Smoke on Thai beaches this high season and face jail or 100,000 baht fine

[The manic]

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!!!!!!!!! Drive filth away! Far too much time is spent discussing the cancer filth fascists imposing their dirt indoors in bars and restaurants but open air  public spaces should be rigourously protected from the nicotinefascists.  

[thaianon]

37 minutes ago, AlphMichaels said:

Can't make this sh%!* up.  I could all but eliminate trash on my beach by aggressively ticketing local fishermen with fines that hit hard and make them think.  They are the #1 litterers impacting area beaches.  I find (of course) the feed bags,  oil filters, plastic bottles filled with urine (<deleted> outstanding!), food bags, insulin vials and, of course, styrofoam (polystyrene)..., which takes 500 years or more to degrade versus a cigarette butt @ 18 months to 10 years.    

 

I.D.I.O.T.S.

Fifty years ago in Thailand, there weren't many tourists but there were fishermen. The beaches were then mostly pristine. Today there are many tourists and there are fishermen. The beaches are littered to a greater or lesser extent. Who's to blame? The Thais, the tourists, the fishermen or Obama?

[The manic]

10 hours ago, impulse said:

 

That'll really draw in droves of tourists...

 

It will certainly attract the 90 % of people who do not smoke..the silent suffering majority. 

[jackh]

What about vaping???

[The manic]

11 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

This is an excellent step in the right direction, but it's too easy to see it for what it really is....  And Thailand, please enforce the already existing laws against littering which plagues the nation.

 

This stinks somewhat of a 'easy target'... much in the same way as the Sukhumvit 2000 baht fines where only foreigners are caught meanwhile a multitude of street vendors litter the streets, plug up the drains with fat etc...  I can see this going much the same way. 

It seems to me that there is an incredibly hypocritical holier than thou approach whereby quick revenue can be collected from tourists who have no idea that smoking on a beach is even remotely considered given the obvious and blatant littering going on all around. 

 

On the face of it seems like an extremely xenophobic approach blaming the foreigners... which I'm sure some are to blame, but taking this individually without addressing the other major littering issues comes with a putrid stench.

Most smokers are Chinese and Japanese.. They are taking the piss as well as our air and health..filthy...

[dinsdale]

F..k..n idiots running the show. Nothing new. Industries can pollute as much as they like as long as they fill 'officials' pockets. Have a cig on the beach go to jail. Everyday there's always something to make me say again and again ....... THIS COUNTRIES RUN BY F.......K.......N IDIOTS. 

[sambum]

25 minutes ago, jackh said:

What about vaping???

As at 16 August 2017:-

"Advice for tourists on the Foreign Office website states: “You can’t bring vaporisers (like e-cigarettes and e-baraku) or refills into Thailand.

“These items are likely to be confiscated and you could be fined or sent to prison for up to 10 years if convicted."

 

It seems a bit crazy that you can get punished so severely for partaking of a substance that is supposedly far less harmful than the nicotine in tobacco. Equally, just as crazy that these latest proposals can land you with a 100,000 baht fine, or/and jail time for smoking a cigarette on the beach! And don't even think about "feeding the fishes!" Off topic, but from 21 Feb 2017:-

 

"Tourist in Thailand faces up to a year in prison for 'feeding BREADCRUMBS to fish in a forbidden part of the sea'

Russian tourist Olga Smirnova was feeding the fish on Thailand's Phuket Island

 The maximum punishment for the violation of the island's strict environmental laws is a year in prison, a 100,000 Thai Baht (£2,300) fine - or both"

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2017 by sambum

[maddox41]

What a f...... joke  look around you government morons have much crap do u see in General it isn't ciggy butts Thais love sweeping there floors 100 times a day but the rest of the place is a pig sty 

Why don't they get real and have a real clean up and start with a law that if you litter at all you get fined but a  1 yr in jail term what laugh  

But its OK to  if you help a Ex Pm escape from the country no jail time just a slap on the wrist but smoke oh no 

Don't past go  you go direct to jail 

This country lives in a f****** bubble 

 

My head going to explode 

 

[maddox41]

6 minutes ago, maddox41 said:

What a f...... joke  look around you government morons have much crap do u see in General it isn't ciggy butts Thais love sweeping there floors 100 times a day but the rest of the place is a pig sty 

Why don't they get real and have a real clean up and start with a law that if you litter at all you get fined but a  1 yr in jail term what laugh  

But its OK to  if you help a Ex Pm escape from the country no jail time just a slap on the wrist but smoke oh no 

Don't past go  you go direct to jail 

This country lives in a f****** bubble 

 

My head going to explode 

 

Ps.., picture this  Patong beach??, A tourist is smoking on the beach an official approaches the poor tourist 

Tourist unaware of  the law smoking is no allowed on the beach  as the sign on the beach is in Thai only 

Offacial says what will happen to the tourist The tourist shits himself  but if you give me 5 thousand b all will be  ok 

Officials will make good money from this one  they must be rubbing there hands in glee already and can't wait for high season to start as the cash train has arrived early 

[jimster]

I don't smoke, but I think this law is perhaps a bit over the top. While I believe that just like in 2007 when smoking was suddenly banned in bars and clubs both Thais and foreigners will quickly adapt to it, I can see it being ripe for abuse. Initially at least and probably for a while after it's implementation, foreigners (mainly tourists) will be singled out for enforcement and while I highly doubt anyone will receive more than a 2000 Baht (negotiable) fine, it won't do anything but fill the coffers of the police enforcement teams. Meanwhile beaches away from the tourist areas will go unenforced. Personally I don't think there is a big epidemic of people smoking on beaches in Thailand though - implementing penalties against littering in general and not just in places with the most tourists is what's needed here.

[Naam]

51 minutes ago, thaianon said:

Fifty years ago in Thailand, there weren't many tourists but there were fishermen. The beaches were then mostly pristine. Today there are many tourists and there are fishermen. The beaches are littered to a greater or lesser extent. Who's to blame? The Thais, the tourists, the fishermen or Obama?

Kim Jong-Un!

[Naam]

2 minutes ago, jimster said:

Initially at least and probably for a while after it's implementation, foreigners (mainly tourists) will be singled out for enforcement and while I highly doubt anyone will receive more than a 2000 Baht (negotiable) fine, it won't do anything but fill the coffers of the police enforcement teams.

[jimster]

53 minutes ago, thaianon said:

Fifty years ago in Thailand, there weren't many tourists but there were fishermen. The beaches were then mostly pristine. Today there are many tourists and there are fishermen. The beaches are littered to a greater or lesser extent. Who's to blame? The Thais, the tourists, the fishermen or Obama?

I have found local, non-touristy beaches to be the filthiest (with some exceptions). By this I'm talking about local beaches which neither local nor foreign tourists visit. I can remember some years back staying overnight at some random hotel in a coastal town in Chumporn province to break up a journey to Malaysia. Filthiest beach I ever saw - Pattaya is pristine by comparison.

[Destiny1990]

No fines for pumping sewage water in the ocean? 

[balo]

The beaches looked clean back in the 1980's , when everyone was smoking , cigarette butts didn't do much harm . But plastic does and that is the real issue here. 

 

[wealthychef]

5 hours ago, smedly said:

the issue is not smoking on the beach it is what people do with their trash (including cigarette butts) when they are done, as it stands there are a lot of people both foreign and Thai that leave litter everywhere, it would be my guess that most of the litter that ends up on Thai beaches did not originate there but was carried by drains from the city to the sea and gets washed up there

 

stopping people smoking on the beach solves nothing 

 

You are just not correct when you say the issue is not smoking on the beach, but rather what peope do with their trash.  You are commenting on a story entitled "Smoke on Thai beaches this high season and face jail or 100,000 baht fine".  That is the issue at hand.  

[Kieran00001]

13 minutes ago, balo said:

The beaches looked clean back in the 1980's , when everyone was smoking , cigarette butts didn't do much harm . But plastic does and that is the real issue here. 

 

 

What are you basing that on?  You think you can tell which pollutant it was that killed the marine life?  Cigarette butts leach out heavy metals, they kill marine life, and they are made of plastic anyway so they are "the real issue here".

[Kieran00001]

17 minutes ago, wealthychef said:

 

You are just not correct when you say the issue is not smoking on the beach, but rather what peope do with their trash.  You are commenting on a story entitled "Smoke on Thai beaches this high season and face jail or 100,000 baht fine".  That is the issue at hand.  

 

The reasoning they gave for the fine is the pollution the trash that smokers produce cause, or did you not make it past the title?

[joecoolfrog]

3 hours ago, sambum said:

Sorry, but in my "ex neck of the woods", smoking in ANY of the pubs is a big "no - no", so obviously in different areas of the country, the law is interpreted differently!

 

And apart from the landlords that I quoted above, many of the landlords that I spoke to a few years ago were adamant that the smoking ban had affected their sales directly, and many pubs in my "ex neck of the woods" had to close because of it. Obviously, in your area it is still allowed, so maybe not so many closures?

 

And a serious question for you, and other members on ThaiVisa. Does anybody know of any other country that imposes a fine of almost a local's year's salary for smoking on a public beach? Or any other country that has a fine of any description for smoking on  a public beach?   

Or only fines Farangs but not the local populace ?

[steve C]

13 hours ago, Chrisdoc said:

I saw a Thai person dispose of a cigarette butt properly - once.

Sent from my SM-J120G using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

BUT that was a long time ago and it was only ONCE

[MyFriend You]

I'd like to see the day they arrest three busloads of Chinese Tourists at 100K a pop for smoking  -  this smacks of a huge scam.

 

What about the guy that always sits in the next chair from me that smokes a pipe, smells good, no fiberglass filters.

 

Total Lunatics running this country, total lunatics.

[wealthychef]

45 minutes ago, Kieran00001 said:

 

The reasoning they gave for the fine is the pollution the trash that smokers produce cause, or did you not make it past the title?

 

I read that.  And as I have already pointed out, cigarette butts are a serious worry for sea life as also stated in the article.  Are you saying that cigarette butts are not pollution?  No, you are just sidetracking onto another issue, also serious, but one that does not negate the rightness of this law.  Again, I suspect simply because you are a smoker and wish to smoke on the beach.  Too bad for you I guess!  

[Kieran00001]

5 minutes ago, wealthychef said:

 

I read that.  And as I have already pointed out, cigarette butts are a serious worry for sea life as also stated in the article.  Are you saying that cigarette butts are not pollution?  No, you are just sidetracking onto another issue, also serious, but one that does not negate the rightness of this law.  Again, I suspect simply because you are a smoker and wish to smoke on the beach.  Too bad for you I guess!  

 

How you sumised that from what I wrote is beyond me, are you drunk?

 

[MyFriend You]

6 hours ago, Lupatria said:

I saw a cowhide complete with legs & head on the beach in Jomtien yesterday, stunk to high heaven,

[gk10002000]

From a selfish perspective I like the smoking ban.  But I know so many people go to the beaches and enjoy a smoke.  Smoking is not the cause of the debris and pollution, throwing the butts on the beach is the problem.  California in the USA did the same thing.  Banned smoking because people were throwing the butts on the beaches as they had been doing for centuries.  I am not so sure the smoking ban was the best solution.  I mean, one could also ban people from the beaches and they would stay cleaner also

[gk10002000]

1 hour ago, balo said:

The beaches looked clean back in the 1980's , when everyone was smoking , cigarette butts didn't do much harm . But plastic does and that is the real issue here. 

 

I would think the butts could be made of a better and quicker biodegradable something?  I know the filters and their man made fibers are used, but other stuff, types of paper, natural fibers maybe? 

[champers]

Smooooke on the water.

A fire in the sky!

[MyFriend You]

7 hours ago, Kevbo said:

Well done my friend keep it up, cold turkey is the only way. Chewing gum can be your best friend for a while because you will be tempted to snack, but you can lose those extra pounds slowly unlike the evil nicotine ...

I would put a pebble in both sides of my mouth, generated saliva and the concentration keeping from swallowing them takes your mind off cigarettes.  Also changing your eating times, throwing all ashtrays out, even moving your favorite smoking chair across the room all works to keep you from starting up again.

[wakeupplease]

16 minutes ago, wealthychef said:

 

I read that.  And as I have already pointed out, cigarette butts are a serious worry for sea life as also stated in the article.  Are you saying that cigarette butts are not pollution?  No, you are just sidetracking onto another issue, also serious, but one that does not negate the rightness of this law.  Again, I suspect simply because you are a smoker and wish to smoke on the beach.  Too bad for you I guess!  

So are you saying the fish eat them?

 

No is the answer they know what they can eat and that is a fact.

[MyFriend You]

Just now, wakeupplease said:

So are you saying the fish eat them?

 

No is the answer they know what they can eat and that is a fact.

when I as a kid, we used to use cigarette filters to catch fish, they floated and Makeral would hit then thinking they were food.  So yes, fish would at them is given the chance.