Thailand’s health minister has announced that one million free cannabis seedlings will be distributed to families across the country in June to celebrate a new rule allowing people to grow the plant at home.

Minister Anudin Sarnvirakul revealed the move on his Facebook page, in which he expressed his desire to grow cannabis plants as “home crops”.CNN“American.

The law, which came into force on June 9, will allow people to grow cannabis at home after notifying their local government, but the plants must be of medicinal quality and used only for medicinal purposes.

In addition, cannabis cannot be used for commercial purposes without an additional license.

According to the World Bank, the move is the latest in a series of plans by Thailand to promote cannabis as a lucrative crop in a country where one-third of workers are engaged in agriculture.

Thailand became the first Southeast Asian country to legalize the use of cannabis for medical research and use in 2018, in a region notorious for severe penalties for illicit drugs.

Thailand has also relaxed domestic laws related to cannabis.

Thai beverage and cosmetics companies have been scrambling to release cannabis-containing products in the past year after being allowed to use them in consumer products.

In another Facebook post on May 10, Anudin pointed out that licensed Thai companies can sell cannabis products containing 0.2 tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, which is a very well-known molecule with psychological properties in the cannabis plant.

“It will help the people and the government generate over 10 billion baht in revenue annually, which is equivalent to about $ 290 million,” Anudin explained.

Kitty Sevpaka, a Bangkok-based cannabis dealer, explained that the purpose of the law was to pave the way for people to use the herb in medicinal teas or soups.

“Possession of cannabis is a crime. When you are sick, you can only grow cannabis at home and use it to your liking,” he told the American Channel in a statement.

He added that although the recreational use of the drug was illegal, “there is no way for the government to prevent cannabis smoking.”