Dogmatix

Not sure about this because the court can order licence suspension for DUI on the first offence. This may be over and above any suspensions ordered by a court or perhaps it is overridden by court penalties. Very unclear.

Wissanu is a politician. He looked for an opportunity to be seen to be doing something in view of the backlash from conservatives and the derailing of the Cannabis Bill by coalition MPs from the Democrat party in pursuit of their own political aimes. So, as deputy PM, he jumped in to chair a meeting of the ONCB which is under the Justice minster who stressed before the meeting that nothing will change as a result of the meeting and it didn't. Wissanu has announced that cannabis will become a controlled herb which is nothing to do with him but is according to the Health Ministry regulation signed by Anutin already. This means no sales from vans, no smoking lounges, no online sales or advertising. We already knew that but Wissanu is trying to take credit for something already done by Anutin who was desperate to stave off attacks on his policy after his colleaagues in the coalition voted down his Cannabis Bill. Anutin doesn't really want more restrictions or medical only, like he says, but he needs a solution that will satisfy conservatves and head off the pressure for recriminalisation that would be a disaster for him and his supporters with huge investments in the industry.

Why would Hunter have abandoned the laptop without paying for it and picking it up? And why would he have given it with his personal data in it to a repair shop anyway? He could have got a trusted friend to transfer the data to a new drive, if it had failed and was not backed up. Then destroy it with a sledge hammer, if it really had such compromising stuff in it. Seems not really credible.

Why should the public care? BTS borrowed money it could never have paid back from idiot bankers, mainly foreign, including the World Bank, to build the thing. It would have been foreclosed on in most countries but the Thai courts allowed the case to drag on for years and forced the creditors to to accept 40 cents in the dollar. BTS should also forgive 60% of the BMA debts in the public interest and in recognition of kindness shown to them by the courts and their creditores.

It is not the Supreme Court. It is the Supreme Court for Political Office Holders.

The main issue was that Anutin was running out of time to fulfill his campaign pledge of legalisation and avoid being seen as a failure by the electorate at next year's elections. Originally he must have hoped the Cannabis and Hemp Bill cold be passed at about the same time or soon after decriminalisation. But in the end he had to go it alone and push the button on a one page ministerial decree to legalise with less than a year to go before the end of the government's term and the threat of the government collapsing or Prayut dissolving parliament at any moment. The blocking of the Cannabis Bill by his fellow coalition partners in the Democrat Party for self-serving political reasons was an unexpected and bitter blow after they had voted for the first reading in June a few days after decriminalisation. The other issue was the smoke and mirrors effect of Anutin convincing people that recreational use would still be illegal after decriminalisation because extracts wiht over 0.2% would still be illegal, without mentioning extracts were not necessary for recreational use. In fact they are used more for medicinal purposes. This created a backlash from conservatives who had been too lazy to read the one pager that decriminalised weed and suddenly realised that buds were legal. Yes, there is a lack of QC on the buds, since a two tier market developed for rich stoners who can afford to pay 700 baht a gram for imported organic buds in dispensaries and the have nots who continued smoking the brickweed that comes in from plantations owned by Thai influential figures in Laos at 2.5 baht a gram. The brickweed produced with pesticides and from moldy weed was always there and will continue to be there underground if they recriminalise but the imported organic buds will all but disappear. So that the QC problem will get worse under recriminalisation. It's hard to see demand or supply disappearing overnight as a result of recriminalisation, if they do it. Incidentally I don't think Anutin's claim that he only ever wanted to legalise for medical use is in any way credible. Before decriminalisatin they had already carved out sufficient exemptions allowing medical use. So, there was no need to legalise fully, if medical use was the sole objective. Anyway medical demand is pretty small and the big money has always been in recreational use. The daughter of Newin, the founder and power behind the scenes of Anutin's BJP party, who has plantations openly in Thailand was clear about that in a BBC interview. The plantations of BJP backers that are visible in Thailand must be only the tip of the iceberg. Having said all that I think it was a calculated gamble by Anutin to get his policies through and without the Democrats putting a spoke in the wheel, his policy might be in reasonable shape. On balance it would be good for Thailand to maintain a relatively open cannabis policy and continue to allow tourists to get access to it. You could say Thai tourism has it all: Sun, Sand, Sea, Sex and Sativa. Amsterdam admits that roughly a third of its tourism is attracted by the dope. Then there is the red light district, which pales in comparison to Thailand's equivalent industry.

Seems like there was a chaotic cabinet meeting, while Anutin was abroad, where the director general of the Herbs dept that issued the latest decree as a stopgap for the stalled Cannabis Bill was grilled and couldn't answer many of the questions because they were outside his narrow jurisdiction. Sounds like Wissanu may have stepped in to put the matter up for discussion by the ONCB tomorrow with himself chairing the meeting, although he is nothing to do with the ONCB which is under the Justice Ministry. Wissanu is a snake who can't be trusted in any way. I guess, as as one of the triumvirate of junta "legal experts", his role here is to find a way to either tighten up laws or get cannabis banned again. Wissanu said proposals made at the ONCB meeting will be sent to the cabinet for further discussion which means he already has a set of proposals for the the ONCB to rubber stamp. The ONCB's legal role is that under the Narcotics Act it has to approve any amendments made to the categories of controlled substances. The minister of public health has the power to make amendments with the consent of the ONCB without the need for parliamentary scrutiny or cabinet resolutions. So it is the only body that has any say apart from the minister, which is obviously why Wissanu is dragging it into the equation. So far the ONCB has been amenable to all the cannabis liberalisation moves proposed to it by Anutin but with Wissanu orchestrating things the ONCB may go along with whatever he has decided. If Wissanu pushes the ONCB to declare it made a horrible mistake and would not have approved legalisation, if it knew what was going to happen and that the Cannabis Bill would not be passed, that would obviously put Anutin under huge pressure to recriminalise. However, the sec gen of the ONCB might resist as it would imply that he made a colossal blunder in failing to protect the public and ought to resign. This whole situation has been caused by the Democratic Party's U-turn in refusing to vote for the second reading of the Cannabis Bill, after wholeheartedly supporting the first reading. Their own support has waned even further after a well known sexual harrasser was appointed deputy leader and the party leader refused to resign to take responsibility for that. Having been wiped out in Bangkok, it is under threat from Anutin's Bhum Jai Thai Party in its remaining power base in the South. Changing sides to oppose BJP's Cannabis Bill and pushing for recriminalisation was seen by the Dems as a desperate opportunistic move to head off the threat from BJP to its Southern seats in the next election, as Muslim clerics have voiced opposition to the legalisation.

Most landlords will not cooperate with requests for tabien baan registration at their properties. They have to do some paperwork for you and to report again that you have gone. Many rental properties don’t have a householder which is essential to register occupants and they are not going to assign a tenant to be the householder. You need to buy your own condo in Bkk or get on a friend’s tabien baan there. The cabinet resolved in Jan 2022 to axe Special a branch from the citizenship process completely and give the whole thing to the Interior Ministry to administer from beginning to end, including processing initial applications in DOPA (Dept of Provincial Administration) offices the provinces. DOPA has been drafting new ministerial regulations for this, including for new Thai language tests, which are intended to take effect in early 2023. These will be only the second set of ministerial regulations pursuant to the 1965 Nationality Act. The first regulations were issued in 1967 but new ministerial guidelines that don’t have to be announced in the Royal Gazette and thus don’t have force of law were last issued in 2009. Special Branch only has one dedicated office for citizenship applications which is in Bangkok and they has been happy to take applications from people who line the provinces, knowing that SB offices in other provinces were ill equipped to handle applications. They were happy to overlook the fact these applicants had only cosmetic tabien baans in Bkk. But it is too early to say how this situation is going to pan out under DOPA. if you are ready to go with your application, it is probably worth getting a tabien baan in Bkk and applying with SB while the Bkk office is still functioning. Otherwise I Wouk’s hold off re-registering in Bkk until the new regulations are issued and there is Mor clarity about they will be applied.

I support nuclear power, as it is the only viable option for the world. But exceptions should be made for incompetent, corrupt countries like Thailand that are clearly incapable of maintaining nuclear facilities safely.

They are discussing a jv to produce bonesaws to be distributed to all Saudi Thai embassies and consulates world wide for security purposes.

Leaders of vassal states don't get handshakes from the emperor. Funny that Prayut tried to make it look as if he had stretched out his hand in an ushering gesture after the emperor had snubbed him.

What BS. It is not illegal to pick up a prostitute. Under the Prostitution Act main offences are: Prositutes causing a nuisance by soliciting. Keeping a baudy house. Customs having commercial sex with under 18 year olds. I suppose that doesn't stop Pattaya BiB telling Indian tourists it is against the law.

Not really a good excuse, if the surgeon didn't bother to tell him. You mean you think it's OK not to tell the patient and ask permission verbally, as long as it is slipped into the written form, possibly after he signed it?

Vote buying ahead of elections in first quarter 2023. With nothing done about flood prevention since the great floods of 2011 or waste management, Thais will die happy washed away with their families in a torrent of sewage because they could stay up late to watch the footy and gambled on it in 2022. Who wouldn’t want to make this choice?

Vote buying with taxpayers money pure and simple.

True. FFP’s infraction was much less, reported by the party itself and easily arguable that it was not an infraction at all, due to unclear definition in the law. This one is very clear cut. And yes, the money laundering was done by PPRP not the criminal donor.

The 3 mil came from the formerly Chinese businessman’s legit business of selling soft drinks in his drug parlour/brothel. So no problem.

Right. Big Joke has already been canned from the police for doing just that.

Chinese with Thai nationality = normal Thai Chinese gangsters. Why not round all of them up?

It's pretty clear that, in spite of their protestations about intending to legalize for medical use only, marijuana for recreational use was exactly the main intent. Top BJP worthies have huge vested interests in plantations. If medical use only was all that was required, why bother to legalize the buds? Medical marijuana was legalized in 2019 and available in clinics all over the coutry, mainly in oil form. The emphasis on keeping extracts with more than 0.2% THC illegal was smoke and mirrors to make most people including govt MPs from other parties believe that only CBD plants would be legal. The strategy worked well.

There wasn't any department stepping with a big hammer. It was all Anutin's work and he even signed the two page decree himself. Anutin's Cannabis and Hemp Bill, which contains very similar provisions was voted down by the Democrat party MPs in the govt coalition. With no Cannabis Act in place, Anutin is vulnerable to attacks from the conservatives in the next election, criticising him for creating a free for all. So he went for a stop gap solution in the form of a ministerial regulation he could issue himself. This is obviously much easier to repeal than an act of parliament but Anutin is banking on still being able to conrol the Public Health Ministry. Anutin is basically going for the minimal regulation he can get away with without triggering a conservative backlash that could harm his prospects in the next elections.

Not so. The daytime break for selling alcohol is a revolutionary decree from a military government in the 70s that had fallen into disuse a few years later but never repealed. It was simply revived by Thaksin.

This is a shame, albeit inevitable, given the backlash from conservatives. Even though I have only indulged a couple of times since legalization, I liked the idea that stuffy, uptight Thailand had suddenly become the most liberal cannabis country in the world. I think it was a great idea for tourism and that may all be killed now. People who invested in shops off the main drag that never seem to have customers in them were probably dependent on online sales and may lose their investments now, if there is enforcement against online sales. However, this may be difficult when you look at the proliferation of online selling on FB and LINE by those who obviously don't shops and will be reluctant to give up this new source of income, while their customers will be relunctant to stop ordering low cost weed online. Considering that Thai police can't stop police selling illegal guns online, the prospect for stopping online sales of a legal product seems rather dismal. I guarantee that, if you google the right words in Thai, you will come across a short term pop up site selling illegal guns that will operate for a few days, make some money and then close down and pop up again somewhere else. So why not with weed for which penalties will be much much less than for guns.

This is an obvious loophole. Privately smoking dope in a private massage parlour room cannot be cracked down on, even if technically illegal to smoke on business premises. It would be no different from a hotel allowing guests to smoke in certain designated guest rooms. The masseuses might not be so keen though.

That was only extracts and the THC limit was and is 0.2%.