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

[Jimbo53]

2 hours ago, ezflip said:

So...while in Jomtien, I will have to cross the road to have a cigarette then go back to my deckchair for a sip of beer? Oh, wait! Didn't they outlaw drinking alcohol on the beach as well?

 

Never mind then. Better to find a restaurant across from the beach and give them your business instead. Stay tune for complaints from beach chair operators loosing all their customers.

Better find a better beach in a country without the continual lunacy that abounds in Government Departments here.

I'm sure there must be an inter departmental competition running to see which one can outdo the other for a Darwin Award!!!! Unbelievable!!!

[smedly]

a fine example of the stupidity 

[Toshiba66]

I am a huge fan of no smoking on the beach. I wish it was enforced in the Bars as well. But this seems way out of balance when the fine for smoking in enclosed bars and restaurants, (although never enforced) is 2,000 baht and smoking on a beach is 100,000???

 

Is someone losing their mind?

[al007]

Really why do they  NOT attack the root of the problem

 

BAN ALL TOURISTS

 

MAKE USING ANY BEACH ILLEGAL

CANCEL ALL VISA EXTENSIONS

 

Then Thailand back to the Thais

[Jimbo53]

1 minute ago, Toshiba66 said:

I am a huge fan of no smoking on the beach. I wish it was enforced in the Bars as well. But this seems way out of balance when the fine for smoking in enclosed bars and restaurants, (although never enforced) is 2,000 baht and smoking on a beach is 100,000???

 

Is someone losing their mind?

Already lost it!!! 

[Boon Mee]

1 minute ago, Toshiba66 said:

I am a huge fan of no smoking on the beach. I wish it was enforced in the Bars as well. But this seems way out of balance when the fine for smoking in enclosed bars and restaurants, (although never enforced) is 2,000 baht and smoking on a beach is 100,000???

 

Is someone losing their mind?

Maybe just making a point.

This is 2017, not 1917 where smoking was cool...

[AGareth2]

4 minutes ago, Toshiba66 said:

Is someone losing their mind?

did they have one?

[Toshiba66]

1 minute ago, Boon Mee said:

Maybe just making a point.

This is 2017, not 1917 where smoking was cool...

I am all for it but a fine of 2000 baht being enforced will do the trick without sending tourists away. 100,000 must surely top the world list of fines for this behaviour.

[smedly]

1 hour ago, madmitch said:

Posters have suggested this is aimed at farangs, and it probably is in the main, but one of the beaches mentioned is Bang Saen. 

 

For those that haven't been there, Bang Saen has to be the filthiest beach in Thailand, and up with the world's worst. The colour of the sea makes Bognor look like the Maldives. Last time I was there there was a bloated dead dog at the water's edge.

 

It's popular with Thai day-trippers, mostly working class Thais who go there to sit under huge banks of umbrellas on deckchairs, eat cheap seafood from styrofoam containers, drink Hong Thong, Blend  285 and Coke from big plastic bottles, smoke cheap cigarettes and buy even cheaper crap from the hundreds of vendors. Some people actually venture into the sea, though whether they spend the next two weeks in a sick bed I don't know!

 

If there's one place this new edict is most unlikely to be enforced, Bang Saen has to be the place.

 

 

been there and have to agree with everything you said, but to blame smokers for the garbage on the beach is just plain nonsense, there is a general garbage problem in Thailand and smokers account for a very very small amount of it, as someone already said on this thread - enforce the existing littering laws (including cig butts) everywhere no exceptions, I remember years ago the government started a media campaign - "Keep Britain Tidy" they did it for the same reasons Thailand needs to do it, a lot of litter thrown in the streets ends up in the sea and on the beaches 

[whaleboneman]

3 hours ago, Bill Miller said:

How about people who smoke unfiltered cigarettes? Those are biodegradable.
Will cigars and pipe smoking be likewise illegal? The lead article does not differentiate.

ya and what about bongs?

[peperobi]

...they do not mention any Samui beach...

[TheMacMan]

.... but threaten someone with a knife, assault them or jump up and down on their car and be told to apologise and get a 500 bht fine

Thainess!

[Bangkokazy]

Thailand, they have so many new laws that it's easier to write what a tourist can do.

without spending the rest of life in a Thai prison.

[Boon Mee]

1 minute ago, Bangkokazy said:

Thailand, they have so many new laws that it's easier to write what a tourist can do.

without spending the rest of life in a Thai prison.

It's not rocket surgery.

Just don't smoke on the beach...

[Kieran00001]

1 hour ago, Thechook said:

Just like car owners think they have a god given right to pollute. And those that use the toilets and flush it onto the beaches.

 

Utterly ridiculous, as ridiculous as the fools who say they will stop polluting after China does.  You can put a cigarette butt in a bin and avoid killing fish or you can leave in on a beach and kill some, the latter is the most common outcome of people smoking on the beach so taking away their right to smoke in a place they pollute is fair, if that makes you go someone with less care for the environment so that you can continue to pollute at your freewill then good riddance.

[ThaiWai]

"smokers who flout the law will face a year's jail or a 100,000 baht fine....or both."

The fine for murder remains unchanged at 500 baht and a wai.

[koto]

3 hours ago, petedk said:

Replace the words  "cigarette butt" with "plastic bags/bottles" and maybe Thailand could do something about environmental pollution.

 

I don't smoke, but I can imagine that an ordinary cigarette would disappear quite quickly as tobacco and paper are organic. Filters on the other hand may be more difficult to get rid of.

 

Also, I have noticed that most places that have deck chairs provide ash trays for the customers.

 

I have a feeling that this is just another way to sting the farangs.

 

Edit: Sorry, I didn't see the bit about Cadmium and lead the first time I read the article.

Aloha

 

If one is interested, it can take many years for a "Toxic Butt" to decompose, in the meantime choke and can (has) killed Children, Wildlife and has Contaminated All Waterways...:(

 

KOTO 40 years ago, helped a mother with her year and a half old daughter chocking to death, was able to get the "Toxic Butt" out of her throat, yes children and wildlife also choke on Bottle Caps and other small things that Litterbugs leave behind, "Toxic Butts are the worst" Since than KOTO has also helped 3 mothers with their children chocking on "Toxic Butts" and 2 with Bottle Caps stuck in their throat, babies up to 2 years old, will put whatever will fit into their little mouths...:(

 

Imposing fines are a blessing, to many don't know better and way to many just don't care, KOTO has been asking Pattaya City Hall for around 16 years to start imposing fines to litterbugs, making them do Community Service and in some cases Jail time, be it Thai or Farang, boat, beach or whatever people, KOTO has been passing out and installing these and other posters in Jomtien, Hat Nang Ram Beach, Sattahip and has in Pattaya also where ever he may go, removing them and the staples, replacing with new...:)

 

Wishing all good health, happiness, long lives and if you aren't already, earn some Inner-Wealth, by giving back...:) 

[anon789561]

100,000 baht or jail. just a tad over the top

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[Tarteso]

“Come on here please boy,

have a cigarr,

you’re going to jail”...

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Well done authorities. Given that this is going to be a repeat of the Sukhumvit cigarette scam, it's going to have an effect on tourism if social media starts posting about getting banged up for a false accusation while trying to have an enjoyable holiday. Only take a few and what western tourist is going to risk it?

Meanwhile, all the other real problems continue unabated. How about doing something about speeders on the road, unmuffled exhausts ( noise pollution ), jet ski scams, etc etc etc. On and on it goes.

It's almost as though they want to drive farang tourists away, as we all know they are the only ones going to be targeted.

[Bangkokazy]

14 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

It's not rocket surgery.

Just don't smoke on the beach...

 

Why should tourists pay big fines, when Thai pays from 50 to 500 Baht.
for all the hell them do

[PumpkinEater]

I agree with this law.

I have been exposed to smoke in confined places early in my work career, and now like to enjoy clean freash air as a basic human right.

 

If smokers would have the situational awarness to know the direction of their smoke and intrusion of their cigarette butt waste to others it would help...but recently on a holiday while on the ferry to Koh Samui, I was enjoying the nice fresh air on deck, then a few smokers decided to lite up UPWIND of me and other passengers. I did not appreciate smelling their pollution vs. the fresh sea air! When they finished their smoke their butts went into the ocean! If they had some brains they would stand at the back of the boat smoking. One example...

 

As stated earlier fresh air and water are basic human rights!

[Lupatria]

4 hours ago, smedly said:

oh dear, how about a general clamp down on all types of littering, if I smoke anywhere I use an ashtray or a bin and that includes on a beach, if I have litter it goes in a bin, I am all for cleaning up and stopping people littering but stopping people smoking on a beach adds absolutely nothing to this, how many April 1st's are there in Thailand, they seem to have one every week.

 

This is stupidity beyond belief

Thais don't give a flying fcuck when it comes to messing up their environment and now they are looking for the 100 plus 1 way to rip off tourists...

[thaibeachlovers]

8 minutes ago, koto said:

Aloha

 

If one is interested, it can take many years for a "Toxic Butt" to decompose, in the meantime choke and can (has) killed Children, Wildlife and has Contaminated All Waterways...:(

 

KOTO 40 years ago, helped a mother with her year and a half old daughter chocking to death, was able to get the "Toxic Butt" out of her throat, yes children and wildlife also choke on Bottle Caps and other small things that Litterbugs leave behind, "Toxic Butts are the worst" Since than KOTO has also helped 3 mothers with their children chocking on "Toxic Butts" and 2 with Bottle Caps stuck in their throat, babies up to 2 years old, will put whatever will fit into their little mouths...:(

 

Imposing fines are a blessing, to many don't know better and way to many just don't care, KOTO has been asking Pattaya City Hall for around 16 years to start imposing fines to litterbugs, making them do Community Service and in some cases Jail time, be it Thai or Farang, boat, beach or whatever people, KOTO has been passing out and installing these and other posters in Jomtien, Hat Nang Ram Beach, Sattahip and has in Pattaya also where ever he may go, removing them and the staples, replacing with new...:)

 

Wishing all good health, happiness, long lives and if you aren't already, earn some Inner-Wealth, by giving back...:) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No arguments about that, but by imposing such a large fine it means that it will be used by nefarious persons to scam farangs, and will have many unintended consequences.

The point I and others is making, is that far worse things happen and nothing is ever done about them, for the usual reasons.

There is far more plastic waste on Thai beaches than cigarette butts. In fact, I've seen very few butts on Thai beaches, but loads of plastic and other trash.

[tore stenberg]

One thing is smoke !!!!

What does thailand do with garbage.
No thing, they throw garbage in the woods, they do not have a cargo deck, they burn the garbage in their own garden or empty it in the neighbor's garbage bin.
And the car that was going to drain rubbish three times a week comes once a week.
There is a market outside our house, when this is done, it is littered by this in the street outside, or someone puts it in our garbage bin, because the comuna has not put up g...arbage bags so they can put it there.
Has not Thailand signed the Paris agreement?
I saw the news that everyone should have a trash can, but it was difficult to get people to pay for garbage disposal. This should not be a problem if they put the garbage bill together with the bill of water as they do elsewhere in the world.

[thaibeachlovers]

18 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

It's not rocket surgery.

Just don't smoke on the beach...

I can't believe that YOU would post that! You should know that it won't matter if you did or did not smoke on the beach to get threatened with jail if you don't cough up a substantial sum to avoid such. It's the Sukhumvit scam all over again.

[bipper]

Don't normally comment but this is so funny I had to! They don't mind the locals burning everything from mountains, trees, scrub and plastic in the North poisoning every into emphysema but don't light up a fag on the beach or its jail/100,000 baht. Any suggest a sting??? 

[Krataiboy]

I feel sympathy for smokers, who are increasingly being persecuted, but not for the companies who feed their filthy, self-destructive habit. The tobacco barons are cynically cashing in on a product which kills around six million people a year and costs the global economy more  than $1 trillion annually.

 

Many smokers, as we know from talking to them, would like to kick what they know is a bad habit. They can't because the nicotine found in tobacco products is one of the most addictive substances known to man - even more so than heroin.

 

The FDA, rightly alarmed at the soaring cost of smoking - which is expected to claim the lives of a third more smokers by 2030 - has been trying to get the industry to cut back the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to less addictive levels. No prizes for guessing how enthusiastic the response from Big Tobacco has been.

 

Banning smoking on beaches and putting scary pictures on cigarette packets may be good public relations. But such tinkering will not save future generations and the planet's ecology from further damage.  The current vogue for vaping is no solution, and indeed could be instrumental in  recruiting more potential smokers.

 

It's time to stop pussy-footing around with this problem and make all manufacturers remove nicotine from cigarettes completely. The only thing that won't end up healthier as a result is their obscene profits. 

[thaibeachlovers]

41 minutes ago, Toshiba66 said:

I am all for it but a fine of 2000 baht being enforced will do the trick without sending tourists away. 100,000 must surely top the world list of fines for this behaviour.

I don't smoke and wish cigarettes were banned everywhere, but even I see that 100,000 or a year's jail is barking.

If they actually enforced that and farang tourists were banged up for a year in a Thai jail, or fined that amount, once it became publicised, and it would be, how many farangs would want to risk it?