Thailand Cannabis Report · 2026 Edition
Thailand's cannabis market is formalising, not collapsing.
5 in 6 licences due in 2025 were not renewed. 37.5% of existing licences face renewal this December.
Built at the shop counter, checked against the government registry
Every number carries a label. Verified: checked against an official record. Estimated: measured by us or reported by others. Indicative: our best reading where nothing official exists yet. How we built it
Licences issued in 2023 expired. About 5 in 6 were not renewed.
Verified
New renewal rules took effect. Every licence must now pass a stricter test to be renewed.
Verified
The Cabinet approved a draft cannabis law in principle. Its full text is not public yet.
Estimated
The Council of State began its review of the draft. The Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine had planned January 2027. Full application is put at one to two years away.
Estimated
The Prime Minister said cannabis penalties will rise and licences will be renewed only after inspection, not automatically. No penalty details are published and no new rule is in force.
Verified on the statement; Estimated on its effect
4,587 licences issued in 2024 are due: the first group to face the new renewal test.
Verified
Licences issued in 2025 are due. The new law may apply by then, if it passes.
Verified
Every licence in force today has reached its expiry date. What the market looks like after that is in the report.
Estimated
Source: Official licence data from the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine, as at 30 March 2026; the Royal Gazette; Cabinet resolution of 22 September 2026; Council of State review from 6 October 2026; the Prime Minister's statement of 22 October 2026.
Nine things the report found
You can read the findings here. The numbers behind each one, and how we got them, are in the report.
- Licence expiry dates, not the new law, decide which shops are still open in 2029.
- Legal cannabis sales peaked in 2025. The fall in 2026 comes from fewer shops trading.
- The shops that survive will each need to sell more, just to keep the market at today's size.
- A small minority of shops takes close to half of all licensed revenue.
- Most licensed shops also sell illicit product off the books. Which kinds of shop, and how much, is in the report.
- Foreign ownership rules already apply today, with or without the new law. Using a Thai nominee is a criminal offence for both people involved.
- Farm certification is not the barrier it looks like. A cheaper lab test, done harvest by harvest, gets flower into the same shops.
- By 2029 the new law will govern a market with a fraction of the shops trading today.
- Thailand has two retail markets: in the tourist provinces there are few shops for each baht of foreign spending, and in the Northeast there are far more. The December 2026 renewal wave falls hardest on Krabi's tourist hotspots.
Where the shops are: active shop pins on the official map, October 2026. The report carries every province and tourist area.
Who this report is for
Whichever side of the market you are on, the report starts from the question you came with.
You are opening or buying a cannabis shop
Where is there still room, and which licences survive?
Section 12 sets shop supply against tourist spending and residents, province by province, and shows where the December 2026 renewals fall. Section 3 gives the test every licence now has to pass.
You run a cannabis shop
Will my licence survive renewal?
Your deadline is your licence's own expiry date, not the new law. Under the 2026 rules, one missed monthly report can lead to a suspension, and a suspension can cost you the renewal. Section 3, free, sets out the test. The report also sets out what converting to a clinic costs and how long it takes, from conversion firms consulted in October 2026.
You grow or supply
Who can I still sell to?
From the 2027 renewals, a shop can only buy flower from a certified farm or with a lab test for that harvest. Section 7 compares what each route costs.
You manage a fund
What is this market really worth, and where is it going?
Section 4 sets out three cases for 2029, one for each way the draft law can go: passed as written, passed with changes, or stalled. These are scenarios, not forecasts, and the section names the one number that will move them first. The Full Edition carries the evidence and the data.
You want to invest or enter Thailand
Can a foreign company own a cannabis business here?
Today, yes, within limits. Growing is a different answer, and putting a Thai nominee in your place is a criminal offence. Section 9 sets out what you can hold now and after the new law. The Full Edition carries the evidence and the data.
You follow cannabis policy
When does the new law actually take effect?
Not in 2026. The Council of State began its legal review of the draft on 6 October 2026, and full application is put at one to two years away. Until then the rules change by ministerial notice, with no vote in Parliament.
How we built it
Most reports on Thai cannabis start from a press release and a growth forecast. This one starts at the shop counter and the government registry.
Since 2022 we have visited about 1,100 dispensaries in six cities and, in October 2026, in Surat Thani, Udon Thani, Mukdahan and other provinces of the Northeast, surveyed 1,599 cannabis buyers and collected prices from farm to shelf. Then we checked what we found against the official records: the national licence registry, the government's map of licensed shops, the register of certified farms and company accounts.
Where the numbers come from
How carefully we checked
We checked 1,289 companies on the business register, then 102 candidate retailers one by one. 76 were confirmed as retailers, and 57 had accounts we could verify, covering 113 shops. Our ledger held 3,950 claims at 30 October 2026: 2,804 are used in the report, and 1,146 are withheld because they are unverified, superseded or barred by our own rules.
We use these accounts to track direction over time, never to set the size of the market.
How sure are we? Every number tells you.
Who is behind this report
The Thailand Cannabis Report is published by Reefers Club Co., Ltd., a Thai company that sets up and advises cannabis retail, technology, distribution and farm businesses. We hold two dispensary licences ourselves, under the regime the report describes.
That matters for one reason. We did not learn how licensing works by interviewing people who had done it. We did it ourselves: the applications, the queues, the paperwork, the inspections. So when the report explains a rule, it explains it the way a licence holder lives with it.
Nobody commissioned this report or paid for its findings. No dispensary, farm, brand, technology company or investor.
We therefore hold a commercial interest in the sector this report covers. The report says so in its front matter and again in its method section.
What you get
The Report is Volume I: over 100 pages in 12 sections, with 65 charts and tables, each showing its source. It is the one you read. The Full Edition adds Volume II, the one your analyst checks: over 650 pages of full chapters, annex notes, the conflicts log and the exact figures behind every rounded number, plus a data workbook in Excel.
Volume I includes an appendix of headline data tables and endnotes, as PDF. The Full Edition adds Volume II and the Excel workbook.
Not sure yet? Talk to the person who did the fieldwork.
Book a 45-minute call with our lead analyst on your own question: a location, a partner, a licence, a number that does not add up. You will get an answer from someone who has been through the licensing process, not a summary of the report.
If you buy either edition within 30 days, the $199 comes off the price. If the report is not right for you, we will tell you, and the call is all you will have spent.
Calls run in the afternoon, Bangkok time. You pay when you book.
Prices
All prices in US dollars.
Each edition is licensed to the named company for internal use, including in its own internal AI tools. No sharing outside that company, no resale, and no use to train models offered to others. Read the licence terms
Every purchase starts with the call. Already decided? Book the call and tell us; we will invoice the balance and send your edition. Any other question or request also starts with a booked call.
Need an invoice in your company's name, or to pay by bank transfer? Tell us on the call.
Before you buy
Who is behind this report?
Reefers Club Co., Ltd., a Thai company that holds two dispensary licences under the regime the report describes. We went through the licensing process ourselves and have been visiting dispensaries since 2022. Nobody commissioned or paid for this report. We therefore hold a commercial interest in the sector this report covers, and the report says so up front.
How is this different from the reports already out there?
Most are written from a desk: a legalisation headline, a few press releases and a growth rate. This one counts licences from the official registry, reads the law in the original Thai, and checks every figure against fieldwork. Every number tells you how sure we are of it.
Can I see the quality before I pay?
Yes. Section 3 is free to read, typeset exactly as it appears in the report, with its figures taken out. Every figure is in the paid editions.
What happens on the $199 call?
You get 45 minutes with the lead analyst on your question. If you buy either edition within 30 days, the $199 comes off the price. If the report is not for you, we will say so.
Which edition do I need?
The Report, at $2,000, is Volume I: over 100 pages with the findings, the analysis and what to do, by type of reader. Choose it if you need the answer. The Full Edition, at $3,500, is Volumes I and II plus the data workbook in Excel: choose it if you need to check the answer or build on the numbers.
Can I upgrade later?
Yes. Within 30 days of buying The Report, you can upgrade to the Full Edition for the $1,500 difference.
Can my team use it?
Each edition is licensed to the named company for internal use, including in its own internal AI tools. No sharing outside that company, no resale, and no use to train models offered to others.
Is this legal or investment advice?
No. It is market intelligence. For a specific structure, take it to Thai counsel; the report shows you which questions to ask.
How current is it?
Everything up to 30 October 2026. The report is published once a year.
Can I get a refund?
No, because the report is a file you keep. That is why the free section and the call come first.
Start with the free section
Read Section 3 as it appears in the report, with its figures taken out, and see exactly how the report works before you spend anything.