Credit : Collage collated from Unsplash.com
The news has been filled with lots of updates on Thailand’s current cannabis situation in recent weeks. After legalizing recreational cannabis on June 9, the country has since been in a rush to tighten some of its restrictions after a number of “loopholes” emerged – for example, as one clickbait-y story put it, making it legal for children to buy the drug.
Though this isn’t strictly true, there was definitely a certain hastiness to Thailand’s move to decriminalize cannabis, and it can perhaps act as a lesson in proceeding with caution. In the wake of this announcement, the government has quickly pushed through a number of additional stipulations – such as forbidding all public smoking and any sales to those under 20 years old.
But there may be a positive spin to this story yet. Elsewhere in Thailand, researchers are looking into the benefits of the green crop on chickens. Apparently, the results “suggest that cannabis could help reduce farmers’ dependence on antibiotics.” Though the results are yet to be published, the study suggests that “cannabis-supplemented chickens tended to experience fewer cases of avian bronchitis, and the quality of their meat – judged by the composition of protein, fat and moisture, as well as its tenderness – was also superior.”
By the time I finished my degree in Microbiology I had come to one conclusion – I did not want to work in a lab. Instead, I decided to move to the south of Spain to teach English. After two brilliant years, I realized that I missed science, and what I really enjoyed was communicating scientific ideas – whether that be to four-year-olds or mature professionals. On returning to England I landed a role in science writing and found it combined my passions perfectly. Now at Texere, I get to hone these skills every day by writing about the latest research in an exciting, creative way.
