Tourism minister questions Thailand’s 2pm-5pm alcohol ban

[Mac Mickmanus]

2 minutes ago, toolpush said:

Purachai Piemsombun , Thaksin's Interior Minister brought in this mandate circa 2001-2002 to supposedly cut down on school kids purchasing alcohol during school hours.

11 AM- 2 PM is during School hours though and alchol can be sold .

If they wanted to stop school kids buying alcohol during school hours , they would have made laws banning alcohol sales during school hours 

[spicy50210]

Hello. About alcohol in Thailand, banning is useless as they can find it everywhere. Thank you b(l)ackmarket :)

[toolpush]

10 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

11 AM- 2 PM is during School hours though and alchol can be sold .

If they wanted to stop school kids buying alcohol during school hours , they would have made laws banning alcohol sales during school hours 

I am not going to argue with what you or I think makes sense. I am simply passing on what I remember from the time. Purachai claimed it was to stop school kids from purchasing alcohol during school hours. Like you, it makes no sense to me either, but that was the stated reason. I remember it well. Us expats were left shaking our heads at the senselessness of it.

[inThailand]

Of course the ban should be lifted. But that would mean they made a mistake. I am not holding my breath it will be changed. 

[mjakob007]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

he hadn't any idea why the country bans drinking from 2 pm to 5 pm in the afternoon

brave soul

[Mac Mickmanus]

14 minutes ago, spicy50210 said:

Hello. About alcohol in Thailand, banning is useless as they can find it everywhere. Thank you b(l)ackmarket ????

Not these days you cannot . 

[madmitch]

29 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

2-5 has been a thing for a long time, with shops. There is a loophole, if you're buying 10 litres or more, because of businesses needing it. So, next time you're o loout of booze at 14:45, you can just head around to 7/11 and buy 14 bottles of whisky, no problemo!????

That loophole changed in 2015 when even wholesale purchases during these hours were stopped.

[dave moir]

5 hours ago, steven100 said:

what came after ?

 

The chicken!????????

[Purdey]

Unfortunately, the education system does not have an effect on kids drinking alcohol and bans have always been the first choice for prevention. 

Moreover, the anti alcohol groups want a total ban because they also have no clue how to control the problem. 

Voting age people don't care about bans. They know where to buy.

[Burma Bill]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

so they can serve alcohol all day.

Like throughout Cambodia!

[rosetintedspecs]

This regulation was brought in by the first Taksin government on the basis that it would protect school children from being sold alcohol in convenience stores between leaving school and getting home. Yes, they really believed that would work. The real reason for Taksin doing this is  that it was rumoured his son was a drug addict and he, and his interior ministry wanted to use this rule as a way to make himself and his party popular with older, more conservative voters. 

 

It really should be scrapped, it is a stupid idea. Pointless if the shopkeepers are doing their job asking kids for proof of ID. While we are at it, we should also be reducing the age of drinking to 18 from 20. Would you believe you can join the army at 16 and go to war. be shot dead, but you can't go out for a beer. What a joke!!

[tandor]

...i was always told it was in place as deterrent to school age students when leaving school in the afternoons....of course mum 'n pop shops sell regardless of this restriction/voting/buddhist and other holidays. We had a restaurant with a licence to sell alcohol and had approval to buy limited alcohol from Makro any time, except Chang Beer..not sure why.

[Mac Mickmanus]

1 minute ago, Purdey said:

Unfortunately, the education system does not have an effect on kids drinking alcohol and bans have always been the first choice for prevention. 

Moreover, the anti alcohol groups want a total ban because they also have no clue how to control the problem. 

Voting age people don't care about bans. They know where to buy.

Is there really such a problem with Thai kids and alcohol ?

I don't ever recall seeing kids drinking 

[spidermike007]

It has always been pure ridiculousness and is puerile, fake, nonsensical and just dumb. It ranks right up there with pixelation of nudity and  smoking. 

 

Kudos to Phiphat for doing one productive thing in his career as the least effective tourism minister Thailand has ever known. 

[wolf81]

5 hours ago, Thailand said:

Drinkers stocking up, now who would have thought of that!

In my village it doesn't really matter for alcoholics regardless. You can buy alcohol any time of the day at the local minimarts. I imagine it's the same in most of the country.

[heiri007]

These banned off-hours always let me buy more drinks during allowed hours. It's the usual Thai officialdom chicanery, nothing more to it. Them trying to cultivate a pure society. Yet achieving the opposite.

[Sydebolle]

Well, it took 'em 15 years to figure that one out.

A restaurateur is where between 11am-2pm and after 5pm-midnight?
Shops with VAT bills sell only during these times.
Distributors dont deliver below a minimum amount of, say, 8 - 10 cases of beer. Wholesale operators (i.e. Makro) dont deliver alcohol either. 

Result is, that the restaurateur is using the Mom & Pop shop to deliver, without VAT receipt, the restaurateur cooks the books as he - officially - never bought the booze.

The rest is history, over this time span billions of Thai Baht were "lost" in transition. Stupidity in its finest form.  

[Farangdk]

He would get my vote next time. What a shame that I can't vote. ????

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand's tourism minister Pipat Ratchakitprakan admitted to Thai media yesterday that he hadn't any idea why the country bans drinking from 2 pm to 5 pm in the afternoon. 

The thing is that Thailand does not "ban drinking between 2pm and 5pm"!

[KhunBENQ]

4 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

In 2008 the law came with the 300 meter zone around schools. In 2015, the sales times were also restricted from 2pm to 5pm, nationwide, even on weekends, regardless of whether there is a school nearby or not. Even Pipat cannot think of any reasons for this.

Yes, some alcohol law from 2008:

http://thailawforum.com/laws/Alcoholic 2551.pdf

 

BUT: I was puzzled by 2015 for the sales times.

Was sure that this existed earlier. Not invented after the coup!

Found this article from 2013 e.g.:

https://tastythailand.com/when-can-you-buy-alcohol-in-thailand-not-between-2-5pm-or-buddhist-holidays-daily-photo/

Now waiting for someone to say: Thaksin is the culprit

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, keith101 said:

Because it aligns with the ban on sales at the same time which is just ridiculous and stupid . 

What "aligns with the ban on sales at the same time"?   There are restricted hours for selling at some outlets but there is no ban on drinking.

[nickmondo]

i did not know there was a ban on drinking in restaurants between those hours

Im pretty sure that the majority dont stick to that rule

i never came across it

[Liverpool Lou]

 

5 hours ago, blackcab said:

5 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2015-08-14/thailand-alcohol-banned-near-educational-institutions/

 

There is a school on Sukhumvit Soi 4 in Bangkok.

"Under the amended Act, alcohol may not be sold “within 300 meters of the ‘fence’ of universities and colleges, both public and private. Lower schools are not included in the ban.” 

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

And three of them within walking distance, 50 to 150 meters, to the 7-11 located behind the Q House on Sathon Thai Road

Under the amended Act, alcohol may not be sold “within 300 meters of the ‘fence’ of universities and colleges, both public and private. Lower schools are not included in the ban.” 

[prakhonchai nick]

32 minutes ago, madmitch said:

That loophole changed in 2015 when even wholesale purchases during these hours were stopped.

Get an alcohol licence from your local amphur  (330bt) and then you can buy 10+litres of alcohol at Makro at any time they are open (apart from specific no booze days).       

[malibukid]

6 hours ago, HappyExpat57 said:

Remove that stupid sales ban at 7/11's, supermarkets etc. as well.

its a Buddhist country, not a secular one.

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

He told Thai Rath it was like "lying to yourself" about reality

That's a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.

Coming from him... he's been living in fantasy land since the start of Covid.

[huangnon]

26 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Is there really such a problem with Thai kids and alcohol ?

I don't ever recall seeing kids drinking 

Not much to do with kids drinking, imo. Seems to be more of a reaction to scapegoat alcohol for the horrendous road carnage that puts Thailand under the spotlight internationally. Nobody can be arsed to actually enforce traffic (and other) rules here, so hey, lets partly-ban alcohol..

[tomacht8]

24 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Yes, some alcohol law from 2008:

http://thailawforum.com/laws/Alcoholic 2551.pdf

 

BUT: I was puzzled by 2015 for the sales times.

Was sure that this existed earlier. Not invented after the coup!

Found this article from 2013 e.g.:

https://tastythailand.com/when-can-you-buy-alcohol-in-thailand-not-between-2-5pm-or-buddhist-holidays-daily-photo/

Now waiting for someone to say: Thaksin is the culprit

Interesting.

This article is from 17 May 2013

But in the Text they talk about 2015. 

 

"Why? Because the government made these five Buddhist holidays as ‘Alcohol-free days’ back in 2015, and that has not changed since then."

 

[johnarth]

6 hours ago, keith101 said:

Because it aligns with the ban on sales at the same time which is just ridiculous and stupid . 

believe it or not it is to stop the school kids many of them over 20years of age from drinking from dinner time on