Butts Out: Smoking Ban To Hit 24 Thai Beaches

[webfact]

Butts Out: Smoking Ban To Hit 24 Thai Beaches

(Video)

By Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

 

  

Photo: Shannon Holman / Flickr

 

PHETCHABURI — Beach-going smokers will have to weigh a year in jail before lighting up next month.

 

Starting Feb. 1, a smoking ban piloted late last year will go into effect at 24 beaches across 15 provinces. They include popular tourist destinations in Hua Hin, Pattaya, Phuket, Koh Samui and Koh Tao, coastal authorities said Wednesday.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2018/01/25/butts-smoking-ban-hit-24-thai-beaches-video/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2018-01-25

[Just1Voice]

This is not going to go over well at all. 

 

[halloween]

Before the gloom and doom predictions, remember what happened when smoking was banned in pubs.

[Bluespunk]

Hmm, interesting choice picture.

 

Is it only pesky foreigners who smoke on the beaches then...

[Samui Bodoh]

2 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

Hmm, interesting choice picture.

 

Is it only pesky foreigners who smoke on the beaches then...

 

No, it is only foreigners who get fined or jailed...

[johng]

13 minutes ago, halloween said:

what happened when smoking was banned in pubs.

Yes most of them are now shut !

[PatOngo]

One smoke on the beach is a far greater risk to national security than a general "possessing" 25 undeclared watches........ok.......mai phen rai.

[DM07]

Still having tour priorities right, huh Thailand!?

[Ossy]

When the Pattaya smoking ban hit the headlines, last November, I thought of emailing the Authority, dealing with breaches on the beaches, with my far better solution to the problem; for smokers to make sure to use ash cans, either their own or hired out at beach access points and smoking cells. I knew they wouldn't listen to sense so I never bothered . . . now look what it's led to.

[DM07]

29 minutes ago, halloween said:

Before the gloom and doom predictions, remember what happened when smoking was banned in pubs.

Here: a closed environment

There: an open air beach!

 

Here: not much else, but smoke!

There: Thais littering everywhere, throwing garbage into every klong, environmental -  laws diregarded left and right!

 

Here: apples!

There: oranges!

[johng]

 

[halloween]

2 minutes ago, DM07 said:

Here: a closed environment

There: an open air beach!

 

Here: not much else, but smoke!

There: Thais littering everywhere, throwing garbage into every klong, environmental -  laws diregarded left and right!

 

Here: apples!

There: oranges!

I was referring to the effects of the ban, not the logic behind it. Smoke rotting your brain, as well?

 

BTW where is "here"? and if you are "there" how does it affect you?

[quandow]

2 hours ago, halloween said:

Before the gloom and doom predictions, remember what happened when smoking was banned in pubs.

Oh yeah . . .

[quandow]

I ride a push bike most days along Jomtien Beach Road. I see people politely smoking on the sidewalks, off the beach, disposing of the butts in the readily available garbage bins. No fanfare, no parade, no problems.

[mercman24]

need to get off ya bike matey, yep i live on beach road

[YetAnother]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

a smoking ban piloted late last year will go into effect at 24 beaches

relatively small issue to us long termer, non-smokers;

it does however shed light on the potentially disturbing ultra-conservatism in the past 4 years that we need be conscientious of;

how far away are immigration changes given this mood ? (none of them good)

[Misterwhisper]

The big bonanza for the local police mafia is about to kick off, gentlemen!

 

Soon scores of pesky foreigners who are unaware of that ban will be rounded up en masse and "requested" to make donations into the police mafia welfare fund if they want to await a ridiculous jail term of 1 year. (or a 100,000 baht fine).

[sammieuk1]

Could be worse only 1 year in jail it will fly by just spare a thought for the 10 stretch vapor! Meantime less serious crimes such as murder rape GHB violent road rage will be out in most cases before you.

[wakeupplease]

Can't wait to see the first one put in jail and bingo by by tourists.

 

The smoking ban hit pubs very hard, one of the reasons so many have closed

[Get Real]

4 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Hmm, interesting choice picture.

 

Is it only pesky foreigners who smoke on the beaches then...

And if it would have been a Thai smoking on the picture, what would the response have been then? 

[Bluespunk]

Just now, Get Real said:

And if it would have been a Thai smoking on the picture, what would the response have been then? 

Ah, one of the majority of smokers in the country,

 

or

 

Ah a story about an issue in Thailand featuring a picture of a Thai...

[Get Real]

Absolutely no butts in Thailand. Even the butt brothers got deported. 
They on the other hand never throwed the butt when finished smoking. Unfair advantage, isn´t it?

[Oziex1]

I wish I could see it as a progressive rule for the benefit of peoples health and a reduction of litter on the beach, sadly I only see it as a new tax on visitors who may miss the signage communicating the new law.

[tomacht8]

Stupid law.

1. The amount of the punishments are in no relation to other offenses.

2. Not the smoking on the beach should be punished but the throw away of garbage. The environmental awareness of many tourists is far higher than that of many Thais.

Many tourists collect their garbage and bring it to the garbage bin.

If there are any at all.

3. Some smokers roll their cigarettes themselves without synthetic plastic filters. From these cigarette rests there is less danger to the environment than from every 7-11 plastic bag.

Thailand should choose more smarter law makers.

[The manic]

8 hours ago, johng said:

Yes most of them are now shut !

And the ones that remained open but banned smoking are gaining more customers as the 90% of people who do not smoke  return to pubs, clubs and bars. Staff are more healthy and insurance premiums go down. Bring it on! Dont confuse pubs or beaches with 'baccy Dens' or 'smoking galleries'! Have your fix in your own home away from kids!

Edited January 25, 2018 by The manic

[nisakiman]

 

 

2 hours ago, The manic said:

And the ones that remained open but banned smoking are gaining more customers as the 90% of people who do not smoke  return to pubs, clubs and bars. Staff are more healthy and insurance premiums go down. Bring it on! Dont confuse pubs or beaches with 'baccy Dens' or 'smoking galleries'! Have your fix in your own home away from kids!

 

Well they've been a hell of a long time returning, and the publicans are still waiting. In fact most pubs aren't even pubs anymore - they had to turn themselves into restaurants with a bar (and snotty, screaming kids running around) to survive, such was the influx of non-smokers that rushed to enjoy the now 'smoke-free' pubs. I guess the sheer numbers of non-smokers rushing to the pubs is why only 17,000 pubs and clubs have closed in the UK since the smoking ban. Yes, that's 17,000. Seventeen thousand.

 

Sorry, sunshine, but the only reason any pub might be gaining customers is because all the others in the area have been forced into liquidation by the smoking ban. The smoking ban was a disaster for the hospitality industry. Tens of thousands lost their jobs, thousands of good businesses were forced to close, millions of older people had their only social lives taken from them. Why do you think that, for the first time ever, the UK government is creating a 'Minister for Loneliness'? It wouldn't be because nearly all the British Legion clubs and Working Men's clubs and bingo halls were forced to close in the wake of the smoking ban, would it? Those places where the older generation would traditionally meet and socialise? But then, you would never have been to one of those establishments, so you wouldn't know, would you? Nor do you care.

 

You're just like all the other zealots. Self-centered, intolerant, bigoted and not very clever. You obviously know nothing about the actual science and research, but have memorised all the propaganda soundbites you've read in the 'Daily Mail' or whatever, which you trot out at every opportunity to display your level of indoctrination, your status as one of the 'in crowd', those who are 'acceptable' because they say the 'right' things; tick all the PC boxes.

 

I usually avoid getting annoyed at other people's lack of understanding, but sometimes the unctuous sanctimony of some people's attitude really does irk me.

 

You ever heard the biblical quote "Let he who is without sin throw the first stone"?

 

Think about it.

[halloween]

1 hour ago, nisakiman said:

 

 

 

Well they've been a hell of a long time returning, and the publicans are still waiting. In fact most pubs aren't even pubs anymore - they had to turn themselves into restaurants with a bar (and snotty, screaming kids running around) to survive, such was the influx of non-smokers that rushed to enjoy the now 'smoke-free' pubs. I guess the sheer numbers of non-smokers rushing to the pubs is why only 17,000 pubs and clubs have closed in the UK since the smoking ban. Yes, that's 17,000. Seventeen thousand.

 

Sorry, sunshine, but the only reason any pub might be gaining customers is because all the others in the area have been forced into liquidation by the smoking ban. The smoking ban was a disaster for the hospitality industry. Tens of thousands lost their jobs, thousands of good businesses were forced to close, millions of older people had their only social lives taken from them. Why do you think that, for the first time ever, the UK government is creating a 'Minister for Loneliness'? It wouldn't be because nearly all the British Legion clubs and Working Men's clubs and bingo halls were forced to close in the wake of the smoking ban, would it? Those places where the older generation would traditionally meet and socialise? But then, you would never have been to one of those establishments, so you wouldn't know, would you? Nor do you care.

 

You're just like all the other zealots. Self-centered, intolerant, bigoted and not very clever. You obviously know nothing about the actual science and research, but have memorised all the propaganda soundbites you've read in the 'Daily Mail' or whatever, which you trot out at every opportunity to display your level of indoctrination, your status as one of the 'in crowd', those who are 'acceptable' because they say the 'right' things; tick all the PC boxes.

 

I usually avoid getting annoyed at other people's lack of understanding, but sometimes the unctuous sanctimony of some people's attitude really does irk me.

 

You ever heard the biblical quote "Let he who is without sin throw the first stone"?

 

Think about it.

"In 2014-15, 14.5% of adults aged 18 years and over were daily smokers (2.6 million adults), down from 16.1% in 2011-12. This decrease is a continuation of the trend over the past two decades. In 2001, 22.4% of adults smoked daily while 23.8% of adults smoked daily in 1995."

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Lookup/by Subject/4364.0.55.001~2014-15~Main Features~Smoking~24

 

That's why very few if any pubs closed in Oz. Those not suffering from addiction and/or terminal stupidity just don't care when more smoking bans are enforced.

[DoctorG]

I would hazard that foreigners will be more abiding of the law than locals, but we could start a sweep on who will be the first offender caught and heavily fined or jailed. My vote would be on a Chinese man.

[BaldPlumber]

I ride a push bike most days along Jomtien Beach Road. I see people politely smoking on the sidewalks, off the beach, disposing of the butts in the readily available garbage bins. No fanfare, no parade, no problems.

The Thais have put about a million ashtrays along the beach pavement now.

Mostly made of plastic water bottles cut in half and filled with sand.

Good idea.

[dotpoom]

As usual, when a story doesn't affect one personally it diesn't maybe have the same impact (I gave up the fags and the booze 17 yrs. ago and don't lie out on beaches) until the other day.

  I bought my usual iced coffee and headed to my usual spot to drink it on the wall along Jomtien beach.

   Well, ...you could have knocked me down with a feather,....not a place to be had for my "sit down", had to go a long way to get a spot. .."Wow,....a lot of Farangs have suddenly copped on to how nice a spot this is"....I thought to myself, until " she who must be obeyed"  suddenly said..."come on, let's move"...."why"....I asked....."menn" ..she replied (Thai for bad smell, not the two legged type) and it was then I realized it was all the guy and gal tourists that had come up for a puff.

  By the way, have a look out for the smoking areas provided. 

  I laughed when I saw the first one....it consisted of those baby type stools with a couple of flower pots with sand in them. I said to the Mrs...."OK, ....so this is where the children can smoke.... I wonder where the area is for the adults to smoke"?...It didn't take long to find up. A few paces further along were two full size white plastic chairs with a bigger flower pot.