Sawadee Everyone,
Note: I was delayed getting this out due to multiple power outages last night. According to my FB groups a transformer blew and left a bunch of people without power. The price of living in paradise?
Now on with the show . . .
Probably one of the more frequently asked questions in the sub is where people can smoke in Thailand. Many people seem to have difficulty with ambiguity, which is what fuels many of Thailand’s laws.
I’ve always felt that in Thailand the laws are intentionally vague because the official on the street level is given some discretion in how to apply the law.
Probably one of the most infamously vague laws revolves around the question of what defines “work” in Thailand. It’s an important distinction because if it’s considered work, legally, you need a work permit. If you’re caught “working” without a work permit, that usually means arrest and deportation.
Technically, almost anything can be considered work in Thailand. Even volunteering is considered work. But what if you’re on vacation and you answer a work email? Technically, if you apply western thinking, that’s illegal.
But, as far as I can remember, I can’t think of a single person that has ever been charged or deported for answering work emails in Thailand.
And that’s how many Thais look at the law. If nobody is being arrested, it’s allowed.
With regard to smoking laws, there are really two major laws governing smoking in Thailand; the Tobacco Control Act, B.E. 2560 (2017) and public nuisance law.
The Tobacco Control Act, as the name implies, was mainly focused on tobacco products. It placed curbs on advertising but also defined specific areas where smoking was strictly prohibited. For instance, some beaches were named as smoke free zones. Many Thai airports are designated as smoke free under the law.
That part seems pretty straightforward. It’s the public nuisance law that trips up many people because it involves using something we used to call common sense.
In Thailand, a public nuisance is typically defined as an act or omission that harms or endangers the health, safety, comfort, or convenience of the public. This can include a wide range of activities, from environmental pollution to excessive noise.
This pits two different rights against each other, one’s right to do something and someone else’s right not to be impacted by that thing.
For instance, playing music loudly isn’t considered a public nuisance until someone complains. One person’s right ends when it impacts the right of someone else.
It’s sort of like that old saying about if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it, did it make a sound.
How this applies to smoking is that as long as you are not smoking in an area where it’s expressly forbidden under the Tobacco Control Act, smoking only becomes a public nuisance when someone complains.
This doesn’t sit well with a lot of foreigners because they want a list of where they can and cannot smoke and they come from a country where it’s very black and white.
Their desire for clearcut rules is understandable, but that’s not how it works. The law can only state with certainty where it’s illegal to smoke. Where it’s legal to smoke is highly dependent on too many variables.
Can you smoke on the balcony of your hotel room?
It depends. It depends on the hotel policy on smoking. It depends on whether or not the person in the room above you has their window open and is annoyed at the smell. It depends on whether you closed the balcony door or if you left it open and the smoke is blowing back into the room and under the front door into the common areas of the building.
There are just too many variables for a yes or no answer.
Another significant factor in why the smoking laws seem confusing for some people is that, really, it comes down to discretion and courtesy, two more terms that are difficult to define and are resistant to easy yes or no answers.
For instance, even though I own my own home, if I hear my neighbor’s kids playing in their backyard I don’t smoke weed outside while they’re playing.
Not because it’s illegal. According to Thailand’s property law, I should be able to smoke on my own property.
I don’t do it because, well, I like my neighbors and I try to be courteous.
It won’t kill me to wait an hour until the kids go inside for the evening.
And being discreet goes a long way towards being courteous in Thailand.
None of that is to say that I don’t wish that the world was more tolerant to cannabis use. I hope one day I’ll be able to sit in an outdoor bar in Bangkok and smoke a joint like people drink a beer.
But there’s also the reality of worldwide anti-cannabis propaganda that has been going on for longer than most people have been alive.
You don’t just overcome a lifetime of stigma by making something legal.
Other countries, even countries who have had legalized cannabis for years, suffer the same stigma. For instance, Las Vegas has a very similar situation to Thailand in that it’s legal to use cannabis medicinally and recreationally in your own home but cannabis consumption on the same property as a casino is prohibited for some reason.
Actually, that reason is that state gaming regulators are reacting to the stigma around cannabis and don’t want to mix cannabis with gaming, which drives much of the local economy.
Much like Thailand, Vegas relies heavily on tourism, so this puts tourists in the situation of being able to buy weed but they don’t have anywhere to consume it without breaking the law.
Fortunately, it looks like Vegas is addressing that issue by licensing smoking lounges. Hopefully Thailand will also allow a similar sort of special-use exception to allow tourists to medicate while in Thailand.
But in the meantime, common sense, courtesy, and discretion are your friends, my friends.
Stay lifted and enlightened,
Don’t forget that we’ve partnered with some dispensaries for exclusive deals available to members of this newsletter and the r/CannabisThailand sub on Reddit. Just type “Dank Deal” into the comments of any post and the AutoMod will send you the current discounts being offered.