Cannabis cannot cure many illnesses, including diabetes, high blood pressure and heart problems as well as mental illness, FDA deputy secretary-general Dr Surachoke Tangwiwat said yesterday.

“I wish to make it clear that cannabis will not help heal those illness. Those who use the plant to cure a disease could suffer side-effects. We do not know for sure the exact amount each patient needs and the suitable breed of the plants,” the doctor said. Some ingredients of the herb could cause side-effects such as hallucinations.

The doctor issued the warning after seeing those who had surrendered their weed and registered themselves as cannabis users during the three-month medical marijuana amnesty period that ended on Tuesday.

“Most of those who showed up to register during the amnesty were teens, despite the fact that under the regulations, no teens were allowed to use marijuana. They have to get written permission from their parents,” he said.

His office has received a series of reports from the intensive care units of several hospitals reporting they had treated patients suffering from headaches and fainting after using cannabis,” Surachoke said.

The existing laws do not permit cannabis use by those under 20 years old.

On Tuesday, the last amnesty day, about 20,000 people showed up to surrender the herb they possessed, the FDA chief said.

In about three months, around July-August, patients will be required to enter the medical system for diagnosis and to be prescribed cannabinoid medication by authorised doctors. If a doctor believes the ailment does not require marijuana, other treatment will be prescribed,” he said.

Most of those reporting during the amnesty said they used weed to relieve aches and pains and to relieve anxiety and stress. “Those symptoms could be healed by using other medicines; it us unnecessary to use cannabis,” he said.

On the contrary, the number of those who used marijuana to treat epilepsy in children, or were cancer patients numbered only about 100.

The authorities also seized cannabis seeds from groups of people who were believed to be about to use them for the purpose of growing weed.

WITH A SINKING heart, Pramuan Sri-udom said goodbye to the 79-year-old Ban Noen Ku School in Tambon Sawathee of Khon Kaen’s Muang district after having taught there for many years.

Pramuan and his 18 primary-level pupils were moved to the larger Ban Moung Po School in the same tambon, under the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec)’s policy to merge 15,000 small schools with larger schools.

“Ban Noen Ku was built in 1940 by locals because the state budget took too long to arrive. I feel sorry for the villagers who built the school, which is now being abandoned,” Pramuan said

However, he admitted this change was inevitable as he was the only teacher left, after one retired and two others were transferred last year. He also conceded that a well-equipped, larger school will cater to students better.

The school merger began last year when the first batch of 14 Ban Noen Ku pupils was sent to Ban Moung Po School in the first semester and another four younger students followed in the second semester.

Pramuan began working this semester at the new school, which now has 115 students. At Ban Moung Po School he will be teaching Prathom 3 to 5 students history, home economics, health and hygiene and art, and will also oversee the boy scouts and provide counselling.

He said he is keeping tabs on his Ban Noen Ku students to ensure they are adjusting well. Initially they had problems with transport, so the Khon Kaen Primary Educational Service Area 1 Office allocated funds to cover the transportation costs for 18 pupils.

Prathom 5 student Pirapat Cheuasawathee said though it was a bit tough adjusting to the new environment in the beginning, he is now having fun and has made a lot of friends.

Also, he said, the crammed songthaew to school wasn’t that bad either.

Obec chairman Ekkachai Kisukphan said the commission’s board has assigned officials to compile and study regulations and laws, so they can be amended if necessary to facilitate the merger of 15,000 schools.

The Obec board also discussed the problems that arose in some of the 7,000 “opportunity expansion” schools that had both primary and secondary levels allowed Prathom 6 students to continue studying despite there being only a few students.

Noting that one such school had only four Mathayom 1 students and no students at the Mathayom 2 and 3 levels, he said the board had resolved to have these schools announce publicly a year in advance that they will not be taking new students for the secondary level. Meanwhile, he said, the current students will be moved to other schools nearby, Ekkachai added.

The Primary Industries and Mines Department has already given assurances that the project must first be subjected to public hearings and an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), but residents of Omkoi this week voiced opposition to opening a coal mine in what is currently forestland.

Sate Sampattagul, a lecturer in mechanical engineering at Chiang Mai University, said public concerns about the project were logically sound. Even if proper environmental measures were implemented, he said, the mining activity would likely cause multiple environmental issues in the future, he said.

Among potential problems are a major loss of forestland and biodiversity, air pollution and high greenhouse-gas emissions caused by extracting and burning coal, Sate noted.

Photo from: Somlak Hutanuwatr’s Facebook

“The details haven’t yet been made publicly clear, so I can’t properly predict how serious the environmental impacts will be,” he said. “But coal mining is generally considered quite harmful for both the environment and people’s health.

“Even if the project owners have good mining practices and pollution-control standards, opening a coal mine in the forest will surely cause some deforestation and would lead to degradation of the environment and ecosystem.”

He said the mining activity would contribute more air pollution in an area already suffering from seasonal smog. Dust and the exhaust from mining machines would worsen air quality and, if the mine were high on a mountain, the area affected by air pollution would be even wider.

“The air pollution from coal mining will be much more harmful to people’s health than wildfire smoke, because it contains several toxic substances that could severely endanger health,” Sate stressed.

“Moreover, the extraction and burning of coal will emit a large volume of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change, and end up causing global harm to the environment and people’s wellbeing.”

Charukit Ketkaew, director of Primary Industries and Mines Office 3 in Chiang Mai, said the project proponent was currently applying for a coal-mining concession. Approval would not be granted without a public hearing, an EIA, and permission secured from several state agencies.

“I know coal mining is seen as quite negative in the public’s mind, so I understand why the local people are concerned,” he said.

“But I assure you that the proposal must first pass several processes in order to guarantee that the operation would have the least impact on the environment and the people before they can begin their project.”

“We don’t want these plants. We stand firm and will protect our rights to shape our own future and participate in the formation of the state policy,” local groups said in a joint statement yesterday as the project’s owner went ahead with a crucial public forum.

Backing the statement were the Thung Kula Rice Farmers Group, Organic Rice Farmers of Tambon None Sawan, Cattle Group of Ban Hong Hae, Ban Nam Kham Forest Conservation Group, Silk Worm Growers of Tambon None Sawan, Organic Rice Farmers of Tambon Sa Bua, Pathumrat Conservation Group and three others.

Together, they announced that they will reject the results of any public consultation organised to support the project, which is being planned by Banpong Sugar Co Ltd.

“We don’t accept them now and will not accept them in the future,” the groups said. “We will keep fighting to choose the production methods we want and will protect the environment so it supports our way of life.”

The statement was read aloud inside the Pathumrat District Office conference hall, which hosted the public forum for the first phase of the project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) process.

“Now that the first phase is complete, I want to emphasise that the process is not in line with what the EIA should be,” said Chainarong Sretthachau, a lecturer at the Mahasarakham University.

He added that forcing locals to accept whatever comes their way will also hurt the country’s democracy.

Locals opposing the project complained that they were allowed just three minutes to air their concerns at the forum, while supporters were given a lot longer. The locals also said that people from outside the zone were paid between Bt300 and Bt500 to voice support for the project at the forum.

If the project materialises, it will be the largest industrial operation in the Thung Kula area, covering 1.27-million rai (203,200 hectares) across five provinces, with 986,807 rai located in Roi Et.

Some 160,000 rai of the Thung Kula Rong Hai area is based in Roi Et’s Pathumrat district, and the project’s chosen site is an area in Pathumrat’s Tambon None Sawan.

According to opponents, however, the public forum is mired in irregularities. For instance, they were held beyond the 5-kilometre radius of the planned project site and the participants had been paid off. The opponents also said that the project would threaten their way of life, which follows the “sufficiency economy” philosophy.

They also said that Tambon None Sawan produces a strain of jasmine rice that has won a patent based on geographical indication, and their organic farming practices have paved the way for rice farmers in 22 other provinces to export organic rice. Promoted as the zone for jasmine rice under the Thailand 4.0 strategy, this area is also famous for silk. The groups also pointed out that many farmers raised livestock in open fields.

For two consecutive years, Tambon None Sawan has won awards for outstanding application of the “sufficiency economy philosophy”, which was conceived and promoted by King Rama IX.

Locals are worried that large industrial operations in their area will only spoil the environment, threaten their health, hurt their livelihood and adversely affect their way of life. They also fear the area will be overtaken by sugarcane fields and that there will be a widespread use of harmful agrochemicals.

Opposition to sugar factories and related power plants is now building in several parts of the Northeast where nearly 30 such plants are been planned.

The youngest victim was just 15 months old at the time of abuse, with the culprit having worked at a baby-care centre in Lampang province.

“Interpol alerted us after careful examinations of online child pornography suggested that the young victims were Southeast Asians,” Department of Special Investigation (DSI) deputy director-general Pol Lt-Colonel Pakorn Sucheevakun told the press on Thursday.

According to him, several Thais and foreigners have already faced legal actions for sexually violating children and producing child pornography.

Pakorn said an extensive investigation lasting more than six months allowed his agency to track down a house in Surin province where many local children were abused.

“The child pornography had been distributed via a website in Australia,” he added.

DSI said the suspect has been sentenced to 50 years in jail. “He’s also been ordered to pay Bt2.5 million in compensation,” Pakorn revealed, adding that an Australian court also convicted an accomplice in the case and handed down a jail term earlier this month.

From this case, authorities expanded their investigation and nabbed another man for sexually abusing children and broadcasting child pornography online. The content was sold in the US and Australia. Working at a baby-care centre in Lampang, this defendant received a 36 years and six months in jail and has to pay Bt300,000 in compensation.

In another case, a police senior sergeant-major was identified as a suspect. Legal proceedings are now underway.

Eric Mcloughlin, a senior official in the US Homeland Security Investigations department, said through collaboration with Australia and Thailand, four suspects were arrested in the US.

“Some are teachers who easily win trust and have access to children,” he said.