Rural Doctor Society wants public debate over sale of ganja-mixed snacks
The Rural Doctor Society called on Thursday for public debates as to whether the government should allow ganja-mixed snacks to be sold freely at convenient stores.
In a Facebook post, the group asked whether such products should be sold openly although the sale of snacks with cannabis ingredients does not violate the law because the products have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The Rural Doctor Society noted that such snacks came in bright packages that looked appealing to children.
The post cited packages of snacks made in the form of chicken drum sticks containing cannabis or hemp ingredients.
The group said the packages with bright photos of the snacks apparently drew the attention of children. It asked what would happen if children bought the snacks and ate them.
“Society must ask these questions. Is it appropriate to have this kind of ganja-mixed snacks on sale? Should Thai society have rules on mixing ganja in everything? Children can grab them from the shelves and will convenient stores sell them to kids? Should convenient stores even sell them? How can we control them or should sales be conducted freely?” the group pointedly questioned.
The post warned that children might start off by eating ganja-mixed snacks and then move on to smoking ganja wrapped in cigarette paper.
The group said the snack makers might not be blamed now that the FDA has approved their products.
“Anyone would like to dominate the market and make profit,” it pointed out. “But who should be held responsible?”
The group also said it had heard reports that the FDA was being pressured by those in power to approve such products on grounds that the manufacturers did not violate the law and are simply complying with the ganja policy.
“The Rural Doctor Society would therefore like to raise this tangible case and questions for society to discuss to try to minimise the impact from the ‘free ganja’ policy because the government has ignored it and senior Public Health Ministry officials have been gagged. We, the people, must do it ourselves,” the post concluded.
By noon on Thursday, it received more than 140 comments and had been shared over 100 times.
