Why I’m Building an Operating System for Thailand’s Cannabis Industry

Thailand removed cannabis from its narcotics list on June 9, 2022. I launched the first version of Cannabox in the second week after legalization. Shops were opening across the country, customers were trying to understand a new market, and operators were making decisions without a playbook.

The first job was clear: help people find cannabis shops and help good shops reach them. As I met more operators, I found another broken handoff. Discovery led to questions about prices, product quality, patient access, stock records, and the daily work behind the counter.

The First 500 Shop Visits

Since that launch, I have visited more than 500 cannabis shops across Thailand. I have worked with many of their teams as Cannabox grew. Those conversations taught me more than a market report could. I watched owners open stores, train staff, change menus, handle stock differences, and adjust to new rules while serving the customer in front of them.

Customers see a shop, a menu, and a price. Operators manage the chain behind them: suppliers, product lots, inventory, patients, prescriptions, payments, staff permissions, and government reports. Most problems appear between those records. A sale reaches the till, but the product lot does not reach the report. A customer finds a shop, but the shop cannot show whether its price or stock is current.

Working with shops changed how I build. I start with the point where staff lose time or information, then work backward through the handoff. The useful product is the one a team can run during a busy shift.

We Brought the Conversations Into the Room

I heard hundreds of individual views during shop visits. We used Cannabox events to give operators a place to compare them. In 2023, we started the Happy Monsoon Cannabis Enlightenment Series in Bangkok. The first panel at Stoned & Co focused on permissionless innovation during Thailand’s first year of legalization and brought together leaders from Cantrak, Taratera, Four Twenty, and High Thailand.

See the Cannabox photo essay from the first Happy Monsoon panel at Stoned & Co.

The next Cannabox Roadhouse event focused on Thai cannabis supply chains. Growers, retailers, technology providers, and other operators discussed how products and information move through the market. We heard the same gaps discussed at industry scale.

See the Cannabox Roadhouse photo essay about Thai cannabis supply chains.

We also built a learning library around the questions patients, visitors, and businesses kept asking about cannabis in Thailand.

The Product Map Followed the Problems

After the fieldwork, I built each product for the next problem I found. Each one handles a different part of the market:

• Cannabox helps people discover dispensaries, compare verified prices, and understand the market.
• Cannabox MD connects patients with the medical consultation and PT33 prescription process.
• PorThorOS connects dispensary checkout with stock, product lots, patient records, and compliance reporting.
• NeoVerse turns Loyverse sales and inventory data into clearer strain, stock, and margin decisions.
• Fairly Good Cannabis keeps us close to the daily reality of licensed retail and patient service.

By operating system, I mean the connected path from patient access and shop discovery to retail operations, compliance, and business intelligence. Each product owns a specific job. The work ahead is connecting those jobs where a handoff now creates duplicate entry, stale information, or missing records.

What the Shops Taught Me

• Presence beats assumptions. You understand a shop when you stand behind the counter and watch a shift.
• Staff adoption decides whether a system works. A complete feature list has little value if the team returns to paper under pressure.
• Traceability has to begin when the work happens. Rebuilding supplier, lot, patient, and sale records at month end wastes time and creates risk.
• Trust grows through useful work. Shop owners remember who showed up, listened, fixed problems, and stayed through changes in the market.

These lessons explain why the portfolio spans discovery, medicine, retail, compliance, and analytics. The businesses look separate from the outside. From behind the counter, they sit along the same chain.

Four Years Into a Longer Build

The market has changed since that first Cannabox release. Operators now face a more demanding medical and compliance environment. Patients need clearer guidance. Shop owners need accurate records and a better view of price, stock, and margin. The products have to keep changing with those needs.

I am building this system from the street upward: one shop visit, one partner, one patient journey, and one broken handoff at a time. Cannabox was the first layer. Four years later, I can see how the rest should fit together.