Why Thailand's Loosening Plant Rules Affect Your Country

Thailand has moved faster than almost any other country to loosen its plant rules in recent years. In April 2020, former Minister of Commerce Sontirat Sontijirawong stressed that "the plant is Thailand's future economic crop." Taiwanese police officer Lin Yuexian, however, observed that after medical use was licensed in 2018 and licence holders were allowed to grow and sell plant material in 2020, trade in plant material between Taiwan and Thailand has shown significant signs of increase, putting pressure on the effectiveness of police enforcement.

Golden Triangle: Produced in Myanmar and Exported from Thailand

Lin Yuexian, the police liaison officer of the Criminal Police Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior in Thailand, arrived in Thailand in 2018. It happened that the Thai Parliament passed the legalization of medical use that year. Since Thailand allowed medical use years ago, the proportion of smuggled plant material coming from Thailand has increased.

In addition, in 2020 the authorities opened licences for holders to plant, sell, and export plant products. The smuggling situation may become more severe in the future.

"Three Regardless Zone: transporting and exporting" in the Golden Triangle, produced in Myanmar and exported from Thailand.

The "Golden Triangle" is the border region of Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos. It is also the most significant drug producer in Southeast Asia. However, with the sudden changes in the political and economic situation, the Thai government vigorously wiped out the forces of various drug lords. According to Lin Yuexian's observation, there are almost no poppies grown in Thailand. The raw materials are mainly developed and manufactured in Myanmar and turned into heroin, ketamine, and amphetamine-based first-class drugs. "Thailand's role in the drug industry chain is mainly exporting to foreign countries, such as from the pier in Bangkok."

Drug manufacturing in Myanmar is controlled by warlords, who then purchase weapons through drug trafficking. "Their weapons are more advanced and powerful than the government army," said Lin Yuexian. Therefore, the government cannot control what it wants to. For residents, they must also rely on cultivation for a long time. It is like a drug village.

Lin Yuexian's work is mainly about transnational cooperation in investigating cases. Due to mainstream drugs such as ketamine and amphetamines, smuggling into Taiwan through Thailand still accounts for a certain proportion. At the end of 2020, Lin received intelligence that a Taiwanese buyer had "ordered" from a Golden Triangle drug cartel, so he relayed the news to the Thai police. In the end, the two countries cooperated to seize 20 kilograms of heroin and 200 kilograms of ketamine.

However, as the Thai government intends to legalize the plant gradually, it will become a more significant challenge for Taiwan and Thailand to help each other fight crime.

Thailand is gradually legalizing recreational use, and the plant can be grown and added to food.

Thailand is the fastest country to loosen plant control in recent years: after passing the legalization of medical use in 2018, Thailand allows licensees to grow, sell, and export industrial plant material, a low-strength variety of the plant grown for fibre and other non-medical uses.

At the beginning of this year, the opening of the Thai government has entered the consumer side; catering companies can use the roots, stems, leaves, and extracts of the plant for cooking and beverages. The first plant-based beverage store in Bangkok opened recently. A cup of botanical-infused beverage, priced at about $2, attracts a large crowd of customers.

Thailand's timetable for loosening plant use regulations

Lin Yuexian said that beverages and cosmetics containing plant ingredients have appeared one after another. The economic benefits of the plant cultivation industry are enormous. The market research company "Prohibition Partners" estimates that the value of the Asian market for medical plant products will reach 5.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2024.

Although Lin Yuexian pointed out, based on the information in his hands, that after Thailand opened up the plant, the number of domestic users showed no signs of a significant increase, it has increased the space for legal and possibly illegal trafficking. In 2020, the amount of illegally smuggled exports seized exceeded 40,000 kg, a record high. Invisibly, it exerts pressure on the effectiveness of Thai police law enforcement.

According to Ministry of Justice statistics, the amount of plant material smuggled from Thailand into Taiwan from 2018 to 2020 was zero, but 2.6 kg was seized from January to August 2021. Lin Yuexian is worried that the two countries' economic, trade, and sightseeing activities have always been frequent. The greater the pace of Thailand's opening up, the more severe the problem of illegal smuggling into Taiwan may become in the future.

But as far as the Thai government is concerned, no matter how people like to use it, whether it is a proper use or not, the most important thing is to fight for the economy, which is even more critical.

A Crop to Save the Economy: Thailand Plans to Open Up Recreational Use

The coronavirus has invaded the world for nearly two years. The pandemic has severely hit the tourism industry that Thailand depends on for its livelihood. To fight for the economy, Lin Yuexian revealed that the Thai government is studying the legalization of the plant for recreational use, hoping to use the plant to regain its former tourism power in the post-pandemic era.

He believes that although the Thai government's attitude towards recreational use may seem ambiguous for the time being, it may be similar to other long-standing grey-market industries. "It is not legally allowed, but the government may choose to open one eye and close one eye."

The epidemic will slow down sooner or later. Thailand will permanently loosen border controls one day. The channels through which the plant flows into Taiwan will become more diverse as people connect. In addition to air and sea parcels, passengers who are willing to take risks carry plant material on entry. This will be a big test for the domestic anti-drug system.

Six Significant Systems Are Responsible for the Anti-drug Task

The domestic anti-drug case handling system is divided into six major systems: the Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, the prosecutor, the Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior, the Military Police Command of the Ministry of National Defense, the Maritime Patrol Department of the Marine Commission, and the Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance. It has been seven years since Ke Jianzhi joined the Third Investigation Team of the Criminal Police Department (from now on referred to as the "Three Investigation Teams") and has seized large and small drug cases. He said that in addition to information exchange when there is a shortage of workforce, the military police will also assist us in following up on prison matters, or make a visit.

Ke Jianzhi pointed out that plant seeds and dried plant material are hidden in general commodities such as clothes and food and then delivered in packages, which are more common smuggling methods. He believes that plant seeds are easier to hide than dried plant material, which is more difficult to find. Although the Customs Administration and the Marine Patrol Administration have tried their best to do an excellent job of checking, some fish will inevitably slip through the net.

Canadian Teacher Arrested for Growing Plants in Taiwan

In 2019, Ke Jianzhi and his colleagues went to the residence of a Canadian cram school teacher in Taoyuan to investigate and seized 163 live plants and 893 grams of dried plant material. At that time, Canada had legalized recreational use, and everyone could grow it at home. "He was calm, thinking that growing the plant was the same as growing tomatoes."

Recalling the process of solving the case at that time, Ke said that at the beginning, after the Taipei City Police Department adjusted the information with the logistics company, police discovered that the suspect had purchased seeds and inhalation equipment abroad, so he provided the information to the drug investigation center, and then police carried out the investigation. The three teams are responsible for inquiries. "It is not enough to rely on the criminal police station. It must cooperate with other agencies."

As long as the domestic law does not allow the plant, we will arrest them.

The Canadian English teacher was later sentenced to two years in prison by the Taoyuan District Court under the Drug Harm Prevention and Control Act. However, the judge considered him serious in teaching and noted that he was praised by students and parents, but he was not deported. Ke Jianzhi emphasized that he knows that some people and groups continue to promote legalization of the plant. However, the Prevention and Control of Drug Harm Regulations still regard the plant as a secondary drug, even though many countries abroad have legalized medical use. But our police act by the law. As long as people violate domestic regulations, we will immediately enforce the law.

"Blue Collars Consume Amphetamines. White-Collar Workers Use the Plant."

After seven years of anti-drug work, Ke Jianzhi found that amphetamine and heroin are more likely to be associated with gangs and trials. "Because addiction is relatively high, there is a demand for addiction, and they have money to make." He revealed that these two kinds of drugs are mainly smuggled and imported as finished products from abroad. There are also raw materials and drug-producing operations that are shipped to Taiwan before being processed and sold.

In September 2020, a bus in the Neihu District of Taipei City caused one death and one injury to passers-by. After investigation, the police found that the driver had taken amphetamines. According to the annual report of the Ministry of Health's "Drug Abuse Cases and Inspection Statistics," 30.8% of the population notified of drug abuse in 2020 are engaged in industry, and the top 5 most commonly abused drugs are heroin (50%), amphetamines (36.4%), ketamine (4.2%), the plant (2.3%), and benzodiazepine-based sleeping and tranquilizers (2.1%).

"Amphetamines do often appear in the blue-collar class. They work long hours and need to be refreshed," Ke Jianzhi said.

The plant shows a different situation. Ke Jianzhi's experience tells him that people who use the plant are usually white-collar workers and have higher education levels. The low crime rate of amphetamines and heroin is due to the relatively low addictiveness of the plant. "Once the other two become addicted, it is easy to commit crimes to buy drugs."

Anti-drug Rethinking: Dealer is as Important as the Source

In the first half of 2021, the Ministry of Justice seized more than 9,219 plants, more than three times (314.7%) more than the same period in 2019, the highest number ever. Therefore, the Ministry of Justice called out "Declare war on the plant" and listed emerging drugs and the plant as one of the top anti-drug targets.

Shao Zhongzheng worked as an investigator at the Drug Enforcement Center of the Police Agency, responsible for planning drug control measures and collecting information. He believes that the plant has been grouped with emerging drugs because it sprang up quickly.

According to the National Chung Cheng University Crime Research Center, the so-called emerging drugs are not "newly invented" but "newly misused." Shao Zhongzheng said that the "coffee bag" that often appears on news pages is one of the emerging drugs. "It is to pack different drugs in a coffee bag in powder form and then drink it with water." Shao thinks this kind of drug will quickly invade the campus.

In response to the domestic control of drug abuse, the Executive Yuan proposed the "New Generation Anti-drug Strategy 2.0" in 2020. It is estimated that approximately 15 billion yuan will be invested through a cross-ministerial, cross-regional, and cross-domain overall combat method. Logistics, flow of people, and money flow strive to achieve the overall anti-drug goal of "cutting off the three flows of drugs," such as "tracing drugs, chasing people, and cutting off money flows."

In the past, the thinking of investigative agencies was mainly based on quantity. Still, Shao Zhongzheng said that the government is also reflecting on it, emphasizing "equal attention to the number of people": "Only investigating the quantity, the supply will still be available." While seizing the case, he took the initiative to trace the source and outlined the case since he was small, hoping to catch the drug head and interrupt the supply chain. Ke Jianzhi also agrees with the traceability approach: "In fact, every major case is developed from a small case."

"Government and Police Cannot Clear Drug Demand."

Although the government's anti-narcotics system is vigorously scavenging drugs, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Justice, the total seizures of various types of drugs in the past ten years have increased from 2,340.1 kg in 2011 to 9,476.5 kg in 2019, the highest in ten years, despite a slight decrease to 8,155.5 kg in 2020. Still, overall, the total seizures of various drugs have shown a continuously increasing trend. According to the Ministry of Health statistics, the number of drug abuse cases reported by multiple agencies (institutions) from 2015 to 2020 shows that, overall, the number of abuse cases is still rising.

Reports of drug abuse cases by various agencies (institutions) from 2015 to 2020 in Taiwan

The drug trade cannot be "cleared." The drug problem in Taiwan even tends to multiply. Ke Jianzhi admits that drugs are unlikely to be eliminated at the root because the underlying interests are too large. "There are not only gangs and drug dealers in Taiwan, but also abroad." Shao Zhongzheng also said that most drugs are addictive; as long as they become addictive, consumer demand cannot disappear.

However, in the face of increasing numbers of enemies and the difficulty of handling cases, will the anti-narcotics unit feel discouraged?

Ke said that investigating drugs is not easy. "But we won't overthink. Since you are in this industry, you will catch it if you violate the law." He said every time a drug case is successfully closed, he feels something unspeakable, because it means that he has the responsibility of the police: reducing crime and maintaining public order.