Bangel72

While medicinal-grade cannabis is pricier at 10,000 baht per kilo, this is an interesting element 10 baht a gram for safer stuff, if its straight from a local farm I suspect that may be fair including costs. The shops are selling at massive margins currently, not all but most of them, I saw a reputable seller selling 50g grade B stuff (not brick) for a 1000 baht so 20 baht a gram though there A+ stuff was nearer the 250 mark. If price controls come in including prescriptions prices at around 49 baht at government hospitals then it could end up being better for the consumer. That is unlikely to happen and we may even find prices get inflated further or the quality drops. Some regulation will in my view be of benefit and it will likely mean less profits for the smaller business's but if they bring in cost control, ease of access to prescriptions and zoning usage which are all associated with medicinal usage, perhaps even government sso insurance will pay shops directly there could be benefits for the patient. I also wonder if they capped prices at say 20 baht a gram, how many of those shops would voluntary choose to close? Perhaps todays meds have given me a rosier view on things at least for a couple of hours.

Are these Medical Cannabis ID Card's government issued or currently just shops own cards? Is it related just to getting a prescription and purchases or related to actual usage, I've not seen anything changing actual usage yet. If there was an official not just shop printed cards, I may feel a bit more comfortable carrying and using in designated areas but not sure if its needed currently. Would like to see more on designated areas, out at a central mall and an anxiety or pain attack comes on so you need to take your medicine quickly, needs to be options on that front now its medicinal and used under prescription. Hopefully some of the stigma will be removed at the same time.

No issue wearing a helmet but the availability of helmets seems more of an issue, should we all carry one around? Consider seatbelts, most cars have them so really no excuse for not wearing one. Now and again you get in a car and its broken in the backseat, what percentage of people here would get out the car whether it private or a friends and find other transport? The beeping alert has actually worked very well on this front compared with stop and fine. On bikes it can be similar, only driver does not have a spare helmet, people will weigh things up, is this the last driver of the evening, can I get another quickly, lets just take it and drive carefully. This is likely where we are now. The fine will change that only if its consistent and applied, but drop it and we stay with being fairly stupid when it comes to risk taking. Tech though is there already to scan for helmets at stop signs and traffic lights, that beeping alert may like the seatbelt alert be a better way of changing things at least in the big cities. Notice the change on bikes stopping on zebra's (uk term) due to the alert, it was immediate change, something to consider for helmets in my view.

Casting the religious beliefs and elements aside, I am not going to advocate for those. Francis was known for his interest and offering help in those exact areas you mention "poverty, wars, disease, natural disasters, and climate change" alongside many others that may have a lesser voice. Now compare that to current world leadership, are they focused on those, have they been, would we need to divert attention and resources to those if they were? We do need more voices in this area, I'm not going to suggest politics, greed and corruption does not exist within religious communities but alternatively if they can be a voice for good, why not? There is potential for a lot of good even if past experience may argue otherwise, I dont see a lot of others willing to step up though.

Do they have the same second names and are they both travelling on their Thai passports? Not sure if marraige would even factor in, in that case. I ran into a few issues taking my son abroad, I had signed consent forms from the mother(not married), amphur initially told us no problems. Him leaving on his thai passport with different name from myself, had birth certificate and also legal guardianship documents. Airport, 2am they were calling his mother, wanted letter from amphur with the specific flight details on it. They let us through eventually but bit of hassle. Also to get his thai passport renewed I had to sign, mother could not do it alone. So for me more checking than I expected. However for the other way around, I've not heard if it was him and her on thai passports with same name then not sure I'd be needed, and also agree uk embassy may not do this, risk passes to them.

Is arrest the right word? As others mention it seems similar to the fine for dropping a cigarette butt on the street, would that be called arrested? Anyone know what the fine was?

One of the key personal view aspects is that they've paid their dues and earned that pension in most cases. Some random chatgp numbers, these will be way off and no doubt everyone here can pick massive holes in this as not an economist, its purely food for thought but this looks like its a 13% differential in favor of the government encouraging "average" pensioners to stay in the UK. How does this compare to frozen pension differentials? Pension Credit: £5 billion Pensioner Housing Benefit: £6 billion Winter Fuel Payments: £2 billion NHS - tough one to measure but England say 153 billion for 24/25 and Older adults (65+) generally account for 40-50% of NHS expenditure. 12.6 million pensioners so lets say a round extra cost of 6k per pensioner in the UK. However then you have the recirculation value, non-uk that money is lost to other countries but in UK the pension is re-circulated. Taking account of pure costs NHS etc then its still roughly a 13% extra value impact to government of being in UK and spending that pension. Blame chatgp for random numbers.

I'm wondering if this is the clause she is aiming for? She may have a legal claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 if she can prove that: She was financially dependent on him before his death. She lived with him as a partner for at least 2 years immediately before his death. *This one I think the sons ruled out. Can of worms though if she was successful.

As a layman its hard to see what the legal case is here. If not legally married, Thailand not recognising common law partner if that's the argument or if its a straight forward debt on the estate that would need to be legally recorded otherwise its likely classed as a gift the same as the house he paid for here? Even without a will, fairly sure UK law divides between the kids. Potentially lawyer chancing their arm? Interesting that its even been accepted as a claim by a court, article maybe missing some aspect. The kids right to estate in thailand and any bank accounts here that may have been drained would be interesting? Interesting none the less, as likely impacts many people in similar situations from both sides of the fence.

This I think is a key question with huge impact. If tax free threshold in Thailand in 60k and you remit 500k which was tax free in home country would 440k be taxed even with double taxation in place? Retiring in Thailand would be hit hard if that's the case.

Has anyone done there 2024 tax returns yet? The following on the face of it seems reasonably straight forward. https://www.rd.go.th/fileadmin/user_upload/lorkhor/newspr/2024/FOREIGNERS_PAY_TAX2024.pdf However what counts as evidence for both the idea that money brought into thailand was all earned before 1st Jan 2024 or taxed abroad under a double tax treaty may prove problematic. Worth getting bank statements from foreign accounts from end of 2023 and if I never bring in more than that ever I wonder if that would suffice. Edit - there may be people who have not declared non-resident in there own country even though in Thailand for over 180 days - they may be forced to do that now. How that impacts tax free allowance in foreign country or now if that could be taxed in thailand might be an interesting part. Most people do not seem to be the targets of this initiative but may get caught in the crossfire due to lack of documentation and evidence rather than legitimately liable to pay tax in Thailand.

A couple of questions regarding the police book updates. Currently registered in the back of beyond, 5 year period. Last couple of times its gone like this. No we cannot do that here, go to immigration. After a lot of thai back and forth, connecting them with someone from chaeng wattana they confirm they can do it but need big boss to sign it, we'll call you when he is next in office. Basically it got done but a couple of days process and discussion to achieve that. Recently moved elsewhere and no longer in contact with house owner of blue book and cannot contact them. Now living in long term hotel situation with long contract. A couple of challenges I see, if anyone has been through something similar I'd appreciate some thoughts. It would be a painful journey to go back and try and explain I have moved at the police station particularly without the Thai house owner and blue book being available even before the communication and general reluctance situation. Any suggestions on this, do it through a lawyer perhaps without needing to go in person? In new location, do long term hotels have blue books, has anyone been added to one? I don't know anyone in the area yet to be added to a "friends" blue book so unsure of options, though again likely a legal company may have a stash of blue book properties but at a cost. Can the first step be skipped even if is not the recommended approach and just go and register at new location? Are there any other options than blue book or is that a must? Has anyone done it via the lawyers blue book stash approach? Any real experience in this would be appreciated?

I was having some beers in banter with a few new guys in thailand recently and this sort came up in the discussion under the any advice you can offer topics. Beer banter consensus seemed to be either accept it and get on with the job at hand or pay them to go away in exchange for a lesson learned and a funny story. Its generally okay to ask here in the same way you might ask if they are expecting compensation which some other cultures are less okay with. Its that simple, coming to thailand with phobia's and potential aggression when someone different triggers your phobia, your coming to the wrong place. Yes they should have been up front from the start, perhaps desperation lead them to take that risk, perhaps its the hustle and there is no doubt they are putting themselves at risk in doing so.

COD aside. If there were rules that all online payments go to a holding account pending satisfaction so they can be reversed easily this may reduce a lot of fraud. Needs involvement of banks and likely could create problems however so increased cost needs to go somewhere but maybe worth it to get rid of the base scams going around.

The owners being charged with the dogs crimes would be a good starting point. That's a risk good dog owners would likely accept as they would look to train their dog well, it may also put off casual ownership.