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I posted some links below. Per those links prior to decriminalization of cannabis, about 3% of Thai youths used cannabis or yaba. Versus about 30% who used alcohol. That sounds about right to me. Up until very recently, alcohol was far more readily available than cannabis or yaba. Does that mean that it was impossible for someone determined to aquire cannabis or yaba to find it? Of course not. But I personally didn't know where to find either, while I did know where to find Thai whiskey which like cannabis and yaba I don't consume. Now I do know where to find cannabis. It has become more readily available due to Mr Anutin's efforts. Which part of that am I getting so terribly wrong? https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17450128.2020.1770391?journalCode=rvch20 https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article/45/3/278/209016

I guess it depends on the neighborhood. In my neighborhood alcohol is readily available in refrigerators and on kitchen shelves to kids. Yaba, cocaine, opium etc are much less available. Similar situation to my North American neighborhood as a youth. Apparently it's different where you live/lived.

Yes.

For the record, I know many Thai adults who speak out against all of those things.

So you don't think that availability of a drug is a factor in prevalence of usage?

My guess is that due to lesser availability, illegal drug use among kids is lower

He's got nothing to do with increased availability?

Apparently Canadains aren't immune to the health risks. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/smoking-marijuana-harmful-lungs-smoking-cigarettes-study-finds/story?id=93283206

Sounds like my favorite French restaurant. French chef, French cheese, French wine. Not even a token Thai dish on the menu ????

I wonder if he had a dark tinted windshield? I did on the second hand car I purchased in Thailand. Surprising how much better night vision was when I removed the windshield tint (to the dismay of the service shop and Thai neighbors).

I don't agree with that. My "genuine Thai" wife, her (modest income) Thai family, and most of her Thai friends absolutely support laws not selling property to foreigner. They claim it prevents the Chinese from buying up the country.

Both the US and Canada (and I'm sure many more 1st world countries) have investor residency programs with price tags below 40M baht. These not only allow land purchase, but also lead to full citizenship. Thailand needs to realize that we come here because it's fun, cheap and warm. In spite of the fact that for those reasons I plan to spend a good part of my years here in retirement, Thailand has a long way to go before I'd consider investing 40M baht in the country. The bulk of my funds remain securely off shore.

We have 2 SAIC cars, and both are surprisingly good. Not a single problem with either to date. After many years of building cars in China for Volkswagen, Audi and General Motors they've learned a thing or two. Definitely an up and coming brand.

When in the US we're in the Boston area. The New York Thai Embassy comes to Boston twice yearly to serve the Thai expat community. But Thailand being a wealthy nation, we certainly can't expect similar service from the impoverished US Embassy in Bangkok ???? The older I get the more likely I am to pay for extra service, be it Business Class seats, VIP arrival service, or agents to make dealing with bureaucrats easier. I'd definitely use an agent to help with a passport renewal if offered.

I wonder what that costs? Shameful that they enable taxi fares that in many cases exceed the cost of a domestic flight to Phuket. On our single flight there, we avoided the taxi mafia by renting a car. They can be booked for around 1,000 baht for 24 hours and give extra mobility along with an <deleted> to the taxi mafia.

Well stated, pretty much how I was about to respond. Let me add that in addition to board members who don't trust Thai Police, law enforcement, and the Thai criminal justice system, I personally don't know a single Thai who trusts any of them either.

????To Canada for granting asylum. ????To Thailand for not granting asylum, but also allowing her to take refuge from the Myanmar authorities. ????To the US for being able to accommodate 1,800 per day across the southern border to take "refuge" from low wages, but unable to find space for 1 person who's situation meets the textbook definition of asylum.

You, Anutin, not so much. But the maskless girls in my favorite bar, mak mak ????

Rolex prices are through the roof!

Or just batter and deep fry, and serve with chips ????

Who's shocked that the latest scheme to lure the world's millionaires along with their bankrolls to Thailand isn't working as well as expected? Me neither. And it's going to be tough to fill those empty resorts with the current nose bleed airfares, which will likely be even worse come high season.

Because agents fabricate the bank documents out of thin air. I use an agent mainly because I prefer to have my X00,000 baht invested in mutual funds in the home country, not in a Thai bank account earning somewhere between zero and 0.01% interest. The interest earned in a real investment more than makes up for the cost of an agent, and the fact that dealing with an agent is faster and less stressful is a sweetener.

I thought they were illegal in Thailand...

Your written English is far better than that of my naturalized US citizen Thai wife, and many other US citizens I know. While that makes sense, when I was near the protest sites I never received any indication that protesters where happy I was there, even from Thai protesters. Then again, just 1 persons experience.

There are enough naturalized American citizens and dual citizens in the US that many probably assumed that you were American in spite your accent. Unlike Thailand where it's next to impossible for a foreigner to achieve Thai nationalality so a quick glance at us pretty accurately identifies at least me and the guy mentioned in the OP as a non Thai. Try the same clearly labeling yourself as a non citizen. For example, a group in the US calling themselves "Germans/Chinese/etc for Candidate X" would probably receive more scrutiny than a person with an accent advocating for/against a candidate or policy. And Candidate X would likely downplay or reject an endorsement from a foreign person or group. I've never heard of a foreign candidate actively pursuing endorsement from Americans, so I assume this to be true in most countries. And per my experiences above, plus many links posted on this thread, no matter what Americans or Europeans think of foreign involvement in local politics, many Thais and the Thai government are clearly against foreigners publicly expressing opinions on Thai politics.