Islamic groups in Thailand’s South are not giving up on their anti-cannabis campaign without a fight. Muslim leaders have vowed to take action against the Thai government for its decision to decriminalise cannabis. According to a Phuket Express report, the groups are demanding the drug be placed back on the narcotics list, but the government has yet to respond to their request.
Thailand’s public health minister has also been targeted with protests from physicians, anti-drug groups, education authorities, schools, academics and over 800 doctors, who are all signalling their demands for the legislation to be shelved until a proper draft of the new Cannabis Act can be debated in parliament and voted on.
The Islamic Committee of Songkhla is now stepping up the campaign, with chairman Sakriya Binsaela confirming a series of activities every Friday at all 300 mosques across the provinces of Songkhla, Yala, Narathiwat, Pattani, and Satun.
Thailand’s Islamic groups are not the only ones against the decriminalisation of cannabis, with the Royal Society of Thailand also voicing its opposition and calling on the government to implement restrictions that would reflect international standards of medicinal use. The society has called on the government to monitor public use of the drug and its side-effects.
However, the committee involved in drawing up the final cannabis laws appears to have dismissed the demands of both medics and Islamic groups.
SOURCE: The Phuket Express
