Officers from Provincial Police Region 3 raided his house in Nong Sruang village in Kham Thale So district last night (Mar 12).
They found a large nursery, 12 metres wide and 36 metres long, in the grounds. There were 976 marijuana plants planted in rows of pots.
Montri Thiwavornchai, 53, a local builder, told police he had invested about one million baht in constructing the nursery to grow organic marijuana in a closed system. He bought seeds from a neighbouring country for B3,000 a kilogramme.
He had planted them about three months ago and planned to harvest the plants in about two months.
Mr Montri said he had suffered from colon cancer, which was in the third stage in 2014. He used marijuana to treat his cancer, by boiling the leaves to drink. He also ate fresh marijuana leaves. He said his cancer had been cured.
So he then invested in marijuana farming. He intended to grow these plants for medical use and distribution to local residents with illnesses.
He had not yet sought permission to grow the plants because of the bureaucratic red tape.
Police initially pressed two counts against him – illegally growing marijuana and possessing a Type 5 narcotic.