Method

Why Did We Count Thailand's Cannabis Market Instead of Modelling It?

The Thailand Cannabis Report  ·  2026 Edition  ·  Field-verified market intelligence  ยท  Last reviewed: 2026

There is a single decision underneath everything that makes this report different. We counted the market instead of modelling it.

Why Is a Market Model Just a Dressed-Up Guess?

A market model can be elegant, well-referenced, and completely detached from the street. It is a structured argument about what a number should be, given a set of assumptions. That is useful in the absence of anything better. It is not the same as knowing.

What Does Counting a Market Instead of Modelling It Actually Involve?

Counting means more than 850 dispensaries visited, 30 farms and 100 operators interviewed across more than ten nationalities, and 400 customers across forty. It means three years, and it means completing the licensing process ourselves. None of that scales, and all of it is real.

What you get at the end is not a prettier guess. It is a floor of observed fact that the guesses never stood on. The estimates that remain are built up from that floor, not projected down from a curve.

Quick answers
Why count a market instead of modelling it?

A market model is a structured argument about what a number should be, given assumptions. Counting produces a floor of observed fact the guesses never stood on.

What does counting this market actually involve?

More than 850 dispensaries visited, 30 farms and 100 operators interviewed across more than ten nationalities, 400 customers across forty, three years, and the licensing process completed directly.

Is a market model the same as knowing the market?

No. A model can be elegant and well-referenced while remaining completely detached from the street. That is useful in the absence of anything better, but it is not the same as knowing.

What do the resulting estimates rest on?

A floor of observed fact, built up from the ground rather than projected down from a curve.

The narrative is free. The numbers are in the report.

This post gives you the argument. The full method, the figures, and the confidence ratings behind them are in the report. Read a free sample chapter, then decide.

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