Thailand's Drug Laws: A Basic Guide to Controlled Substances
Understanding Controlled Narcotics, to Help Control Illegal Drug Use
A controlled narcotic is any chemical or substance which, when taken into the body — whether by ingestion, inhalation, smoking, injection, or any other means — produces significant effects on the body and mind, such as needing to progressively increase the dose, developing withdrawal symptoms when the substance is absent, having an intense and constant physical and psychological need to use, and experiencing an overall decline in health. This also includes plants or plant parts that are, or that produce, controlled narcotics, or that may be used to produce them, as well as the chemicals used in manufacturing them.
Controlled Substances Can Be Classified in Several Ways
1. Classification Under Thai Law (the Narcotics Act B.E. 2522 [1979]), Divided Into 5 Schedules
1.1 Schedule 1 — Severe narcotics, such as heroin, LSD, amphetamine (yaba), and ecstasy (MDMA, or “love drug”).
1.2 Schedule 2 — Narcotics that can be used for medical benefit, but only under a physician’s supervision and only when necessary. No one may produce, import, or export Schedule 2 narcotics; possession for sale or general possession requires a license. Examples include opium, morphine, cocaine, and methadone.
1.3 Schedule 3 — Formulations containing a Schedule 2 narcotic as an ingredient, according to criteria the Minister announces in the Royal Gazette. No one may produce, sell, import, or export Schedule 3 narcotics without a license, though this does not apply to licensed physicians or first-class dental practitioners dispensing to their own patients, or to licensed veterinarians treating or preventing disease in animals under their care. Using these substances for other purposes, or for recreational use, carries legal penalties. Examples of Schedule 3 narcotics include cough medicine containing codeine, anti-diarrheal medicine containing opium, and injectable painkillers such as morphine and pethidine, which are derived from opium.
1.4 Schedule 4 — Chemicals used to manufacture Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 narcotics, such as acetic anhydride (used to illicitly manufacture heroin), anthranilic acid, and 12 other psychoactive precursor chemicals that can be used to produce ecstasy and yaba.
1.5 Schedule 5 — Narcotics that do not fall under Schedules 1 through 4, including all parts of the cannabis plant, all parts of the kratom plant, and magic mushrooms.
The Narcotics Act has since been amended by the following acts:
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The Narcotics Act (No. 7) B.E. 2562 (2019) granted the right to use cannabis for medical treatment and development, under the guidance of a licensed physician, for research and academic development conducted according to proper standards.
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The Narcotics Act (No. 8) B.E. 2564 (2021) removed kratom from Schedule 5, since many other countries do not classify kratom as a controlled narcotic, and the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 and the 1972 Protocol amending it do not classify kratom as a controlled narcotic either. The law therefore removed kratom from Schedule 5.
That said, possessing kratom or cannabis for personal use, or producing, importing, exporting, or trading them without a license, remains illegal. Cannabis and kratom also remain psychoactive substances that can cause addiction, withdrawal symptoms, and other side effects on the body and brain. So unless used under a physician’s guidance or supported by proper research, these psychoactive substances still carry more risk than benefit for the average user.
2. Classification by Origin, Divided Into 2 Types
2.1 Natural narcotics — Substances distilled or extracted directly from certain plants, such as opium, cocaine, and cannabis, including substances derived from those plants through chemical processing, such as morphine and heroin, which are made from opium.
2.2 Synthetic narcotics — Substances manufactured in laboratories through chemical processes as substitutes for natural narcotics. These synthesized substances act like natural narcotics — examples include methcathinone, phencyclidine, and methadone.
3. Classification by Pharmacological Effect, Divided Into 4 Types
3.1 Depressants — Including opium, morphine, heroin, inhalants, and sedatives.
3.2 Stimulants — Including amphetamine, kratom, and cocaine.
3.3 Hallucinogens — Including LSD, DMT, and magic mushrooms.
3.4 Mixed-action drugs — Substances that may act as depressants, stimulants, or hallucinogens all at once, such as cannabis. Beyond the harm controlled narcotics cause to a user’s health, mental state, family, and society, there is of course an unavoidable legal dimension — once you become involved with them, the first consequence is exposure to the maximum penalty prescribed by law for that schedule of narcotic.
The Toll of Drug Use on the Person Who Uses
1. Legal penalties for use
Schedule 1 and Schedule 2: imprisonment of 6 months to 3 years, or a fine of 10,000–60,000 baht, or both.
Schedule 3: for amounts not exceeding ministerial regulation limits, imprisonment of up to 1 year, or a fine of up to 20,000 baht, or both; for amounts exceeding those limits, imprisonment of up to 2 years and a fine of up to 200,000 baht.
Schedule 4: imprisonment of up to 5 years, or a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both; possession of 10 kg or more is considered possession for sale.
Schedule 5: imprisonment of up to 1 year, or a fine of up to 20,000 baht, or both.
2. Toll on physical health — Different types of controlled substances cause the body to deteriorate and damage the brain, leading to lethargy, inability to eat, insomnia, and complications that can cause various illnesses — such as emphysema from smoking, cirrhosis from alcohol dependence, and weakened immunity against infection.
3. Toll on mental health — When physical health suffers, mental health follows, causing irritability, anxiety, agitation, and sometimes paranoia toward the people around them.
4. Toll on the family — Loss of money, unemployment, and loss of income, since money must be spent on drugs or alcohol, leading to family conflict, family breakdown, and loss of reputation.
5. Toll on society — Loss of friends, social rejection, and isolation as people become unwilling to get close, eventually leading the person to live alone and making them more likely to become involved in crime.
From the classifications above, it’s clear these substances pose a serious threat that affects the lives of users and the people around them in many ways. Understanding these effects helps us grasp how serious the problem is, so we can prevent and address it properly. In what follows, Day One Rehabilitation Center’s addiction treatment clinic looks at the impact and toll of drugs in each of these areas, beginning with the legal penalties for use and moving through to the deeper effects on health, mental well-being, family, and society.
These harms undoubtedly cause serious damage across every part of a family’s life. So if you or someone in your family has lost their way and wants to quit drugs, or your family is searching for treatment, consult DAY ONE REHABILITATION CENTER, an addiction treatment center, with a resort-like atmosphere embraced by water and nature, calm and relaxing, in Nakhon Nayok province — a rehabilitation center for people struggling with substance use who are looking for how to quit drugs, how to quit alcohol, or how to stop gambling, supported by a team of specialist doctors, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, psychologists, and occupational therapists with expertise in substance use problems, ready to give guidance and consultation.
Contact Day One Rehabilitation Center
99/1 Moo 6, Si Chula, Mueang Nakhon Nayok, Nakhon Nayok 26000, Thailand
Hours: Mon – Sun: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (ICT)
Phone: +66 64-645-5091
Email: [email protected]
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