Journalist/author David Downs spends a month smoking through Siam—finding more freedom under re-prohibition than in legal US states.
Editor’s Note: On July 22, 2025, Thailand’s Health Minister announced the country’s 3-year-old legal cannabis industry—with over 20,000 stores—would go back to medical-only and be subject to new regulations. Mass inspections resulted in 7 prosecutions for unlicensed sales, reports state. It sounds foreboding, but the lived experience of one cannabis-loving tourist proves quite different. Our High Times contributor found world-class strains and flavors, and indeed more freedom than consumers in legal states experience.
Eye Candy, Khao San Road, Bangkok, July 16
On day 1 in Bangkok, I find legit Compound Genetics Eye Candy (Biscotti x The Menthol) in the ground-floor shop of my hotel on Khao San Road. It’s 500 baht or about $18 a gram. Not a deal, but not highway robbery either.
I roll up and puff by my rooftop pool, and try to stay downwind of the other guests. The hotel bartender doesn’t bat an eyelash. Just a few blocks away, the golden spires of nearby temples glitter through hazy, tropical waves of heat.
The Eye Candy is accurate-looking, if a bit stepped on, and accurate-tasting, but just OK. Heat and humidity punish flower here in the tropics, no matter how well you grow and dry it.
I know Thailand legalized weed in June of 2022, had an industry explosion to 20,000 stores, plus vending machines and mobile carts selling vape carts. But then the country backtracked and re-medicalized it in June of 2025.
I am on a news detox, however, so I don’t know the latest. I’m just living it. Traveling with a wife and kids, I am not about to derail the family trip with an arrest or fine. I am resigned to a tolerance break and …
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Author: David Downs / High Times
