The RG420 cannabis cafe opened just four days ago in Khao San, an area of Bangkok popular with backpackers - and already it's crammed with customers. Several such outlets have sprung up across the capital since Thailand decriminalised the plant in June, a few weeks before it dropped COVID-linked controls on foreign visitors. Foreign arrivals shrank to 2 million in the first half of 2022 from nearly 40 million in 2019, and RG420's owner Ong-ard Panyachatiraksa and others like him view their cafes as central to efforts to revive a tourism industry that contributed about 12% to GDP before the pandemic struck. A staff member prepares cannabis at the RG420 cannabis store, at Khaosan Road, one of the favourite tourist spots in Bangkok, Thailand, July 31, 2022. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmet...
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