Last week, Cannabox, kicked off its Happy Monsoon Cannabis Enlightenment Series in Bangkok. The series consists of intimate panel discussions addressing key questions and concerns in the Thai cannabis industry, with the first event focusing on permissionless innovation in the absence of regulations. The event brought together experts, entrepreneurs, and cannabis enthusiasts in a vibrant space that houses a dispensary, a designer clothing store, a fusion restaurant, and a cocktail bar. Attendees enjoyed a unique urban atmosphere, fostering genuine connections and intense conversations. The panelists, who have successfully navigated the unregulated Thai cannabis landscape, shed light on permissionless innovation and its significance. With an array of sponsors and a vibrant ambiance, the event showcased the thriving Thai cannabis community and its promising future.
Photography by @highfidelitymode
Cannabox is on a roll in Bangkok. Thailand’s only mobile app for licensed cannabis delivery has committed to fulfilling its promise to lead with education — even over the quieter months of rainy season.
So far, promise kept.
Cannabox was live in Thailand’s capital city last week, kicking off the first event in its Happy Monsoon Cannabis Enlightenment Series.
At their heart, these events are intimate panels of experts using examples from their work to address the most important questions and concerns facing the Thai cannabis industry. These panels are for the Bangkok community. Everyone was invited to attend and to ask questions during Q & A.
The panels drill down on one topic for 50 minutes. The theme of the series is Building the Future of Thai Cannabis Today. The topic of last week’s first event was Permissionless Innovation in The Absence of Regulations.
Yet, it was more than a panel.
Strengthening Bonds
Two hours to enjoy the space and build connections prior to the panel: Shivek Sachdev panelist and CEO of Cantrak. Seated: A group starts an impromptu massage on a tense volunteer.
The panel of four speakers and one host was in one of the many corners of the sprawling multi-purpose collective. Cannabis wellness dispensary with indoor/outdoor consumption spaces? Check. Designer clothes store with chic name-brand from Malaysia? Check. Pacific-rim, Asian fusion restaurant that also provides high-quality Western meals and salads? Check. Cocktail bar? Check.
To be sure, the contrast between a colossal hotel and its banquet rooms with the Stoned & Co. space is razor-sharp. The space may have started out as a bare loft. Now there are a variety of ceiling heights and textures that add dimension, and clean walls with angles that create a distinct turf for each business.
Artfully, this is accomplished with no compartmentalizing. Stoned & Co’s three enterprises stay separate, and one flows from one to the other with twists and turns under the same naked roof.
Gearing up for Thai Cannabis Enlightenment
When is the last time you attended a convention and found yourself so comfortable you wished you had more time to just be there? In its totality, the event was less a conference and more of a “happening”.
So called Happenings were big in the halcyon days of the flower power generation: Back when hippies were just emerging on the modern landscape and only they and jazz musicians admitted to smoking weed. The dictionary says a happening is “any important event”. Nice try.
A Happening points toward the expansion of your mind and the creation of intense human connections and the shaping of a community. The original Happenings in the 60s usually were centered around “teach ins”. bundled together to create an ambiance that makes human connections more intense, freed from the constraints of corporate etiquette and conventional expectations.
That was 60 years ago, when cannabis was locked up and those who were caught possessing it were too. Last week, the happening made a comeback.
This smart budtender at the Stoned Wellness dispensary prepares a collection of strains and a water pipe for patrons. He is an accomplished guide. You can ask him anything about Stoned’s wide range of full spectrum cannabis products.
I have nothing against traditional conferences; nevertheless, once you have circulated in a Happening — where the corporate masks drop, social anxiety dissipates and you find yourself talking, that is, really having a conversation, with someone new — the power of this type of meeting place will appear much more real to you.
At any time, you can duck in or out to the two capacious consumption lounges and partake in the herbal remedy of your choice. People brought their own. People shopped at the wellness cannabis dispensary, bought cannabis products and shared them as soon as they sat down. Good cannabis is good business.
Ages ranged from 20 to 70. Here, Bangkok friends of cannabis from the younger set get ready for some enlightenment from the experts.
Standing room only once the panel began; no one seemed to mind.
Building the Future of Thai Cannabis Today
It was a discussion on permissionless innovation in the absence of Regulations, limited to Thai cannabis from June 9th, 2022 to today and into the future, up until the Thai Cannabis Act is finally official.
June 9th, for the uninitiated, was the day the Health Minister of Thailand removed cannabis from the narcotics list and the revolution began.
Your humble correspondent opens the panel with a question.
One overarching question behind all the questions that were asked is: How does this play out in concrete real-life examples in Thai cannabis? What does permissionless innovation in Thai cannabis actually look like?
This was our quest.
To guide us, we assembled a distinguished panel of 4 top Thai cannabis innovators – all of whom have been developing and deploying actual cannabis solutions in the absence of regulations for over 1 year. These 4 gentlemen have navigated the waters of regulation-free Thai Ganja with great success. And they have plans for greater future success in both the mid and long-term.
Shivek Sachdev, Co-Founder, Cantrak Track & Trace Solutions
The title of the panel includes the phrase “permissionless innovation”. What is it — permissionless innovation?
Permissionless innovation describes any industry that is generally left free to develop. Typically, new industries develop new devices and services for consumers; likewise, they need to experiment with new technologies and business models. In other words, the less permission you need from government, the more innovation you will pursue. Less permission, more innovation.
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Kajkanit “Gem” Sakdisubha, Founder, Taratera Dispensaries & Vertical Supply Chain
Stoned & Co Director, Andrew Ngo Pik, listens intently from his perch at the Wellness Bar.
Permissionless innovation fueled the success of the Internet. It was the force behind much of the modern tech economy in recent years. And it has been powering the Thai cannabis revolution to this day.
On left: Tai Taveepanichpan, CEO, Four Twenty Dispensaries
Center: Nick Becker, Co-Founder, High Thailand
Audience member clearly from a good home.
Panel/Audience Connections: Strength in The Thai Cannabis Community To Last A Lifetime
The Icing on The Ganja Cake:
Smart Sponsors Have Answers Too
Phuket High had a table managed by Co-Partner P-Korn. P-Korn is a leader in cultivation and retail branding. He is the Managing Director of Phuket High’s flagship dispensary in Rawai Phuket.
Khim is a brand ambassador for the Four-Twenty Dispensary which was represented on the panel as well, by Tai, the company’s CEO.
Local Boys was represented by one of their Bangkok retail stars.
Mascotte, the high-end international rolling paper and paraphernalia operation, had a table. They brought their own stash to demonstrate discover consumers’ paper preferences.
It’s not always easy to just be yourself and it’s not always clear how best to bring people together. I prefer meeting people in this community this way. I know some will disagree and express a preference for the latest and greatest convention center.
The difference I invite you to consider is: Here, no one micromanages you — stand in this room; file into the one next door; eat snacks; take bottled water you find on that table; single file into rows of seats and wait for the panel to start; sit at this table and eat this food with these people; network in the next room for the following length of time. And so on and so on.
If you say those events have their place, I have no quarrel with you. However, if your primary goal is to speak authentically to others and make lasting bonds to be proud of within a national cannabis community, my position is that this environment is clearly optimal.
Dusk Vanishes. Night Falls
And then there were DJs. And THC-infused Thai-crafted refreshments for hydration and homeostasis
A cool breeze settled in after sunset in Thong Lor Bangkok. Left to right: A crowd gathers by a doorway to the patio as an agent of Eden Cannabis fans herself; meanwhile, Anton, a Bangkok photog, has already made the scene and sits smoking.
Out of sight of the Wellness Bar. Left to right: Bryan Lunt Founder & CEO SABAI SABAI – The Decentralized Wellness Revolution, Founder of The Beach Samui. His full-service Resort in Samui provides full spectrum cannabis wellness retreats. That’s me listening. Beside me is the ringleader of all things Stoned, Managing Director Andrew Ngo Pik.
Until Next Time
Stoned & Co is in central Thong Lo, Bangkok. I had two thai-fusion dishes and they were both exceptional. The Director is also trained in culinary arts. It shows. For eating and drinking It is pretty much everything but a coffee shop. The cannabis products are carefully curated by people passionate about the plant. And Stoned brand-name clothes are there.
Next time for me at Stoned Wellness will be when I am back in Bangkok for the second in the Monsoon Cannabis Enlightenment Series. That’s the last Friday in July. July the –, 2023. I will visit on my visit.
I will be there to say hello to the people I have met there. Cannabox’s Event # 2 will be at the Monkey Pod. We will be discussing smart supply chain & supply network strategies for Thailand. More on all this upcoming. Stay tuned.
