oldscool

This seems to be the key point. Will life continue to be ok for you as you get older and presumably more socially isolated on the island? It's such a common problem that the Chiang Mai expat club used to run some sort of outreach for isolated expats, not sure if they still do. A key question is - can you afford to continue this situation indefinitely? If not, then you need to make some sort of change. You're close to 70? Some say 70 is the new 50, plenty of scope for change if that's what you decide.

Obviously one needs to get attention to get anything changed. Dressing up is one way to do it.

As I've pointed out Johnny, Pride was not a cry for attention, it was about many things, not least about helping to achieve equal rights under the law, and it succeeded.

About the need for it, well one of the main reasons for Pride was to put the agenda for equal rights under the law centre-stage, and that has succeeded in many parts of the world, though not yet Thailand. And there have been plenty of white pride marches and groups, some more infamous than others, and a regular ginger convention.

That's right, though the medicinal benefits of heroin, morphine and cocaine, other than as pain-killers, are questionable.

I'm indifferent to both these days, but.... This link suggests that "Despite its medical usefulness, many Americans’ attitudes toward cannabis shifted at the turn of the [20th] century. This was at least partly motivated by Mexican immigration to the U.S. around the time of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, according to Eric Schlosser, author of Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labour in the American Black Market." And some other countries followed the US. This despite the fact that "the drug wasn’t always prohibited. Anglo-Americans and Europeans have known about marijuana’s medicinal benefits since at least the 1830s. Around that time, Sir William Brooke O'Shaughnessy, an Irish doctor studying in India, documented that cannabis extracts could ease cholera symptoms like stomach pain and vomiting. By the late 19th century, Americans and Europeans could buy cannabis extracts in pharmacies and doctors’ offices to help with stomach aches, migraines, inflammation, insomnia, and other ailments." O'Shaughnessy's praise of mj's benefits is a long way from today's obsession with high THC recreation though. From my own experience of both, alcohol was a social drug, and a glass of wine with a nice meal is very different from the way I used weed, which was specifically to get stoned, and I think most recreational users do too, otherwise why bother it. But lots of drinkers don't drink to get drunk. This is a difference that often gets overlooked. https://www.history.com/news/why-the-u-s-made-marijuana-illegal

I get your point, really, but at the same time I don't see the need for people on the forum to be so hostile to Pride, ladyboys and gender-fluidity generally, and a lot of it really is just pure nastiness of the sort I have never witnessed among Thais. And some might say Walking St and Patong etc are Straight Pride Night every night of the year anyway!

What I don't get is why so many tourists and retirees come to the most gender-diverse and sexuality-tolerant place in the world and spend so much of their time getting wound up by it. In the last 15 years here I've worked with toms, ladyboys, gays, and yes even straights - and we all get along just fine.

Yes, the export business will remain for low THC medicinal products, oils and tinctures etc. And given that farming remains the major employer in Thailand, and that the legal medicinal cannabis trade is growing worldwide, this could be a useful plus for the Thai economy. But one of the goals of the review of the weed bill review is apparently to further protect the industry from foreigners, so I don't see much opportunity for foreigners coming out of it.

This is your original premise. This is your new premise. The OP is asking for help not sarcasm.

You've changed your premise. But your new premise is equally invalid as it's based on a presumption of guilt. Nanlaewmaakgoenpai?

It wasn't the OP who changed his mind, as has been confirmed numerous times. We can only advise on what is written, anything else is speculation, "long time already" or not.

To summarise, my understanding is that the problem was created by your American friend by - sending you the money for this deal - then backing out and asking for a refund - then making a mistake in the account details he gave you for the refund, which delayed your attempt to refund him - then complaining to the police because of the delay he created by giving you the incorrect account info for the refund - then the police requesting the bank to freeze the account while they investigate the complaint - and now the police have done their investigation and are satisfied it was all a misunderstanding. And you said have evidence for all of this. Is that correct? If so I'd ask you American friend to bear the cost of any legal fees you incur. Any gentleman would agree. Personally I'm not sure I'd go the PoA route, that's why I suggest a lawyer may be useful. By the way, you said you're using voice-to-text to post. You might be able to make it more readable by the voice commands "new line", "new paragraph" and whatever other commands are available on the voice-to-text you use. That might satisfy the grammar police too.

Your last posts are confusing me. Who is suggesting this, the American, the police, the police just repeating what the American has said? When you say "he goes to the bank". Who is "he"? The American? That's not what I understood from your earlier post. The police officer? As I said above, to give power of attorney, a signed photocopy of an id by the person giving the PoA is necessary - ie a photocopy of your passport. I have done this many times in Thailand. This explains why the police are asking for your passport. But I have never done it in this particular type of situation. But, as I said above, I have been advised (by a lawyer yesterday) it is not possible for the police to act in an official capacity as power of attorney in this situation and this makes sense to me, as it would be a confusion of police roles. And I assume the police officer is not suggesting acting as PoA in a private capacity. Also as I suggested above you might want to confirm this with your own lawyer. You could of course give PoA to your lawyer too. In any case if you give PoA to access your account, then you have to be very clear in the PoA as to how much money can be taken out and who it's to be given to. and why, or you could find your account cleaned out. As for your question about whether the police might want to detain you. Given what you've written, there is no reason why they should detain you. I guess it's possible that they've run background checks on the Russian and/or American and found something suspicious and suspect you're involved in some way, but given what you've written it seems very unlikely. By the way, are you still in contact with the Russian and American; Are you hiding from the Russian? This isn't clear. If I were you I would find an English speaking lawyer in your area or a fluent bilingual plus a lawyer. This could all be resolved very easily if done correctly, but it could get messier otherwise.

I'm advised that the police cannot do it this way. But the police can send an official letter to the bank countersigned by you and your wife as account holders instructing the bank to unfreeze the account and transfer the money back to the American who sent you the money in the first place. I'm sure some posters here will say the police were trying to scam you, hardly likely as they would be identifying themselves!!! I think it's more likely that something was lost in translation.

@yrushme The power of attorney would need to be very specific, detailing; your and your wife's passport/id info as you're the joint account holders your and your wife's signatures as you're giving the power of attorney the American's passport info, as he's the recipient the amount to be withdrawn and paid to the recipient the bank and account details identification of the person you are giving the power to (ie the police officer's name, rank and number). I'd also suggest the American waits in the police station with you so you can all see the transfer and closure. BUT I've never actually heard of the police doing it this way before, but I can check, and get back to you. You could also ask your wife to ask your lawyer what he thinks, assuming your lawyer doesn't speak English and you don't speak Thai. @keeps This is too fantastical to make up, and yes this kind of tangle is not uncommon here, so I'm inclined to believe the OP, there are many small details that add to the verisimilitude. People backing out of deals, then complaining, and accounts getting frozen until it's sorted out is no big deal, but it can be incredibly stressful for the people involved.

But the OP didn't withhold any money. My understanding is that the American friend on whose behalf the OP was acting backed out of the deal after transferring the money to the OP, and then made a mistake on his bank a/c details for the refund, which was consequently delayed. The American friend then got impatient, went to the police station, and the police contacted the bank who then blocked the account. If I've misunderstood him then I hope he will correct me, and I can reconsider my advice. In any case we can only advise on the basis of what has been written, not on the basis of speculation. Clearly English is not his first language, but assuming English is the first language of the commenters then it should be easy enough for them to understand the key points of his post. As for layout, the OP was his 2nd post on the forum.

The simplest solution is to go with your American friend to the police station and explain the situation. The police can then instruct the bank to unfreeze the account, and cancel any referral they’ve made to the public prosecutor. That would be the best scenario and the cheapest as you wouldn’t need a lawyer. By the way, anyone can go to the public prosecutor’s office, foreign or Thai, it’s just a government office. But it’s not clear whether the public prosecutor has been notified, so I wouldn’t do this at the moment. You don’t actually need a lawyer for any of the above, but as always a key issue is the language barrier.

Given what you've said about the American's background and assuming his money was cleared by the Thai Central Bank, there is no case for money laundering. I think the best course of action would be for your lawyer to present the relevant evidence to the public prosecutor, who I'm sure will drop the case based on what you've said.

For the OP Correct, there is absolutely nothing wrong in doing that. There could only be a money laundering case if the American's money was dirty and you were colluding with him to clean it.

Based on what you've said, there is no case against you. You haven't moved any money, you haven't laundered anything, indeed you've tried to return it. Three things surprise me about the American: 1. That he would take this offer seriously and transfer 1m. 2. that he would give you the wrong account information for what is a fairly substantial refund transfer. 3. That he didn't he give the cash to the Russian himself if as you say they became friends, why? As for the Russian, he has no claim on anything. I assume you've got his contact info and have given it to the police? As for what you/your lawyer can do. Some combination of talking to the bank, the police and the prosecutor.

A good question. I've been meaning to do the same for ages. I'm told that Sinthanee take old electronics for recycling (not just their own) but I still haven't got round to it.

I doubt that the agent or anyone here has seen that particular set of circumstances before. Assuming you're in Thailand now I'd go to the immigration office asap and explain the situation to them, and see what they suggest. That way you'll know the solution will be acceptable to them.

It's more than that, it's a sign of a dependency issue. The opening post on this thread claims that weed is not addictive, but that depends on the definition of addiction. One common definition is that a drug is addictive if it builds a tolerance, and weed definitely builds a tolerance. This is evident from the pursuit of ever higher levels of THC. The frequent comparisons with alcohol are spurious. Many drinkers don't drink to get drunk, but by definition stoners use weed to get stoned. I have no moral position on weed at all, I used it for a long time back in the day and again last year. But a lot of people here are unaware of the legal background to the bill and what was actually legislated for - and in Thailand that was definitely not recreational use, as my quote from Anutin makes clear.

"Recreational" weed and its derivatives above 0.2% THC were not legalised in the decriminilisation bill, which focused on medicinal use (ie very low THC, much too low to get stoned). Home grown weed for non-commercial use was a grey area. Medicinal weed is far more useful to the Thai export economy than recreational weed, given the legitimate global expansion of the former. As for tourism, adding drug tourism to sex tourism is not a step in the right direction, as my friends in Amsterdam would confirm.