Southeast Asian country’s booming cannabis industry is under a cloud as politicians reconsider decriminalisation.

Bangkok, Thailand – On Thailand’s Ganja TV, cannabis enthusiasts have followed the drug’s swift journey from banned narcotic, to legal plant for medicinal use, to recreational high.

Now, one year after Thailand decriminalised cannabis, the Facebook page’s 90,000-odd followers are looking on bemused as rival politicians threaten to make dispensaries and open consumption illegal once more – or at least tightly controlled.

At the centre of attention is Pita Limjaroenrat, the prime minister-in-waiting whose Move Forward Party (MPF) scored an upset to come first place in last month’s general elections.

While MFP is widely viewed as the most liberal of Thailand’s political parties, cannabis advocates say it is leading the drive to rein in recreational use, casting a pall over the country’s multibillion-dollar cannabis industry.

“What made you change so much?” Ganja TV said in a recent post accompanying a video of the MFP leader hailing the potential of cannabis businesses to fund schools and provide “immense opportunities” for Thailand.

Pita now says the cannabis boom should be put on pause to curb widespread recreational use until the incoming government can pass a proposed Cannabis Act to draw clear lines on where the drug can be sold and consumed. [Read More @ Al Jazeera]