.
- Flower licences. The Ministerial Regulation on Controlled Herbs (No. 2) B.E. 2569 tightened the licence criteria for cannabis flower. It was published in the Royal Gazette on 30 April 2026 and took effect that day.
Translator’s note: Under the extracts regulation, licences for extracts above 0.2% THC go only to three groups. These are Thai juristic persons (registered companies and other legal entities) that are not “foreign” under the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542, state agencies, and the Thai Red Cross Society. A company that counts as “foreign” under that Act cannot get this licence. Check your company’s shareholding before you plan any extract business.
The draft Cannabis Control Act (earlier called the Cannabis and Hemp Act) is not law yet. The Cabinet approved the draft on 22 September 2026 and sent it to the House of Representatives (status of the draft). Until it passes, the Notification and the two Ministerial Regulations above are the rules that apply. Base your posts and your business on those texts, not on the draft.
What legal supply looks like now
- Every retail sale of flower needs a prescription on form PT 33 (ภ.ท.33) from a licensed practitioner.
- A prescription is valid for a maximum of 30 days.
- Flower sold or exported must come from a source certified to Good Agricultural and Collection Practice (GACP) by the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine (Clause 4(4) of the Notification). GACP is the farming and record-keeping standard for medicinal plants.
- Flower may not be sold through vending machines, electronic channels or computer networks (Clause 4(6) of the Notification).
Many shops have closed under the new rules. Public Health Ministry data as of 28 December 2025 counted 18,433 licensed cannabis shops. Of the 8,636 licences that expired in 2025, only 1,339 were renewed. The other 7,297 shops closed. They did not lose a court case. They chose not to renew their licences.
If you run a shop, file every sale with its PT 33 prescription and the GACP certificate for that flower batch. Inspectors ask for both. Together they prove each sale was legal.
Translator’s note: These rules matter even if you have no licence. Selling a controlled herb without a licence breaches Section 46 of the 1999 Act. Under Section 78, the penalty is up to 1 year in prison and/or a fine of up to 20,000 baht. If you grow at home, do not offer surplus flower for sale to other members, here or anywhere else.
2. What you must not post on Asiannabis
Each item below matches a specific ban in Thai law. These are not moderator preferences. A post like this puts you at legal risk, and it puts every other member of this forum at risk too.
Selling and ordering
- Any message that closes a sale of flower: an agreed price, an agreed quantity, a payment method or a delivery address.
- Phrases such as “send me a message to order”, “check my LINE”, “delivery available” or “we ship nationwide”. (LINE is the messaging app most Thai shops use.)
- Links to a shopping cart, checkout page or payment link for flower.
- Payment details attached to a flower offer. This includes a bank account, a PromptPay number (Thailand’s instant transfer by phone or ID number) or a crypto wallet.
- Offers to deliver. Selling through electronic channels or computer networks is prohibited, so an order taken online and then delivered is an online sale.
Advertising flower
- Retail price lists for flower.
- Strain menus with potency figures laid out as a product catalogue. For example: a table of strain names and THC percentages next to an invitation to buy.
- Discounts, promotions, happy hours, buy-one-get-one offers or loyalty points advertised publicly.
- Close-up photos of buds used as product images.
- Paid advertising of any kind that points to flower products.
- Endorsements of cannabis products by celebrities or influencers.
- Hashtags used to sell, such as the common recreational tags.
Recreational and consumption content
- Photos or video of people smoking flower, vaping flower or exhaling smoke.
- Content that presents cannabis as a way to get high, party or relax recreationally.
- Content aimed at people under 20, or content that would clearly appeal to minors.
Health claims
- Claims that a specific product treats, cures or prevents any disease.
- Testimonials presented as proof that a product produced a medical result.
- Claims that cannabis food and drinks help you relax or sleep. The Thai Food and Drug Administration (อย.) prohibits these claims in its Food Advertising Criteria B.E. 2569. The 2026 food advertising criteria cover this in detail.
Content aimed at other countries
Asiannabis operates under the law of the Kingdom of Thailand. Do not post content that seeks customers in countries where cannabis is prohibited. Do not post anything that reads as an offer to ship across a border.
Before you post, compare your draft line by line with the lists above. Delete every line that matches one of them.
3. What you are welcome to post
Asiannabis is a forum for growers, patients, farms, laboratories and licensed businesses. Almost everything they want to discuss is allowed.
Your business, as information
- Shop name, address, opening hours, phone number and map link.
- Photos of your premises, interior and team.
- Your licence, licence number and the credentials of the practitioner who consults at your shop.
- Directory-style listings, and business profiles on map services.
- An invitation written as information, not as a sale. For example: “Visit our licensed premises at [address] to consult a practitioner in person.”
Technical and farming content
- Growing technique, GACP compliance, growroom design, climate control and lighting.
- Nutrients, growing media, pest and disease management, and integrated pest management (combining several control methods to keep chemical use low).
- Extraction technology, drying and curing, and post-harvest handling.
- Testing, analysis, certificates of analysis (lab reports on a batch) and removal of contaminants.
- Genetics, breeding, tissue culture and seed biology.
Business-to-business discussion
- Equipment, supplies, infrastructure, packaging and laboratory services.
- Consulting, licensing, compliance and regulatory questions.
- Supply chains and export procedures, discussed between licensed operators.
Education and law
- Explanations of Thai regulation, access to prescriptions and patient rights.
- Peer-reviewed research, clinical evidence and pharmacology.
- Honest strain characteristics discussed as horticulture, not laid out as a menu.
Use one test on every post: could a reader act on it by paying you? If yes, it is selling, and it cannot go up.
4. How Asiannabis enforces these rules
The moderators run an automated compliance scan across the forum. It flags posts that contain:
- language that closes a sale;
- retail prices attached to flower;
- strain menus with potency figures;
- links to external checkout pages;
- payment details;
- recreational consumption content.
When a post is flagged:
- First flag, minor: the post is edited or the line is removed. You receive a message explaining why.
- First flag, serious: anything that reads as an online sale is hidden at once, then reviewed.
- Repeat: your posting rights are suspended.
- Deliberate use of the forum as a sales channel: the account is removed and the shop’s own sub-forum is closed.
The forum acts fast for a clear reason. Under current rules, the forum itself counts as an online channel. A sale made here is exactly the act that leads to licence revocation.
An edit protects you and is not a personal judgement. Moderators would rather trim a post than see a member lose a licence.
If you think a flag was wrong, reply in the topic or email asiannabisthailand@gmail.com. Include the topic link and the line in question so the moderators can review it quickly.
Checklist before you press reply
- Naming a retail price for flower? → Remove it.
- Inviting anyone to order, to message you to buy, or to pay you? → Remove it.
- Using a bud close-up as a product image? → Replace it with a photo of a plant, a room or a process.
- Claiming a product treats a disease? → Remove it.
- Showing someone smoking? → Remove it.
- Giving your address, hours, licence and practitioner details? → Fine. Post it.
- Explaining technique, science, law or standards? → Fine. Post it.
If you have a question about a specific post, ask it below this topic before you publish.
References
- Protection and Promotion of Thai Traditional Medicine Knowledge Act B.E. 2542 (1999)
- Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Re: Controlled Herbs (Cannabis), B.E. 2568 — Royal Gazette, 25 June 2025; in force 26 June 2025
- Ministerial Regulation on Permission to Produce, Import, Export, Sell or Possess Category 5 Narcotics, Specifically Cannabis or Hemp Extracts, B.E. 2569 (2026) (unofficial English title) — Royal Gazette, 26 March 2026; in force 26 April 2026. Extracts above 0.2% THC remain Category 5 narcotics under the Narcotics Code
- Ministerial Regulation on Permission to Study, Research or Export Controlled Herbs, or to Sell or Process Controlled Herbs for Commercial Purposes (No. 2) B.E. 2569 (2026) (unofficial English title) — Royal Gazette, 30 April 2026
- Food Act B.E. 2522 (1979), Sections 40–42 (food advertising); Notification of the Food and Drug Administration Re: Food Advertising Criteria B.E. 2569 (2026), Royal Gazette 27 July 2026, in force 28 July 2026, which includes rules for food containing cannabis or hemp; Cosmetics Act B.E. 2558 (2015), Sections 41–46 (advertising)
- Drug Act B.E. 2510 (1967), as amended, Sections 88, 88 bis, 89, 90 and 90 bis (drug advertising)
- Consumer Protection Act B.E. 2522 (1979), Section 22 (false or misleading advertising)
This post is general information, not legal advice. Rules in this area change quickly. For decisions that affect your licence, consult a Thai lawyer.
Continued in Part 2: Advertising and Selling Rules for Cannabis in Thailand: Penalties, Platform Traps and Borderline Posts (Part 2 of 2)