Thailand and its fight against Alcohol

[daviddunham]

Anyone can shed some light on why Thailand has such a problem with alcohol?!

 

- No alcohol in quarantine (only country in the world)

- No alcohol in restaurants (treat serving food differently than serving alcohol, again ...don't know any other country that does that)

- No alcohol ordering online

- No alcohol purchase outside 11:00 - 14:00 and 17:00 - 00:00

- No alcohol purchase (complete ban) in bangkok in april 2020

 

I have heard stories (from older Thais only!) that in their village there was always a drunk village-idiot that everyone wanted to avoid and hence people are "afraid" of alcohol!

 

Thanks

[WineOh]

24 minutes ago, daviddunham said:

Anyone can shed some light on why Thailand has such a problem with alcohol?!

I think I can.

 

As Thailand is a Buddhist country and has a solid conservative core, many older Thais view drinking as a sin.

 

Hence why, since the ultra right-wing conservative army stole power in 2014, there has been a war waged on the alcohol industry via heavy taxation and regulation.

 

Ultimately the junta would love to do away with drinking all together, though they know that it is practically impossible so they opt for the next best thing - milk as much money from the sale of booze as they can whilst simultaneously being actively seen trying to discourage the promotion of alcohol to appease their right wing core constituents.

 

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by WineOh

[sipi]

I believe the 14.00 to 17.00 curfew was bought in originally to stop school kids buying alcohol.

Other than that I got no idea.

[Surelynot]

Well some of those restrictions listed are quarantine related and will disappear................... leaving ordering online and the time ban.

 

I can understand no ordering online.........so the only mystery is the time ban.....which I agree seem crazy.......if they don't want school kids to buy alcohol (sensible) you make it a severely punishable offense for the shop owners to sell it school kids.

Edited June 18, 2021 by Surelynot

[WineOh]

1 minute ago, Surelynot said:

Move to Nana....all your problems will be solved....555

surely he isn't that desperate? ????

[Surelynot]

9 minutes ago, WineOh said:

surely he isn't that desperate? ????

WHAT!......heaven on Earth....555

[ChipButty]

Go and live in some of the villages in the outback they are permanently pished

[Surelynot]

1 minute ago, ChipButty said:

Go and live in some of the villages in the outback they are permanently pished

Their own moonshine!!!.......Father in law invited me to sit in one night with the 'gang'.......no way Giuseppe 

[Excel]

Maybe someone with specific knowledge will add to this but a good friend of mine is an Alcoholic. He goes to AA meetings almost everywhere he is and that includes while he has been living here.

 

Now for those of you that don't know how to help yourself if you are an alcoholic, you first have to admit to those at the meeting that you are an alcoholic. Don't know but that must take some guts to do first time.   I asked my pal about AA meetings for Thais and he did say there are several but as a rule not as well attended as other meeting around the world that he has attended.  His explanation for that is that as we all know Thais suffer from the "Face" issue so if it takes guts for others to stand up and admit he or she is an alcoholic think what it takes for a Thai. Maybe that is one reason there are so many alcoholics . I don't know whether that has any impact or not as I m not an alcoholic but maybe  some further input from members that are could enlighten us further

[Disparate Dan]

24 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

if they don't want school kids to buy alcohol (sensible) you make it a severely punishable offense for the shop owners to sell it school kids.

remember where you are. It already is an offence. So is selling cigarettes to minors and a host of other things. And like anywhere in SEAsia, enforcement is lacking.

Which also allows us all to circumvent bans and the 1400-1700 curfew, which actually annoys me more than anything else in Thailand - it completely cuts across when I might be out shopping or getting provisions.

[Disparate Dan]

8 minutes ago, Excel said:

Maybe that is one reason there are so many alcoholics

In any case Thais get sit-faced on half a bottle of the local rats p1ss.

 

What's an alcoholic anyway? Someone who drinks more than their doctor.........

[ed strong]

Yes is bizarre, you either embrace it or ban it, however its a great tool for control. I think they just like to reinstall that they are in control and can issue whatever orders they like without complaints or any reprecusions.

 

You can be sure that these officials are not drinking either, yeh right, one rule for them and another for everyone else.

 

There's also the matter that most people whom are drunk have liittle awareness for following or even understanding the rules or what is expected of them at any one time.

[Excel]

1 minute ago, Disparate Dan said:

In any case Thais get sit-faced on half a bottle of the local rats p1ss.

 

What's an alcoholic anyway? Someone who drinks more than their doctor.........

Please don't take parts of my post out of context for what is a very serious problem

[canthai55]

Remember prohibition in the USA - that worked well ...

Alcohol abuse is a public health and a social services problem. The causes are many and varied - almost as many and varied as the number of people on the planet.

Bans don't work - when I was young drinking age 21 - we had no problem getting booze.

Drugs Illegal - no problem for the world getting them either.

People got to wake up, treat the causes not the problem.

Go out to eat - drink Coca Cola OK but not beer.

PLEEEEZE !

[Cake Monster]

13 minutes ago, ed strong said:

Yes is bizarre, you either embrace it or ban it, however its a great tool for control. I think they just like to reinstall that they are in control and can issue whatever orders they like without complaints or any reprecusions.

 

You can be sure that these officials are not drinking either, yeh right, one rule for them and another for everyone else.

 

There's also the matter that most people whom are drunk have liittle awareness for following or even understanding the rules or what is expected of them at any one time.

And the last paragraph is the reason for not opening the bars Etc during this Covid outbreak.

[samtam]

56 minutes ago, sipi said:

I believe the 14.00 to 17.00 curfew was bought in originally to stop school kids buying alcohol.

Other than that I got no idea.

 

Oh yes, I do remember when I was a school kid how every day after school, (which finished at 2 pm????), that the first thing I did was go along to the wine shop, and bought a vat of vodka...said no one.

 

 

5 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Remember prohibition in the USA - that worked well ...

Alcohol abuse is a public health and a social services problem. The causes are many and varied - almost as many and varied as the number of people on the planet.

Bans don't work - when I was young drinking age 21 - we had no problem getting booze.

Drugs Illegal - no problem for the world getting them either.

People got to wake up, treat the causes not the problem.

Go out to eat - drink Coca Cola OK but not beer.

PLEEEEZE !

 

Exactly, Coke and any of that stuff is lethal. There's nothing wrong with water.

[sipi]

Just now, samtam said:

 

Oh yes, I do remember when I was a school kid how every day after school, (which finished at 2 pm????), that the first thing I did was go along to the wine shop, and bought a vat of vodka...said no one.

 

 

 

Exactly, Coke and any of that stuff is lethal. There's nothing wrong with water.

Says the girl at 7/11 when the curfew was first introduced.

You weren't there.

[Surelynot]

31 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Go and live in some of the villages in the outback they are permanently pished

Have a " Thai uncle".....about 50....seriously alcoholic......paralytic all day everyday.......few years ago he got it into his drunken little head that his next door neighbor was having an affair with his wife........shot him the chest at point blank range...dead obviously.........that was on the Tuesday afternoon......by Wednesday evening he was in jail, sentenced to five years......he is now out of jail, worse than ever and living next door to the widow and her children!!!!!

[Golden Triangle]

45 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Well some of those restrictions listed are quarantine related and will disappear................... leaving ordering online and the time ban.

 

I can understand no ordering online.........so the only mystery is the time ban.....which I agree seem crazy.......if they don't want school kids to buy alcohol (sensible) you make it a severely punishable offense for the shop owners to sell it school kids.

The law (or some of it is this) apparently shops selling alcohol should not be within I think 1 km from a school or near a temple, bizarrely the bottle shop we use is directly opposite a temple & a lot less than a km from a school entrance, not 50 metres away either side are a 7/11, Tesco Express & Mini big C, you can guarantee that between the prohibited hours you will not be able to buy booze from the 3 mentioned mini marts but can wander into the bottle shop and buy whatever you desire. Totally bizarre.????

[Moonlover]

Thailand having a fight against alcohol! That's a bit of a laugh isn't it?

 

They have a petty restriction on the times that supermarkets and convenience stores can sell the stuff, whilst leaving every independent shop in the land free to sell it whenever they like. (providing the have a license of course)

 

At those same stores there is no control over the age of those purchasing alcohol and parents often send their young kids to buy their needs for them.

 

And last, but not least, they have ludicrously low taxes on the highest potency spirit on the shelf making it readily available to even the poorest in the land. It's a drinkers paradise!

 

If there's a fight against alcohol going on, it's passed me by completely unnoticed!

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by Moonlover

[Surelynot]

1 minute ago, Golden Triangle said:

The law (or some of it is this) apparently shops selling alcohol should not be within I think 1 km from a school or near a temple, bizarrely the bottle shop we use is directly opposite a temple & a lot less than a km from a school entrance, not 50 metres away either side are a 7/11, Tesco Express & Mini big C, you can guarantee that between the prohibited hours you will not be able to buy booze from the 3 mentioned mini marts but can wander into the bottle shop and buy whatever you desire. Totally bizarre.????

Similar line.......we are in the Deep Red zone, Khlong Toei.......quite a few bars and restaurants operating as normal.

[cclub75]

1 hour ago, WineOh said:

IAs Thailand is a Buddhist country and has a solid conservative core, many older Thais view drinking as a sin.

 

Hence why, since the ultra right-wing conservative army stole power in 2014, there has been a war waged on the alcohol industry via heavy taxation and regulation.

 

Ultimately the junta would love to do away with drinking all together, though they know that it is practically impossible so they opt for the next best thing - milk as much money from the sale of booze as they can whilst simultaneously being actively seen trying to discourage the promotion of alcohol to appease their right wing core constituents.

 

Of all the comments.... yours is spot on.

 

Indeed there is not link whatsoever with "kids"... It's just pure politics.

 

A certain group within the right wing elite needs to be "appeased". From time to time.

 

Thaksin tried it.

 

Remember ? Thaksin did it. He was the one who launched the stupid "shopping times" (before 11 AM and then 2 PM / 5 PM) for alcohol... 20 years ago ? 18 ? I forgot the year.

 

His position -within the elite- was precarious to say the least (we saw that after many coups ???? )

 

It explains why no gvt AFTER removed this -i repeat- stupid rules (it never prevented "kids" or "drunks" to.... buy and drink alcohol if thy wanted to)

 

It just annoys -greatly- tourists who can't order a beer... if they have a late lunch for instance.

 

And it annoys millions of local people -like us- who... can't do their shopping in the morning... buying food AND beers for instance.

 

It's a token. A totem. Political and nothing else.

[madmitch]

It's ironic that ThaiBev and Boon Rawd are two of the Government's biggest sponsors.

[Lacessit]

I'm not sure why they bother, every Thai village has its source of Lao Khao. No working day is complete without a 5 baht bottle.

Every village also has its share of idiots, due to fetal alcohol syndrome. Perhaps that's why Thailand has so many flag officers.

[sipi]

I remember drinking beer on the trains in the early eighties, and I remember buying beer at any hour of the day or night.

But I can't remember when restrictions came into play.

I can remember the first time we couldn't buy alcohol in the afternoon and was quite surprised.

2006 perhaps?

Edit. No it wasn't that early. 2016?

My memory fails me.

Edited June 18, 2021 by sipi

[sipi]

27 minutes ago, sipi said:

Says the girl at 7/11 when the curfew was first introduced.

You weren't there.

I think it was more a problem with Mum and Dad sending the kid to the shop for alcohol, not for themselves.

I remember when it was introduced but just can't remember exactly when or the full story, except it was to do with kids.

 

[sipi]

Thinking back.

Having an ice cold beer on the train chugging through the rice paddys on a steaming hot day with a few friends without getting drunk was a great day out.

How times have changed.

[ed strong]

48 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

And the last paragraph is the reason for not opening the bars Etc during this Covid outbreak.

 

Seems to be working ok in every other country, its only Thailand that banned it, whats diffrent about Thailand or the Thai people?

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, ChipButty said:

Go and live in some of the villages in the outback they are permanently pished

Yeah go north no problems if you know where to go just like anything else you would like to do. 

[daviddunham]

2 hours ago, WineOh said:

I think I can.

 

As Thailand is a Buddhist country ...

Much appreciated!

 

i am mainly annoyed at the fact that I had to transport and smuggle an extra baggage full of red wine bottles into my ASQ hotel.

 

( also cannot shop big quantities when I happen to be in the supermarket at 14:01)