Cannabis Business
Honest notes from 900+ dispensary visits. Zero sponsored posts.
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My own Instagram account has been suspended. I got it back. Plenty of dispensaries do not. I have watched shops with years of reels and thousands of followers vanish overnight, and the ones that had nothing else were left with a Google profile pointing at a dead link and regulars who had no idea where they had gone.
So, does a dispensary need a website if it has Instagram? Yes. Not because Instagram is useless, but because Instagram is rented and a website is owned. A dispensary website is the one place online that no platform can switch off, that Google trusts, and that every tourist can open in two seconds without an app or an account.
Around 3 in 4 dispensaries in Thailand's tourist areas have no dedicated website. That is from ThaiCannaMapped's own audit of Google Maps listings across tourist towns. Most of those shops rely on Instagram, a LINE account, or nothing at all.
That is a problem for them and an opportunity for you. When a tourist compares three shops on the map and only one has a proper website with hours, directions and a clear explanation of how buying works, guess which one looks like a real business.
Accounts disappear. Cannabis accounts are routinely restricted, hidden from discovery or disabled, often with little explanation. If that happens to you, here is what to do in the first 48 hours. Even when an account survives, reach can quietly drop, as I explain in the cannabis shadowban guide.
You cannot advertise there anyway. Thailand banned all commercial cannabis advertising in June 2025, and Meta has its own restrictions on cannabis sellers. Instagram is a place to show personality, not a sales machine.
Google does not rank Instagram posts for local searches the way it ranks websites. A tourist typing "dispensary near Nana" is far more likely to land on a website, a directory or a Google profile than on your reel.
Google's own profile guidelines push you to a website. They ask for a website that represents your individual location and discourage links that send people to social media landing pages. A profile that points to your own site is stronger.
Not everyone uses Instagram. Plenty of visitors from Europe, India and elsewhere live on WhatsApp and Google, not Instagram. A website works for all of them.
I made the full argument in why cannabis businesses shouldn't build on Instagram alone. The short version: keep Instagram, but stop treating it as your home.
You do not need a big site to start. A strong one page site beats a ten page site nobody updates. Here is what it needs, in roughly this order:
Your shop name, exactly as on your sign. Same spelling as your Google profile. Consistency helps Google connect the two.
Address, map and directions. Include the nearest BTS or MRT station or landmark, and a simple walking description. Most tourists navigate by station.
Opening hours. Correct ones. If you are open late or 24 hours, say so clearly.
How buying works. A short, calm explanation: you must be 20 or older, you need a valid Thai prescription (PT33) from a Thai licensed practitioner, bring your passport or ID. Link to a full PT33 guide if you do not want to explain it all yourself.
Your licence. Show your licence details and explain your sticker. Point visitors to check you on the ThaiCannaMapped Dispensary Register. This is the strongest trust signal you have, and most shops never use it. More in is this dispensary licensed.
Real photos. Your shopfront from the street (so people recognise the door), your counter and your team. No stock images.
Contact options. Phone and a messaging link for questions about hours and directions. Not for orders.
A short "about us". Who runs the shop and what you care about. This is where personality lives.
Basic house rules. No consumption on site, no sales to under 20s, pregnant or breastfeeding women, or students. Saying this publicly shows you take the rules seriously.
Fast on a phone. Almost every visitor will open it on mobile, often on patchy data. If it takes more than a few seconds to load, they are gone.
This is informational, not legal advice, but these are the lines I would not cross.
No online ordering, no cart, no "reserve and pay". Online and electronic sales of cannabis are banned in Thailand. A website informs and directs. It does not sell.
No promotional offers. Discounts, happy hours, "first visit" deals and giveaways are promotion of sales, which is exactly what the advertising ban targets.
Be careful with menus and prices. This is a genuine grey zone. Some shops treat a plain, factual price list on their own site as information, not promotion. Others leave prices off entirely. If you show them, keep them factual, never framed as a deal, and get a view from a Thai lawyer. Advertising breaches can cost a shop a 30 day licence suspension, which is far more expensive than a website without a menu.
No images of people smoking in the shop. Allowing on site smoking can cost you your licence, and a photo on your own website is evidence.
No health claims you cannot support. Explaining what the law says about medical use is fine. Promising cures is not.
Think of it as three pieces that support each other.
The Google profile is how people find you on the map. It should link to your website. Here is why profiles disappear and how to stay visible on Google Maps.
The website is the home base that confirms you are real, answers questions and holds your articles. Google's guide to local ranking says prominence is based partly on how many websites link to your business, and a site is what other people link to.
Instagram is personality and community. Its bio should link to the website, so that if the account ever goes, your followers know where to find you.
Once the page is up, adding a few useful articles turns it into a search asset. That is the subject of dispensary SEO for Bangkok shops and content as the only ad you're allowed.
Clean, not neon. The weed leaf, smoke and lightning look of the open era now reads as risky. A calm, clinic adjacent design matches where the law is heading.
Bilingual where it counts. English first for tourists, Thai for local customers, checked by a native speaker.
Owned by you. Your domain, your hosting account, your login. I have seen shops lose a website because a freelancer registered the domain in their own name and then disappeared.
Is a Linktree or a LINE page enough? It is better than nothing, but it is still rented and Google barely sees it. A real domain is worth the small cost.
How much does a dispensary website cost? A simple one page site does not need to be expensive. What matters more is that it is fast, accurate and owned by you.
Can I put my menu online? It is a grey zone. Never with promotional framing, never with ordering, and ideally after advice from a Thai lawyer.
Do I still need Instagram? Yes, for personality and community. Just not as your only home.
Every shop that lost its Instagram account wished it had a website the day before. Build it while things are calm.
I document what works for Thai dispensaries on Instagram, which I am fully aware is ironic, and owners trade notes on websites and Google inside Reefers Club, an invite only community of people in the Thai cannabis industry. If you want it done for you, Grow on Google is a clean website, a strengthened Google profile and three SEO articles, and the ongoing side lives in the marketing and content work I do.
Written by someone who has watched too many good shops lose everything with one disabled account, and would like that to stop happening.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. All cannabis marketing in Thailand must comply with Thai law, including the bans on cannabis advertising and online sales. Check anything you are unsure about with a Thai lawyer.
