Kratom: 12,000 prisoners to be released - fast otherwise compensation might need paying

[webfact]

Picture Daily News

 

The Thai authorities are planning to release 12,000 prisoners after Kratom - a leaf used to make tea - was removed from the narcotics control list (Section 5) effective next Tuesday.

 

Thai justice minister Somsak Thepsuthin chaired a video conference meeting of all concerned including drugs police and Corrections' Department officials. 

 

Tens of thousands of cases - both completed and pending - have been initiated in the last few years over the stimulant, reported Daily News yesterday.

 

Somsak told everyone to get on with it as a matter of priority lest those still incarcerated after the cut-off date file charges for compensation. 

 

Prisoners are in jail for taking, possessing and distributing the drug and they will all be let out.

 

The issue was raised by ASEAN NOW's Sunday columnist Rooster this week when it was understood that just 8,000 would be freed. 

 

The figure is now reported even more than anticipated. Well over 300,000 people are in Thai jails, huge numbers for drug related offences.

 

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[johng]

5 minutes ago, webfact said:

The figure is now reported even more than anticipated. Well over 300,000 people are in Thai jails, huge numbers for drug related offences.

As we are seeing right now in another war  the "war on drugs" is a futile waste of time,money and lives.

[grandpa]

I find this very strange as at the time of sentence, Kratom was illegal, hence the conviction was correct and legal as the law stood at that time.  Unless, of course, the new law is retrospective and all those sentenced will receive pardons!

[Bluespunk]

12 minutes ago, webfact said:

Somsak told everyone to get on with it as a matter of priority lest those still incarcerated after the cut-off date file charges for compensation. 

So justice moves quickly when facing the threat of being charged for compensation. 

 

The fact that no one put any thought into preparing these prisoners for release, once they had decided to decriminalise kratom, says volumes about the ineptitude of the Justice Department.

 

Absolute debacle. 

Edited August 17, 2021 by Bluespunk
Missing word inserted

[cyril sneer]

26 minutes ago, johng said:

As we are seeing right now in another war  the "war on drugs" is a futile waste of time,money and lives.

drug busts are too lucrative for them to ever stop

[JonnyF]

25 minutes ago, grandpa said:

I find this very strange as at the time of sentence, Kratom was illegal, hence the conviction was correct and legal as the law stood at that time.  Unless, of course, the new law is retrospective and all those sentenced will receive pardons!

Exactly. I hope this doesn't work the other way around and they do something like make cigarettes illegal and then lock up everyone who smoked in the 2 years prior to the law being passed, while it was still legal to do so. 

 

What a debacle. I suspect this is simply a way to legitimize releasing a load of prisoners due to the Covid situation in the jails.

[Andycoops]

26 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

So justice moves quickly when facing the threat of being charged for compensation. 

 

The fact that no one put any thought into preparing these prisoners for release, once they had decided to decriminalise kratom, says volumes about the ineptitude of the Justice Department.

 

Absolute debacle. 

Not to mention the total incompetence of the entire government.

[Bluespunk]

1 minute ago, Andycoops said:

Not to mention the total incompetence of the entire government.

That’s a given. 

[Meat Pie 47]

10 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Exactly. I hope this doesn't work the other way around and they do something like make cigarettes illegal and then lock up everyone who smoked in the 2 years prior to the law being passed, while it was still legal to do so. 

 

What a debacle. I suspect this is simply a way to legitimize releasing a load of prisoners due to the Covid situation in the jails.

yes and carry covid with them and spread it

Edited August 17, 2021 by Meat Pie 47

[nausea]

29 minutes ago, grandpa said:

I find this very strange as at the time of sentence, Kratom was illegal, hence the conviction was correct and legal as the law stood at that time.  Unless, of course, the new law is retrospective and all those sentenced will receive pardons!

I don't think it's retrospective, there's no compensation for time already served as I understand it, more about not keeping people in jail under a law that's no longer on the statute books; sort of makes sense, and I can see how not releasing them in a timely manner might give rise to a claim for compensation.

[Eibot]

55 minutes ago, grandpa said:

I find this very strange as at the time of sentence, Kratom was illegal, hence the conviction was correct and legal as the law stood at that time.  Unless, of course, the new law is retrospective and all those sentenced will receive pardons!

Clearly the latter is the case. 

[Orinoco]

48 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Exactly. I hope this doesn't work the other way around and they do something like make cigarettes illegal and then lock up everyone who smoked in the 2 years prior to the law being passed, while it was still legal to do so. 

 

What a debacle. I suspect this is simply a way to legitimize releasing a load of prisoners due to the Covid situation in the jails.

That would be fine by me.

i quit 21 years ago !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL.

[Orinoco]

40 minutes ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

yes and carry covid with them and spread it

That's a good point, hope they check that.

[mtls2005]

Amnesty? Full pardon? Record wiped clean?

 

 

The 12,000 figure is surprising, much higher than I would have guessed.

 

That anyone was imprisoned for this well, maybe not so surprising, but still hard to believe.

 

I wonder who the longest Kratom-sentenced serving prisoner is, and how long he's been imprisoned. 

 

 

IMO, all those on minor cannabis charges should be similarly released.

 

 

Who a society chooses to imprison, and how those prisoners are treated, says a lot about a culture and country. In Thailand's case, none of it is good.

 

 

 

 

[Pib]

2 hours ago, grandpa said:

I find this very strange as at the time of sentence, Kratom was illegal, hence the conviction was correct and legal as the law stood at that time.  Unless, of course, the new law is retrospective and all those sentenced will receive pardons!

 

https://www.tilleke.com/insights/thailand-decriminalizes-kratom-in-amended-narcotics-act/?utm_source=Mondaq&utm_medium=syndication&utm_campaign=LinkedIn-integration

Quote

The new legislation removes kratom from the Narcotics Act list of prohibited substances on the basis that its consumption is a part of traditional Thai cultural norms, and that it is not categorized as a narcotic in the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (an absence that is also reflected in the narcotics laws of several other countries, including federal laws in the United States).

 

The delisting of kratom as a narcotic will, in turn, trigger the rarely-used Section 2 of the Criminal Code, which expunges convictions and ends pending sentences or ongoing punishments stemming from an activity that is subsequently legalized.