jonclark

Right so your answer to your statement is for for me to tell you I smoke and have been doing so for years. Thus proving your point about it being addictive and dangerous? Sadly such a hypothetical reply from me would not yield that reply. So can you now provide the evidence to show cannabis is both dangerous and addictive? Or you gonna admit defeat?

He' still waiting for you to answer his question. It's only polite to answer the question that was posed first isn't it foxy.

Answer the qustion...do not deflect. Prove cannabis is dangerous and addictive? I guess if you cannot provide evidence we can assume foxy is telling porie pies.

Well at least we can take comfort from the fact that your genes will not be spreading any further in the human population. Seriously prove cannabis is dangerous and addictive - you said it as a statement of truth in your previous post, so substantiate your version of truth with evidence...otherwise you are just presented unsubstantiated opinion as fact. aka Fake news. I think Foxy will reply along the lines of i don't have time / need to prove myself to anyone... or not reply at all...

Just like sex eh? Highly addictive for some and so many dangerous life threatening conditions that can be caught...and still our population continues to inexorable rise. I think sex is more dangerous than cannabis - prove me wrong foxy?

TBH social media is highly addictive and in Thailand we see record numbers of internet addicts - records indicate that one average Thais spend 8 hours a day (33% of their daily lives) blankly looking at a screen looking for life's answers - Maybe social media could be classified as a narcotic as well, as it is clearly highly addicitive to Thais. Or will that be overlooked? Obvioulsy the answer is yes it will be overlooked, we will allow Thai people to continue with their social media addiction as this additiction generates a wonderful, large and continuous revenue stream for the mobile operators and their powerful mates. Why should the alleged high levels harm and additiction from cannabis consumption be singled out as a single overriding factor to re-classify cannabis as a narcotic. If addictive properties are the benchmark that Thai society uses to determine whether an activity is narcotic in its effect then lets at least be consistant in it application. Or - and this is real pie in the sky thinking - lets provide clear eduction and resources so that people can make informed decisions on what constitutes a healthy lifestyle - which as my old gran once taught me - too much of a good thing, becomes a bad thing. Drug use is a social not a criminal issue. People take drugs to fill a void in their lives (not because they are weak or bad). Drug addicts - ranging from smokers, to alcoholics, to yaba junkies are all similar in that they have voids that the drugs fill to greater or lesser extents. Labelling a drug user a criminal only increases their social isolation and stigma. It does not promote and provide avenues to a better more managed life, but reinforces their isolation and hopelessness through social stigmatization.

Thailand has always walked a diplomatic tight rope balancing historical alliances with Chinese influence. That balancing act has become more difficult with Chinese expansionism and Thailand reliance on China for tourists, funding of infrastructure projects and closer co operation. Eventually everyone slips on a tightrope.

I think you're equating disagreement with aggression which it isn't. Everyone is entitled to push back and speak their mind especially on a forum like this. Doesn't mean they are aggressive. They may upset you, but that is not aggression.

Can you enlighten me - what are these "serious effects" (emphasis on serious) that people are going to hospitals with from using cannabis? I have not seen anything mentioned on the Thai news channels so am curious.

I do think it is a gateway drug, in the same way that Cigarettes' are - I mean if you gonna smoke something first its got to be cigarettes' hasn't it given their wide availability and cheapness, after that well a drink would b nice to have with a smoke, and then maybe some weed, (cause I had a drink and am feeling experimental). Obviously this doesn't apply to everyone but we clearly need to protect the weakest and most vulnerable in society so we must ban all gateway drugs. Often we talk about the dangers of drugs and addiction and the need for banning and enforcement of rules and punishments. But the most addictive 'drug' is not actually a drug, it's social media. Social media creates huge mental health issues amongst the young, is a hot bed of crime and fraud and there is a very large body of evidence that indicate that unregulated social media use does increase suicide like behaviors. Any addictive behavior supported by evidence that leads to death in some instances - ban it right now. Right now where did I leave my skins?

Apparently all people who depart Thailand have to pay the fee including Thais to discourage them from spending too much money abroad.. ????

She was found with a bottle of what the Thai media describes a cyanide - (& I believe the police have confirmed this in subsequent media briefings)- in her handbag when arrested.

Sadly this child will have a terrible start to life - The childs father (not the policeman ex-husband) is perhaps unsurprisingly in this instance, dead - allegedly another victim of this lunatic. This poor kid is going to be born to a mother, who not only killed the childs father, but is also potentially Thailand worse serial killer and as a result has to spend their childhood in Thailand Orphanages which are not especially well funded. I hope that a nice foreign family can adopt this child and give the kid the chance of a new life abroad with a clean slate.

As opposed to smaring the coli bacteria around your ring with a piece of paper.....and then not washing your hands?

Maybe the Chinese and farangs have more in common than I previously thought then?

Yep, you don't see the Chinese publicly bitchin on online forums about their brethren do you to ingratiate themselves and to show how 'thai' they have become. - and us farangs wonder why the Chinese are so successful in Thailand and we lag behind em? Maybe the Chinese can teach us farangs a think or two??? After all this lady has accrued billions of baht, land, houses, documents etc.

Odd one this as China doesn't allow duel citizenship so if she holds Thai citizenship she cannot be Chinese. China actively forbids this and does not recognize those with dual citizenship as being Chinese. You need to choose either Chinese or Thai (from a CCP point of view) . She may have been born in China to Chinese parents but she isn't from a Chinese legal standpoint Chinese, as she has effectively cut herself off from that by holding Thai citizenship.

Next he will want to reduce the top rates of taxation for the rich and wealthy so this waste of money will be funded solely by the middle classes

Surely he is covered by the 300 bath tourism fee for tourist insurance now being levied at airports???? If a tourist can't pay his or her hospital bills or has no insurance then won't this fee cover any medical costs. That was how this was promoted if memory serves me correct. "Citing a study by Thailand's ministry of tourism and sports, Ms Traisulee said Thailand is the first country in the world to collect a tourism fee and at the same time provide welfare benefits for tourists, including a personal accident insurance protection."

If we live in a pluralist society then what the majority want is irrelevant and cannot impose their views, morals or way of thinking on those in a minority. 55% dislike alcohol, cannabis and gambling - fine, the people that make up the 55% do not need to advocate or take part in those activities. But let those who do, get on with it in a safe and considerate way. Thus we all live together and enjoy our respective lives - This is not a winner take all argument and those who seek to make it into one are damaging the nation in a way far greater than the alleged evils they seek to curtail by creating social and political division by through their moral crusades.

Yep. Like pretty much every commodity we produce and trade it comes down to money. Profit margins are narrow anyway and physically removing it takes more time and hard work. So burning seems to be a winner and when the density of sugar cane farms was much less, 20 odd years ago you could get away with it Air pollution has a financial impact. I read somewhere that something like 300'000 people went to hospital with respiratory complaints on a single day of particularly bad pollution in Bangkok this year.. Maybe the solution is some form of government assisted clearance program. The farmer pays the government a fee. Equal to the usual burning cost. And the government sends in a clearance team who remove and package the cane.

Good ideas, but you cannot no matter how righteous just steal another persons land and then deny them recourse to the law. Once you start down that dark alley, well you are on the path to total authoritarianism. The framers are doing this for economic reasons. I think before we all (correctly) tell farmers to stop burning sugar cane we should go and spend a day or two in the fields chopping the dam stuff down under a baking sun for a pittance. Maybe we would understand why then it is burnt and not cut. Understand the problem is the first step to solving it.

Democracy is also banned in HK. So it seems CBD is in good company.

Proton - A bit of perspective please. Millions of tourists and foreign visitors here every year and a only few hundred get into financial difficulties with lack of, or poor insurance that doesn't cover their medical claims. Do we focus on the few or the many? I know (and I am sure other members will understand the sentiment) my Thai family here (and my Thai friends) turn to me when they have financial difficulties and I am happy to help, its what family and friends do for each other. Unless of course you feel that Thai families shouldn't "ponce" off the falang in the family and it's every man for themselves?

We can moan all we like, but just remember and be thankful that VFSglobal are not in charge of issuing visas to all expats here!!