Thailand’s Cannabis Drive is No 'Free-For-All Bonanza'

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In February, Thailand legalized cannabis, joining a craze currently sweeping Europe and North America. But there is a catch: it’s only for medical use.

By Thomas Schmid

When, in February this year, Thailand legalized cannabis as the first country in ASEAN (and indeed the whole of Asia), the news created frantic headlines both at home and abroad. But recreational users’ hopes were soon dashed as details of that “legalization” emerged. Although Thailand removed cannabis and hemp extracts – including CBD (cannabinoid) oil and products with a THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content of less than 0.2% - from its narcotics list, the right to grow hemp, as well as manufacture and trade products made from it, solely remains with the government.

“That status quo will be reserved [by the government] for five years due to worries over the possible misuse of cannabis for recreational purposes,” a researcher at Bangkok’s Rangsit University told Tobacco Asia on condition of anonymity. Only the public sector – such as academic institutions and government hospitals - can obtain licenses from the government at this point; and even then then the use of cannabis is restricted to research or the development and manufacture of products for clinical use. The private is excluded from applying for licenses. “If anyone [in the private sector] wants to work with cannabis, they must do so in collaboration with public sector institutions holding appropriate licenses,” the researcher stipulated. However, the government “may permit private sector companies to become involved on their own accord after three years have lapsed” if (and that is a big ‘if’!) the authorities “deem the situation stable enough,” the researcher said.

Premature announcements, empty promises

Shortly after the legalization law had been passed, the former Tobacco Monopoly of Thailand (since renamed into Tobacco Authority of Thailand, TAOT) announced somewhat prematurely a plan to potentially launch “the world’s first commercially available hemp cigarettes”. But only a few short weeks later that enthusiastic announcement was quietly swept under the carpet as TAOT’s application for a license apparently had been rejected. The honor of introducing “the world’s first hemp cigarettes” has since instead gone to a Swiss company, Koch & Gsell.

On the political front, a pre-election pledge by local political party, Bhumijai Thai, to push through a regulation that would allow “each Thai person to plant up to six cannabis plants in their home garden for [their private] medical use” proved little more than a thinly disguised vote baiter. The vote catching didn’t work, as Bhumjai Thai gained only a handful of parliamentary seats in the March 23 general election.

Bhumijai Thai had to resort to joining the coalition government of prime minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha as one of several minor parties, having little actual say in formulating future government policy. As a matter of fact, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) has since warned members of the public that they are not allowed to grow cannabis plants in their homes without official permission.

“The government’s legalization of cannabis does not mean that the general public can grow marijuana plants without official permission. Cannabis remains illegal under the law. People or organizations are required to seek permission from the government if they wish to possess, grow, distribute, or sell cannabis,” ONCB secretary-general, Niyom Termsrisuk, was quoted as saying in a National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT) report.

An exclusive club

Rangsit University, meanwhile, has become “the very first academic institution in Thailand permitted to conduct medical research regarding cannabis” at its newly established Medical Cannabis Research Institute, attached to its College of Pharmacy. A line-up of other institutions, such as the government-run Chaophraya Abhaibhubejr Hospital in Prachinburi province, have since likewise been granted licenses. At press, only eleven organizations had been authorized by Thailand’s FDA to grow marijuana plants.

Just over 230 licenses have been issued altogether, including licenses for conducting research and developing or marketing medical preparations containing CBD and/or THC. Patients seeking cannabis-based medical treatment may only consult one of 26 hospitals nationwide that are permitted to provide such treatments.

Rangsit University currently grows cannabis plants both on a rooftop research garden and in a secluded land plot at an undisclosed location near Bangkok in order to develop new strains suitable for the production of CBD and THC extracts, as well as ingredients in a range of medications that contain certain concentrations of CBD, THC, or both. For instance, the academic outfit has launched a THC/CBD oromucosal spray and THC/CBD wafer tablets, among other clinical drugs. Classified as “controlled drugs”, these medications are dispensed under a stringent track & trace regimen implemented and enforced by Thailand’s FDA.

Extract those oils!

Two well-established scientific concepts called “supercritical CO2 extraction” (SCCE) and “subcritical solvent extraction” (SSE) can be deployed to extract essential oils from flowers, herbs, and other plants to be used as ingredients in fragrances (perfumes), medications, in foods and beverages and – as far as the tobacco industry is concerned – in e-liquids and as tobacco flavorings.

With spreading cannabis legalization, the two methods potentially also come in handy for CBD and THC extraction. However, the issue is that presently available extractors are both extremely costly and unsuitable for large-scale industrial batch production. “For instance, SCCE is an expensive technology because all pumps and fittings must withstand pressure of up to 300 bar. This in turn limits the size and capacity of the equipment, which makes this technology only viable for expensive extracts in a lab setting,” explains assistant professor Dr. Aluck Thipayarat of the food engineering department at King Mongkut’s University of Technology in Bangkok.

HerbX Tractor

But the good doctor may just have a solution for this price vs. output efficiency conundrum. In collaboration with Vatin Co. Ltd., a startup company funded by the parents of one of his PhD students, he has developed an affordable semi-continuous SCCE machine under the name HerbX Tractor, which is designed for industrial-scale use. “The beauty of [our] design is the scalability. We understand that it often is difficult to adapt lab machines for industrial-scale deployment. HerbX Tractor was developed with a modular design where several base units can be linked together, thus scaling up the set-up for industrial production needs,” he said, adding that easily obtainable and cheap liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) is used as the principal extraction agent. “We also have taken the [equipment’s] environmental impact seriously, ensuring not only that operators are safe but also that no unintentional CO2 and extract aerosol leakages can occur.”

HerbPresso

On the SSE side, Aluck and Vatin Co. Ltd. have likewise made strides by developing an extractor prototype called HerbPresso that yields “highly concentrated extracts from flowers and other plants with less operating hassles.”

The idea [behind HerbPresso] is to employ the different solvating properties of refrigerants to extract a wide spectrum of solute profiles from the same plant matrix,” Dr. Aluck explains. “Not set up quite a few protocols using our technology, like anti-microbial, anti-oxidation, and anti-inflammatory tests, to determine the medicinal as well as physiochemical properties of many tropical plants, “Not only does HerbPresso adhere to the same meticulous engineering design that we have already successfully utilized in HerbX Tractor, but the test results have also led to the machine’s further optimization.” he insisted that while the currently available HerbPresso model is still considered a “prototype”, he is entirely capable of fabricating it for industrial-scale deployment. “And hopefully, in the near future, we will be able to integrate our SSE prototype with SCCE technology to understand more of what spectrum of active ingredients we can extract in each step and with different refrigerants. This is going to set us apart from other SCCE and SSE technology suppliers worldwide.”

SSE a superior option

Although HerbX Tractor is comparatively easy to operate and permits flexible scalability, the technology requires a rather high operating pressure of 100 to 250 bar (and even up to 300 bar). Also, the primary solvent choice is limited to CO2, with only very few options of co-solvents.

“Ironically, it were exactly these very same limitations that drove us to develop the SSE concept in our HerbPresso project, which allows for low operating pressure of just five to 30 bar, as well as a much broader selection of subcritical solvents,” Dr. Aluck said.

Other common pitfalls of SCCE are equipment bulkiness, possible leakage under high pressure and expensive parts and consumables. “In my opinion, SCCE is only suitable for expensive end products,” admitted Dr. Aluck. But if cost-efficient production of highly concentrated extracts – such as e-liquid flavorings or, for that matter, CBD oil - is desired, Dr. Aluck said he could “certainly recommend the SSE technology with its totally closed-loop operation without solvent loss and superior extraction yield.”

Thailand to Host World Ganja Festival 2020

Following Thailand’s liberalization of cannabis for medical use, the Association of Researchers of Thailand has recently signed an agreement with the Thai Nationalism Foundation, the Journalist and Media Association of Thailand and the provincial administrative organizations of Nakhon Phanom, Sakhon Nakhon, and Mukdahan to organize the World Ganja Festival – and that despite the fact that ganja (a.k.a. marijuana) is still illegal in the country.

The official National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT) reported the event would be held from January 29 until February 2, 2020, on a 40-acre plot near Nong Yat reservoir in Nakhon Phanom province. General Charan Kullawanit, an honorary adviser to the World Ganja Festival project, was quoted by NNT as saying the festival would serve as “a platform for people to exchange their knowledge of cannabis for medical use.” The event would help promote Thailand as a developer of top quality marijuana strains, which in turn could contribute to the country’s economic growth. “Thailand is the main host [and currently] we’re deciding who we will invite.

The association chairperson [told me] there’ll be Chinese, Japanese, and American guests, so we can listen to their academic ideas, presentations, and statements. We’ll see how the event will benefit the global community,” Charan was quoted by NNT. The World Ganja Festival 2020 is going to be divided into three zones, covering academic seminars, technological innovations and business negotiations. The event also will feature a product design competition and a music festival. The event would create new opportunities and provide a better understanding of cannabis and its legal aspects, the organizers said during a launch event held in Bangkok on October 10, 2019.

[Source: NNT]

(http://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG191010152406458)