Thailand's Health Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul last month took to Facebook to declare his intention to give away 1 million cannabis plants to members of the public.
"It is an opportunity for people and the state to earn income from marijuana and hemp," he wrote, alongside a photo of cooked chicken seasoned with cannabis.
She said it had taken "way too long" for Thailand to delist cannabis as a controlled substance.
But Sarana Sommano, an associate professor of agriculture at Chiangmai University, warned the changes did not mean Thailand was welcoming the recreational use of cannabis.
Corruption remains a major problem in Thailand, which ranked 110 out of 180 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index for 2021.
Recreational use of cannabis is legal in some US states, in Canada, Uruguay, South Africa, Mexico and in the Australian Capital Territory.
It has been legal to possess up to 50 grams of cannabis and to grow and consume cannabis in one's own home in the ACT since 2019. »