Thai police checked a popular cannabis cafe to make sure the business was following the guidelines set by the public health department.

Officials checked the Rue Rerng Kan cafe to confirm they preparing the food correctly and obtaining their cannabis from approved suppliers.

Rangsee Changthanasombat, director of Thai Herb Plus traditional medicine centre, said the inspections in Chonburi province, Thailand on March 22, helped to promote the business.

He said: ‘I am grateful that the authorities check the cafes so that people know that we are doing the business the right way. We run business in line with the law and we are willing to follow the rules.’

Several cafes started serving cannabis-infused food and drinks after drug restrictions relaxed in the southeast Asian country.

Marijuana bark, stems, fibres, branches, roots, and leaves are allowed to be put in food and sold. However, the flowers which is the smokeable part remain prohibited.

Ratikorn Paseuththaijaroen, a pharmacist who was part of the inspecting team, said: ‘The survey was to check if the shops get their marijuana from legitimate suppliers.’

‘The sources of those approved parts must be legal and we have to check whether cannabis in these cafes came from authorised cooperatives.’

Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul hopes the industry will generate extra revenue for the country, which has seen its income from tourism decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The liberalisation of cannabis laws has seen rising share prices for companies involved in the industry. Last week, Cosmetic and supplements producer, DOD Biotech Pcl , saw share prices climb as high as 11.6% after it said it would develop and manufacture dietary supplements and skincare products that contain hemp for retailer Beauty Community Pcl. Beauty Community jumped as high as 4.4% during trade against a benchmark gain of about 0.2%.