FILE - Police stand guard as cannabis activists and entrepreneurs, holding cannabis plant gather in front of Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, July 8, 2024. Two years after marijuana was decriminalized in Thailand, nearly a hundred of its advocates marched to the prime minister's office Monday to protest a possible ban on general use. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai officials on Wednesday said they planned to tighten regulations on cannabis sales after cases of tourists attempting to smuggle the drug out of the country soared in recent months.

Thailand became the first country in Asia to decriminalize cannabis in 2022, which has boosted Thailand’s tourism and farming and spawned thousands of shops. But it’s facing public backlash over allegations that under-regulation has made the drug available to children and caused addiction.

The ruling Pheu Thai Party has promised to criminalize the drugs again, but faced strong resistance from its partner in the coalition government which supported the decriminalization.

Thailand’s Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin said at a press conference that officials are aiming to roll out new regulations in coming weeks that will tighten control on the sale of cannabis, including requiring shops to sell cannabis only to customers who have a prescription.

He emphasized that it is against Thai law to bring cannabis out of the country without permission from the authorities.

Airport officials said they have tightened inspections to detect smuggling attempts, adding that most people found with cannabis in their luggage are foreigners, especially Indian and British nationals.

Last week two young British women were arrested in Georgia and Sri Lanka for alleged attempts to smuggle cannabis after they flew there from Thailand, according to the British media.

Britain's government said a joint operation with Thailand in February resulted in over 2 tons of cannabis seized from air passengers. It said that since July last year, over 50 British nationals had been arrested in Thailand for attempting to smuggle cannabis.

It also said there was a dramatic increase in the amount of cannabis sent to the U.K. from Thailand by post since the decriminalization in 2022.

In March immigration authorities and police said 22 suitcases filled with a total of 375 kilograms of cannabis were seized, and 13 foreigners, most of them British, were arrested at the international airport on the Samui Island.

Thai officials said the suspects were hired to travel to Thailand as tourists then traveled to Samui, a popular tourist destination, where they would wait at the arranged accommodation to receive the suitcases with cannabis. They would then be instructed to travel from Samui to Singapore, and then from Singapore back to the U.K., where they would be paid 2,000 pounds ($2,682) upon completing the job.

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