This was published 1 year ago
Thailand legalises marijuana: Law change shows how conservative Australia is
Koh Phangan, home of Thailand's infamous Full Moon parties.Credit: iStock
It's not like cannabis didn't exist in Thailand back before the law changed. It's not like you couldn't get your hands on it.
Any backpacker who visited Koh Phangan back in the 1990s or early 2000s could tell you that. The island that still famously hosts wild Full Moon Parties also had another, daily attraction: the Reggae Magic Boat rides, which departed Hat Rin each morning and took tourists on long-tail boat trips around the island, with plenty of stops to swim and relax.
What was so magic about them? Apparently the crew considered any territory more than 100 metres off the coast as international waters, because anything went on those tours. Joints would be passed around pretty early on. Everyone was stoned. Eventually drunk, too.
Of course, pot was illegal in Thailand back then. Very much so. South-east Asia is known for its incredibly strict drug laws, and Thailand was no different.
And so, it probably comes as a huge surprise to discover than Thailand is, now, different. In June this year, the country decided to legalise marijuana: its cultivation, sale and recreational use.
You can now buy pot and its smoking accoutrements from one of the hundreds of dedicated stores that have popped up in the country in the last few months. You can even call up and have your weed delivered by motorbike courier. Perfectly legally.
Thailand is the latest in a string of countries around the world to begin legalising cannabis. It used to be that the Netherlands was famous as a global outlier, the only place you as a tourist could visit a coffee shop, make a selection from the pot menu, and get yourself good and stoned and not risk getting in any trouble (though Dutch laws are complex – recreational cannabis usage is "tolerated" there, rather than strictly legal).
In the last decade or so, however, Canada has legalised cannabis use (the first G20 country to do so), as has Uruguay, and Georgia, and even many states in the USA, a country famous for its protracted and heavy-handed "war on drugs", has made the growing, buying and consumption of marijuana legal. South Africa, meanwhile, has decriminalised the drug's use and is moving towards legalisation. Portugal has decriminalised all drug use with amazing results. And several other countries, most notably Germany, are drafting laws to legalise cannabis use.
So, what of Australia? Last week the Greens flagged their intention to introduce a bill next year to legalise pot in Australia. While the justification from Greens leader Adam Bandt was a little odd – essentially: lots of people are breaking the law, so let's change the law – that change isn't really that wild. It would just bring our rules into line with many of our peers.
And yet it's amazing to watch the pushback to the mere suggestion that Australia might do this. Not only from the shock-jock ranks either, but across the board. Have a look at Twitter, usually a bastion of the left-leaning liberalism, and see the reactions to Bandt's announcement. It's broadly not positive. It's not supportive.
It makes you realise something about Australia, or at least confirm it: this is a conservative country. This is a country with a lot of rules, and not much desire to shed them.
Australians love strict governance. We're happy for our political leaders to do whatever is necessary to "keep us safe". The national myth that we're a bunch of Ned Kelly-style rebels thumbing our noses at authority is not even close to the truth.
Thailand, of all places, has legalised cannabis use. Think about that. The US has done it. These are conservative countries, in many ways. These are countries with laws even we would baulk at, invasive, restrictive laws that we wouldn't put up with. Anti-abortion. Capital punishment. And yet the governments in those countries have decided it's OK for people to get stoned every now and then if they want to.
It's still wild to me to visit some states in the US and see specialist shops peddling weed. It was even stranger to be in Thailand last week and witness the same thing. You can't help but compare it to your own experiences back home, and ponder why Australia has to be so different, has to be such a hold-out.
The answer, of course, is that we're conservative. We're cautious. We've always been happy for our various and numerous levels of government to guide us through life with a stern hand. We don't drive too fast or go cycling without a helmet or do too many shots after midnight. Or even have a Mexican wave at the cricket.
Police bring sniffer dogs through neighbourhood pubs on a Saturday afternoon in Australia. They strip-search children on the way into music festivals. Governments commission research into handling the ice epidemic and decide to enact pretty much every recommended course of action to control the usage of the drug – except decriminalisation.
Obviously, our rules are looser than some. I would much prefer to live under the Australian government and its laws than those of China, those of North Korea, those of Russia. But why compare ourselves to that? We should strive for much, much more than merely being freer than those countries.
The Reggae Magic Boat tours on Koh Phangan probably still exist, in some form or other. Now is the perfect time – it wouldn't even get you arrested. You could go out, sit in boat, have a little smoke or swallow a few gummies and have a good time.
And wonder why Australia always takes so long to catch up.
Email: b.groundwater@traveller.com.au
Instagram: instagram.com/bengroundwater
Twitter: twitter.com/bengroundwater
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