Why Are the Dispensaries Still Open If It Is Illegal?
Thailand's dispensaries are still open because cannabis was not banned outright - it was moved to a medical-only framework. Shops that renewed their license and added on-site medical supervision can legally sell cannabis to customers with a prescription. Thousands that could not meet the new requirements have closed, which is why the streetscape looks thinner than it did in 2023.
Legal, but on new terms
Recriminalization in June 2025 did not make every dispensary illegal. It changed what a legal dispensary is. To keep operating, a shop must function as a medical outlet: hold a license, employ a certified medical or traditional-medicine practitioner on-site (a requirement tightened in January 2026), verify prescriptions, and source product from certified growers. The shops that remain are the ones that could absorb those costs.
The scale of the closures
The shakeout has been dramatic. Of 18,433 shops operating at the peak, about 7,300 had closed by early 2026 after failing to renew under stricter rules, leaving around 11,136 still operating. Further license expiries in 2026 and 2027 mean more closures are expected. So "still open" and "far fewer" are both true at once.
Why some shops still sell loosely
In practice, enforcement is uneven, and some shops in tourist areas still sell with minimal process. That does not make those sales legal, and it does not remove the buyer's risk. The gap between what a shop does and what the law requires is exactly where visitors get caught out.
The bigger picture
The survival of fewer, more compliant, better-capitalized shops is not random. It is what a market looks like when it consolidates under tighter rules rather than collapsing. Who survives, and why, is one of the more interesting questions for anyone looking at the industry rather than just shopping in it.
Because it is medical-legal. Licensed shops with medical supervision can sell to prescription holders.
Roughly 11,136 as of early 2026, down from 18,433 at the peak.
Only if the sale follows the prescription rules. Many casual sales do not.
Likely, as further licenses expire in 2026 and 2027.
the pattern of who survived and who closed is the real story of this market. That is the subject of our deeper analysis. Read a free chapter →
Three findings from the 2026 edition, free.
Of 8,636 expired dispensary licences, 1,339 renewed. The rest did not bother. That is not a market collapsing. That is a market taking out its own trash.
CertainFewer shops, higher revenue each. The closures removed storefronts, not revenue, because the shops that closed were earning almost nothing. Every desk model read the count and stopped.
LikelyA small minority of shops earn a disproportionate share of all revenue. The bottom half earns a fraction of it. Nobody else has measured this.
LikelyBuilt from 850+ dispensary visits across Thailand, 100+ dispensary owner and operator interviews, 30+ farm owner and operator interviews, and 400+ customer interviews across 40 nationalities. 101 pages. 23 chapters. Every chapter sourced, every figure confidence-tagged.