Can I Grow Cannabis in Thailand? Home Growing & Registration Rules 2026

Quick summary

• Growing for your own use at home: as of October 2026, Thailand's Public Health Minister has publicly said this is not currently an offence
• Selling or giving it to others to smoke: not allowed. Selling flower needs a licence and a certified growing site
• The Plook Ganja app: a Thai FDA notification system launched on 9 June 2022. It is not a licence
• "Six plants per household": a proposal in an old draft bill. It never became law
• What's next: the draft Cannabis Control Act (approved by Cabinet on 22 September 2026 and under Council of State review since 6 October 2026) would register growing plots by size and require growers to hold licences

Is growing weed in Thailand legal? Status as of October 2026

In short: growing for personal use is not currently an offence, but the room it leaves is narrower than many people assume.

The Active (Thai PBS) reported on 13 May 2026 that Public Health Minister Pattana Promphat had told senators that growing at home for one's own use "is currently not an offence." He added that anyone who sells needs a licence and must pass standards certification, and that letting other people take it to smoke is not allowed. Bangkok Biznews carried a similar statement from him around the time the new ministerial regulation took effect on 30 April 2026.

The legal reason is that, since 26 June 2025, the Ministry of Public Health's Announcement on Controlled Herbs (Cannabis) B.E. 2568 has made only the flower a controlled herb. It regulates commercial activity: research, export, sale or processing for trade, all of which need a licence. It does not set up a cultivation licence for households, and that gap is why growing for personal use has not been treated as an offence.

"Personal use" does not mean recreational use, though. Government policy is that cannabis may be used for medical purposes only. See our guide to legal cannabis use.

The Plook Ganja app: what it is and whether you still need it

The Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched the Plook Ganja (ปลูกกัญ) app and website on 9 June 2022, the day cannabis came off the narcotics list. It let people notify the authorities that they were growing cannabis or hemp. What you got back was an electronic notification document, not a permit (Bangkok Biznews). Reports at the time said that household growing needed no permit and had no plant limit, as long as you notified (Thansettakij). Uptake was fast: by the morning of 14 June 2022, 785,192 people had registered.

What it means legally in 2026:

• A Plook Ganja notification does not allow you to sell flower. Selling needs a licence under the controlled-herb rules.
• A 2022 notification is not GACP certification, which is the standard that flower sold commercially must meet.
• We found no recent official statement confirming whether, as of October 2026, the app is still accepting notifications or whether notifying is mandatory. If you need certainty, contact the FDA hotline (1556) or the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine directly.
• In August 2026, the minister was asked whether people who had previously registered would have to start over. He said growers would need permission under the new law, but that it was too early to say whether everything would be "reset" (Hfocus).

In other words, if you notified in 2022, don't assume that document will protect you once the new law arrives.

Can you sell or give away home-grown cannabis?

No, neither is allowed.

• Selling: only licensed sellers of controlled herbs may sell. Since 30 April 2026, applicants must be a healthcare facility, a business that produces or sells medicines and herbal products, or a certified traditional healer. Flower for sale must come from a GACP-certified site, and licensees may sell only to prescription holders or to other licensees.
• Penalties: law firm Tilleke & Gibbins summarises that breaching the flower-trading rules can bring up to one year in prison or a fine of up to THB 20,000.
• Giving away: the controlled-herb announcement is written mainly around "sale," but the minister has said plainly that giving cannabis to others to smoke is not allowed. You should not hand out flower you grow.

What the draft Cannabis Control Act proposes for growers

The Cabinet approved the draft on 22 September 2026. Since 6 October 2026, the 77-section bill has been under review by the Council of State before it goes to Parliament (see our report: Cabinet approves the Cannabis Control Bill). The cultivation points disclosed so far are:

• Cultivation licence: one of seven licence types, valid for 3 years. (Thai PBS Policy Watch reports the licence fee stays at THB 3,000 per 3 years, without saying which licence types this covers.)
• Plot registration by size: small (up to 5 rai), medium (over 5 to 20 rai) and large (over 20 to 400 rai), within a framework built around traceability.
• GACP standards are the first link in the supply chain, and licensees must report through a digital system every 3 months.
• Exemption: selling roots, branches, stalks, leaves, stems and seeds does not require a licence.
• Penalties: misuse by users carries a fine, while unlicensed production or sale carries prison terms and fines.

Note that published reports on the Cabinet-approved draft do not describe specific rules for household growing, such as a plant limit or a licence exemption. Once the law passes, more than 15 pieces of secondary legislation still have to be issued, and the government expects full enforcement to take roughly one to two years.

Please note: the draft Cannabis Control Act is not yet in force, and its content may change at the Council of State and in Parliament. This article is general information, not legal advice.

The truth about "six plants per household"

This figure was never law.

• 2019: Reuters reported that the Bhumjaithai Party had proposed a draft law allowing up to six plants per household. Cannabis was still a narcotic at the time, and the draft was never passed.
• 2022: after delisting, the rule actually in use was notifying through the app, with no plant limit. A parliamentary committee working on the Cannabis and Hemp Bill proposed 10 plants, later raising it to 15 per household (Matichon), but that bill never became law.
• 2026: there are no reports that the government's Cabinet-approved draft sets a per-household cap.

What to do now

1. Grow only for your own use, and use cannabis under the guidance of a licensed healthcare practitioner.
2. Don't sell, trade or give away flower, and never advertise it online, which is strictly prohibited.
3. Keep any earlier notification record, but don't treat it as a licence.
4. Follow the bill, because the rules for growers will change. See our Thailand cannabis law 2026 summary and the Thai cannabis law timeline.
5. If you plan to grow commercially, build GACP compliance and licensing into your plans from the start.

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