Davedub

There is a Thai Cyber Crime Investigation Division (https://ccid4.ccib.go.th/) Why did the police not refer the case to them? Are they unaware of the cyber crime division? Or was it more a case of apathy? Whatever the reason, this response by the police is an absolute disgrace. I sincerely hope there is significant public outrage and backlash against them.

If I had a penny for every time I've heard a Thai authority figure express those sentiments over the past 16 years... I wonder if anybody actually takes these sorts of announcements seriously?

Oh, the insanity of those that would repeat the same action over and over, each time expecting a different result. Drugs won the war on drugs, decades ago. Here I go again, banging the same old drum; education and mental health care have been proven to be the best measures to undertake in reducing drug harm. The Portugese experiment of many, many years now stands as proof of this. No well informed, mentally healthy person will knowingly cause themselves harm, period. Those that inflict drug harm on themselves do so either through ignorance or are driven to numb the pain of well defined, mostly treatable mental health issues. But no, those that base their policy making on twisted psudeo-moralistic values and a desire to appear 'tough' instead of using reason, logic and science are in charge. They will cause yet more harm by criminalising otherwise law abiding drug users and punish instead of offering help to drug abusers / addicts. Families will be broken up. Vast sums of money will continue to be funneled into the hands of powerful criminal enterprieses. A climate that encourages extra-judicial penalties and even killings will be engendered. Drug harm and addiction rates will continue to rise as they always do, regardless of how many 'assertive drug policies' have been put in place. Perhaps a better approach would be to investigate the reasons why mental health issues are increasiing year on year? I strongly suspect this would yield far greater results in the 'fight' against drug harm and addiction.

I wonder what is so remarkable about professionals being in attendence? Is the implication that gay people, swing party goers and drug users could not possibly be professional people? What a daft observation! One has to wonder what world these journalists live in, because it doesn't seem to be the real one!

An interesting and mildly amusing troll comment that I strongly suspect may say more about you than I...

Marriage is not something I'd ever consider: 1) 85% of divorces are initiated by women 2) Two out of three marriages fail in the first two years 3) In the UK (where I'm from) the courts do not have to recognise prenups 4) Courts invariably favour women in divorce proceedings Um - no thanks! Opinion: Why on earth anyone would voluntarily put themselves / their wealth in legal jeapoardy is beyond me. This archaic institution was borne of a time when men owned their wives, it is wholly inappropriate in the modern world.

The problem with the defamation laws is that they are enforcable even if what is said is true.

I'd absolutely be asking for his resignation had he talked to me in those condecending tones. Anyone lacking social skills / EQ to that extent should never be given a public facing role.

The title says 'Cannabis fuelled' - am I alone in seeing zero connection between the arrest of someone for illegally entering buildings / overstaying his visa and the fact he was smoking weed just before he was apprehended? If he'd been having a beer, would the attempted escape have been booze fuelled? What about if he were having a coffee? What a strange reporting angle - it makes no sense to me at all!

I find the use of the word 'shocking' hilarious - is anyone in Thailand even vaguely shocked to hear that a government agency is corrupt here? It is well known that people here do not get promoted to decision making positions because of their skill set. People get promoted by either buying the position or through nepotism. This is why the rules created are so unworkable - they are created by people who are simply not qualified for the job. Then the rest of us (lower ranking govt officals included) are left to work with an unworkable system. The only way anything gets done is by sidestepping unworkable rules. So either the country grinds to a halt due to impossible bureacracy, or govt officials bend / break rules. If they are going to bend / break rules to help someone get a license / permit / whatever then they are taking a risk, so naturally they will want paying for helping out. The culture of corruption flourishes in an environment perfectly suited to it's creation. Hiring decison makers based on their qualifications for the job would make a great start towards fixing the situation. Until the the systematic, deeply entrenched culture of buying positions and nepotism is address properly, I guess we will continue to be regularly 'shocked' by revelations of corruption, each time believing the fairytale of an isolated incident.

I'd always assumed it was an American import - I remember my chagrin at what felt like deception during my first US trip when I found out all the prices in the supermarkets were incorrect - what you actually pay at the checkout has state and some sort of federal tax added. Coming from a country where the price you see is the price you pay, it seems like a very strange, unnecessarily complicated practice - please just tell me what the thing actually costs ffs, life is complicated enough!

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🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 With the high rate income tax threshold so low and the enormous bureaucratic burden, as a tech professional working here for nearly 16 years, I can say hand on heart that I choose to be here despite the 'intelligent policies designed to attract professionals', not because of them! Thailand is utterly crippled by bureaucracy. Until this is fixed, the cost, stress and uncertainty of doing business here makes Thailand extremely unattractive to us tech professionals. We strive for efficiency. The Thai bureaucratic system does the exact opposite. If I didn't love the people I find here, the scenery and the food, I'd go elsewhere, for sure. Anyone remember this gem? In 2017, Prayut set up a committee specifically to address and remove bureaucratic obstacles that were seen as impediments to economic progress. Net result: The committee was set up. I attended a BOI conference in BKK where Prayut spoke. He reported that over 1000 pointless licenses and permits had been identified within the Thai bureaucratic system. I had hope for reform. But then bureaucracy ensued and the committee was crippled. Nothing changed. I'd imagine we can expect the same result from the same action this time around...

I wish I'd known how much of my life would be wasted creating pointless sheets of printed paper for bureacrats who seem to revel in being given huge stacks of pointless printed paper on which they can stamp pointless stamps. The bureacracy here drives me crazy, but nowhere is perfect and I'll take pointless bureacracy any day over the overpriced living costs, hectic lifestyles, violent crime and generally miserable existence inherent to living in the UK.

Not that I'm aware of. However, I believe common sense and anecdotal evidence are sufficient for me to hold that opinion. To me, it's kinda obvious; There may be rare exceptions, but in general, no nicotine addict is going to stop using nicotine when going on holiday. Imagine chosing between two destinations with similar levels of comfort and tropical beauty at a similar budget. At one destination people are risking 10 years in prison for making a smart, informed, personal choice about their nicotine delivery system. At the other there is no such risk. Which destination would you pick? If the smoking rates per captia are then looked at (e.g. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/smoking-rates-by-country) and we see that adult smoker rates remain in the 30 - 50% range for many western and more wealthy eastern countries, then it becomes clear that a very large proportion of visitors to Thailand are nicotine addicts. Potentially criminalising such a large proportion of the visitors a country intends to attract doesn't need statistics to prove it's a bad idea. It obviously is.