When Thailand decided to legalize all marijuana outside of refined oils a month and a half ago, most of the sensible people of the world rejoiced. For people who think as I do, it makes absolutely no sense that a plant that gets you high would be illegal, sometimes carrying jail-time with having it, and a liquid that basically does exactly the same thing is available in every store and is not only not illegal, but it's use is advertised and encouraged. I'm talking about alcohol of course.
Thailand does not allow the exportation of the mary jane that is sold here, but you can transport it the same way that you could booze including on commercial airplanes. There is really nowhere that you can't bring the stuff even though there are some loosely-enforced restrictions on where it can be smoked that is similar to where you can smoke cigarettes. Since I can't stand cigarettes being smoked around me I was all for this ruling.
Things seemed to be going very well. People are making money, there hasn't been a rise in crime and there has actually been a decrease in the level of road deaths and while I have no proof of this, I think it might because people that are stoned tend to drive very cautiously whereas drunk people seem to drive with reckless abandon.
I haven't ever heard of countries testing people for having used drugs at some point in the recent past but I was already very aware of the fact that Malaysia is pretty hardcore when it comes to drug use in their country.
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The few times I have been to Malaysia I remember seeing giant signs warning incoming visitors that drug possession is grounds for the death penalty in that country. There are multiple films made about this exact scenario and some of them are true. Return to Paradise starring Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix is one of the more memorable ones. Basically, Malaysia doesn't fuck around when it comes to drugs and this is the exact opposite of how Thailand feels, at least as far as marijuana is concerned.
A group of Thai people were visiting Malaysia for some undisclosed reason when they were detained by police and then held without charges until the submitted to a drug test. These people were not smuggling anything, they didn't have any drugs on them, they were simply targeted for drug testing to see if they had been using marijuana in the recent past. They all tested positive for trace amounts and were fined 50,000 Baht (around $1600) and held in jail for 3 days.
It is my understanding that Malaysians are subjected to rules of this sort such as being tested for drugs upon returning to their country - I have no idea if this is true but I do know that Sharia Law is a big part of society in Malaysia and from what I know it is meant to apply only to citizens of Malaysia for the most part. However, this seems like a violation of international law to punish someone who is a not a citizen of your country for doing something that isn't illegal in their home country, especially if they aren't smuggling anything but rather, just used it somewhere that it is not illegal.
It remains to be seen if this will be a widespread thing because if it is, it could have very serious ramifications for Malaysia since a lot of people frequently travel between the two bordering countries. God help anyone that intentionally or accidentally brings weed into Malaysia. They still have a mandatory death penalty in place for possession over 200 grams - which is a lot so I don't think that anyone would be able to claim "oh no, I forgot that was in my bag!"
Thus far Thailand authorities have not spoken about this issue involving the 3 Thai men and I doubt that they will. I don't think this is necessarily a Malaysian rule but more likely, just a few border cops looking to pad their own pockets with payoff money.
Either way, it is something to be worried about. If you are smoking or using weed in Thailand and your next destination is Malaysia, be warned!