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

[joecoolfrog]

How does the narrative go , oh yes ;

" If you Thai haters dont like Thai culture ( which clearly includes littering at will ) then bugger off somewhere else and close the door on the way out "

Sorry , couldn't resist ?

[nickmondo]

you really could not make this crap up!  as if they will enforce this ridiculous rule.  I am a huge anti smoker, i hate it, its disgusting.  So they want to ban it on the beaches?  Dont worry about all the disgusting polluting trucks and 4 by 4's on the road!  Just ban the smoking!  as if.........oh, and dont worry about all the rubbish that you leave on the beach, knowing that the foreign trash heroes will go and pick it up for you.!  honestly, just when i thought it could not get any more stupid here, yet again, they surpass themselves!  and before someone says........well eff off back to europe then........I am doing soon.  done my time here in Thailand, its not for me thanks.  was nice to begin with, but after a couple of years the novelty has worn off.  Can only accept so much of the ridiculous.

[manly36]

100,000 baht and/or 1 year jail yet a tuk tuk driver threatening a tourist with a machete gets a 500 baht fine...go figure.... 

[kentrot]

There are many forms of pollution - soil,   water,   air,   sound .... 

But smoking offends at least all of the AIR around the smoker which is second hand smoke to the rest of us who come to the ocean for fresh air. And also the beach SAND & WATER where the majority of butts are thrown, and eventually where the butts get washed out. 

 

In Jomtien there is an elderly farang who calls himself KOTO - Keeper Of The Ocean . He selflessly spends every day cleaning up the garbage and cigarette butts left by those addicts who can't seem to find a safe place to dispose of their garbage butts. 

 

Hats off to a worthwhile law.

Now . about enforcing it  ........................

[thaianon]

6 hours ago, Pesche said:

Oh yes,

Indeed cigarette butts are pollutant...

"Secret Beach" on Ko Lanta yesterday!

 

[Naam]

8 minutes ago, kentrot said:

But smoking offends at least all of the AIR around the smoker which is second hand smoke to the rest of us who come to the ocean for fresh air.

it would be hard to beat this comment with a more ridiculous one.

[thaianon]

Plastic trash can be readily removed. Cigarette butts can't. So, they just keep accumulating over time. With time, the beach will become seriously littered with cigarette butts.

[wakeupplease]

2 minutes ago, thaianon said:

Plastic trash can be readily removed. Cigarette butts can't. So, they just keep accumulating over time. With time, the beach will become seriously littered with cigarette butts.

Photo below......(thanks Pesche)...... shows that rubbish is removed and butts cause all the problems does it not

Some people, cant see the rubbish because of the butts

 

Naff beaches anyhow and the waters would not pass an EU test so why bother,  Just go to Spain where water and beaches pass the tests and you can smoke on the beach along with using you e Cigg without the fear of jail for telling the truth (CCA).

 

[peterpaintpot]

I think that the professional comedians in the world should get together and approach the International Court with a claim against the Thai Law Makers as they are ruining their careers. They are finding it impossible to write anything funnier than the Thai Regulations and the application of The Law in Thailand.

[sammieuk1]

Smoke a Ecig on a Thai beach from November  presumably that will increases to 11 years jail 100 large fine and no pollution so sensible to some one far removed from this planet . 

[hawksway]

Like the 100% helmut it will simply be forgotten. Village Heads will simply remind the Police not to upset the Tourists who stand around eyeing the topless ladies on the Beach.

[lvr181]

Mmmmm.........it seems cheaper to kill someone in a road 'accident'? 

[Joebuzz]

8 hours ago, jackdd said:

Of course as people mentioned before all littering should be addressed at all places, not just cigarettes at the beach (and of course the government / shops etc. should be responsible to put enough trash cans), but that's at least a start. And besides of the littering aspect i also don't want to smell the smoke of the cigarettes, so i welcome this step

It's nothing more than a tourist money grab Jack.  I guess you better quit taking a crap because you're polluting the ocean just as much as everyone else.

[nasanews]

provide extinguishers please.

[juice777]

it would be hard to beat this comment with a more ridiculous one.

He is right but unfortunately this is pattaya once all the pollution is gone and all the rubbish and dog shit is gone from the beach. We can stop mocking the no smoking on the Beach law.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[Bill Miller]

6 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

Cigarette butts qualify as hazardous waste.

Um... no, they do not.
Why don't you, just once in a great while, look something up before spouting nonsense?
There is a webpage defining hazardous waste as defined in Thailand.
Cigarette butts are not (yet) on the list.
http://infofile.pcd.go.th/waste/AIT060509_sec5.pdf

[jeab1980]

Great i bloody hate it when im relaxing and some toe rag plonks himself down near me and starts bloody smoking to a non smoker its bloody horrible. And dont bother saying just move why the **** should I.

[Kieran00001]

32 minutes ago, Bill Miller said:

Um... no, they do not.
Why don't you, just once in a great while, look something up before spouting nonsense?
There is a webpage defining hazardous waste as defined in Thailand.
Cigarette butts are not (yet) on the list.
http://infofile.pcd.go.th/waste/AIT060509_sec5.pdf

 

They qualify in respect of the criteria of hazard waste assessment, Thailands own list is hardly something to go in, they do not even classify asbestos as hazardous.

[sambum]

27 minutes ago, jeab1980 said:

Great i bloody hate it when im relaxing and some toe rag plonks himself down near me and starts bloody smoking to a non smoker its bloody horrible. And dont bother saying just move why the **** should I.

As an ex smoker, I don't particularly like it, but it is in the open air, and I completely agree with not smoking in areas like restaurants, schools, hospitals etc, but (and I have one or two ex landlords to back me up on this) I blame the demise of the typical British pub on the smoking ban. IMHO, they should have made allowances for pubs to have "smoking rooms" instead of the blanket ban that was imposed to force people to smoke on the street. That, on top of the high rents charged by breweries which in turn leads to higher prices for drink, drove many people to the supermarket and drinking at their friends' houses.

[jeab1980]

11 minutes ago, sambum said:

As an ex smoker, I don't particularly like it, but it is in the open air, and I completely agree with not smoking in areas like restaurants, schools, hospitals etc, but (and I have one or two ex landlords to back me up on this) I blame the demise of the typical British pub on the smoking ban. IMHO, they should have made allowances for pubs to have "smoking rooms" instead of the blanket ban that was imposed to force people to smoke on the street. That, on top of the high rents charged by breweries which in turn leads to higher prices for drink, drove many people to the supermarket and drinking at their friends' houses.

Simple solution make an area of beach smoking only. As for the pubs it was the supermarkets that drove them out of buisness im afraid. Agreed the smoking ban didnt help but the pubs in my ex neck of the woods still allow smoking never been fined or raided.

I now when in patts only use bars were smoking is not allowed at all.  And yes there are many.

[thaianon]

2 minutes ago, jeab1980 said:

Simple solution make an area of beach smoking only. As fot the pubs it was the supermarkets that drove them out of buisness im afraid. Agreed the smoking ban didnt help but the pubsvin my ex neck of the woods still allow smoking never been fined or raided.

Your suggestion has some merit. Smoking has been banned in most public places, and the beach is a public place ...

[Thechook]

55 minutes ago, jeab1980 said:

Great i bloody hate it when im relaxing and some toe rag plonks himself down near me and starts bloody smoking to a non smoker its bloody horrible. And dont bother saying just move why the **** should I.

Saw the same thing at a shopping centre in Australia, a woman sitting on a bench with her child when a small group walked up sat down beside her and lit up.  She went absolutely ballistic yelling at them to move away as she was there first and they refused and told her to move.  I just laughed at the silly arrogant woman as she was seated in the designated smoking area.

[jeab1980]

5 minutes ago, thaianon said:

Your suggestion has some merit. Smoking has been banned in most public places, and the beach is a public place ...

I have nothing against smokers at all just not in my personal space. Had a good friend over a few months ago smokes like a train. He spent more time out the back than with us and his Mrs, seriously. He couldnt go the night without having several crafty fags in the bedroom which unfortunatley stank the house out. Had a word next day and he decided to get a hotel in KK for the rest of his stay. Which wasvonly a few days. Ps found out three days ago he has end stage lung cancer. Diagnosied due to a bad cough last week. 

[jeab1980]

5 minutes ago, Thechook said:

Saw the same thing at a shopping centre in Australia, a woman sitting on a bench with her child when a small group walked up sat down beside her and lit up.  She went absolutely ballistic yelling at them to move away as she was there first and they refused and told her to move.  I just laughed at the silly arrogant woman as she was seated in the designated smoking area.

Not quite the same thing then lol

[sambum]

7 minutes ago, jeab1980 said:

Simple solution make an area of beach smoking only. As for the pubs it was the supermarkets that drove them out of buisness im afraid. Agreed the smoking ban didnt help but the pubs in my ex neck of the woods still allow smoking never been fined or raided.

I now when in patts only use bars were smoking is not allowed at all.  And yes there are many.

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?   

[AlphMichaels]

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.

[tropo]

2 hours ago, Naam said:

2 hours ago, kentrot said:

But smoking offends at least all of the AIR around the smoker which is second hand smoke to the rest of us who come to the ocean for fresh air.

it would be hard to beat this comment with a more ridiculous one.

I'll try my best. (your comment was ridiculous, not the original).

 

Kentrot was trying to say that non-smokers find cigarette smoke-filled air near smokers unpleasant. He's also trying to explain that many people go to the beach for fresh air and don't appreciate being around smokers. I agree with him. It's not pleasant to be near smokers at the beach or anywhere else. They interfere with my desire to breathe fresh air.

 

[jeab1980]

9 minutes 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?   

No idea i just belive its a good idea.

The pubs i speak off do it illegally of course same as they buy a small amount of the brewery to keep them happy  and buy  lots more booze  from cash and carry or supermarkets. To keep them afloat even the owners and managers  of tied pubs were doing it.

[thaianon]

19 minutes 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?   

In Singapore, a smoker was fined $15,000 for throwing cigarette butts out of his flat window. I personally don't have a problem with people smoking on the beach. I do have a problem with people throwing cigarette butts on the beach. They're not easy to clean up (i.e. the sand eventually starts looking like an open-air ashtray).

[sambum]

7 minutes ago, tropo said:

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, thaianon said:

In Singapore, a smoker was fined $15,000 for throwing cigarette butts out of his flat window. I personally don't have a problem with people smoking on the beach. I do have a problem with people throwing cigarette butts on the beach. They're not easy to clean up (i.e. the sand eventually starts looking like an open-air ashtray).

Thanks for your post, but it doesn't answer my question!