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Debate on legalising e-cigs in Thailand as danger to foreign tourists is made very plain this week


webfact

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2 hours ago, webfact said:

Recent assurance from Minister of Tourism and Sports Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn that foreign tourists cannot be arrested for using vaping devices is at odds with what we have seen happening and what many visitors have been told by police officers,

Does anyone believe what he says?

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1 minute ago, hotchilli said:

The RTP will just find another revenue stream to fund their monthly bonus fund.

The government were forced to act when Chuwit linked gambling to the Chinese which hurt the RTP's funds, so they were told by a higher figure to target the public.

If the government make these e-cigarettes legal another revenue collection will spring up.

They always find something.

Should expect it.

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Something doesn't compute in my old brain. 

More than 250 outlets selling weed in Pattaya now.

Consume ln or take away.

You can get cbd vapour medication so how do you stand with the use of these.?

Medication certification in a foreign language?

Needs a shake up.

But why stop here?.

Edited by dallen52
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2 hours ago, ukrules said:

I can imagine that the police are missing out on a huge amount of extorted money now that cannabis has been made legal.

 

When it was illegal I'd bet they made many millions of Baht every month by threatening people with long prison sentences if they don't pay massive bribes - legalisation has destroyed a lucrative income stream.

 

They must be really feeling the pain here and have decided to extort a different group of people - those with e-cigs.

 

If they legalise e-cigs I wonder who they will go after next?

Maybe they can uphold the law for the road rules 24/7  and corruption.

Lots of money to be made there,Legally and Illegally. 

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3 hours ago, rankric said:

Legalising weed is great business for the Police if they introduced drug tests for drivers. 

 

Legalising vaping would be great for everyone except the tobacco companies. 

 

 

AND the Tax Authority. Real Smokers can not bring enough tobacco into the country to last two weeks; then they buy local and pay a nice tax. Vapers easily bring  in enough for their 2,3,4 week vacation; no taxes there.  The law should not prohibit vaporing, just prohibit bringing any consumables thru customs. Of course the customs boys would have a natural desire to spread around their new found wealth.

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1 hour ago, IAMHERE said:

.. Smokers can not bring enough tobacco into the country to last two weeks; then they buy local and pay a nice tax.... 

Not to defend the Kingdom, but for reference: Thailand ranks #57 in ranking the cost of a pack

Marlboro. (an expensive brand in Thailand, with many packs cheaper).  [Retrieved from numbeo.com}

#1 Oz highest at Baht 942,87; #107 Pakistan lowest at Bhat 31.01. Thailand Bhat 141.70. Looking at the countries ranking below Thailand, personally I'd be happy to just get out of those places.

 

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On the Vape issue for tourists;

I am contacting Lonely Planet in this regard advising VAPE users coming to Thailand to roll their VAPES up disguised as a nice big fatty Joint.

My local vape shop has already ordered the "Ejoint" which can be filled with any normal vape liquid.

 

Walking around Bkk or Patts with a VAPE= PROBLEM

Walking around Bkk or Patta with a Joint = NO PROBLEM

 

vape joint.jpg

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as danger to foreign tourists

In foreign countries, vaping, electric cigarettes are legal and therefor used by people.

This is just a scheme for not loosing monopoly, money in tobacco.

Tobacco is way more dangerous then vaping, due to all the substances in tobacco, which you dont have in vaping. Btw im a smoker, but Thai rolling tobacco sucks.

Import some from other countries, thats way better.

In 2004, i was in Indonesia and found amazingly my brand, 4 packages just 2 euro, was flabber gasted. While in my country, one package costed 7 euro, then.

I bought it, it was export quality, way better then my countries quality, amazing, loved it.

 

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5 hours ago, ukrules said:

I can imagine that the police are missing out on a huge amount of extorted money now that cannabis has been made legal.

 

When it was illegal I'd bet they made many millions of Baht every month by threatening people with long prison sentences if they don't pay massive bribes - legalisation has destroyed a lucrative income stream.

 

They must be really feeling the pain here and have decided to extort a different group of people - those with e-cigs.

 

If they legalise e-cigs I wonder who they will go after next?

That's true. On the other hand, where have tobacco smokers been all these decades? Not demonstrating for cannabis legalisation for sure. Rather, quite comfortable with cannabis users being jailed or sentenced to death for "using drugs". Maybe it's now cannabis users' turn to be selfish and hypocritical.

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9 minutes ago, timmyboy said:

This is ridiculous. E cigs openly available everywhere but illegal. From a western view point Thailand has so many things right but they drop the ball with stuff like this. 

Agreed. Whenever they've had a key turn in the road on this issue, they've always gone the wrong way imo. Sadly, I don't expect that to change.  In fact I expect a double-down on this one. Can a tourism based country not be liberal? ... I don't think so. Otherwise, it becomes like the hotel whose boss imposes all sorts of unreasonable rules on patrons, ie, the stay is ruined.

 

Just see what happens when every week some tourist ends up deported, fined heavily, or even jailed.  There's no half way house of a bribe anymore, so it's either turn a blind eye, or do it the proper legal way. Will be interesting I guess.

 

The most curious thing is that vaping appears to safe (in the normal casual sense we use the word).

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I am not against vaping. But the tourists should understand the laws before they come to Thailand. If they don't do it then it is not the fault of Thailand.

 

In Singapore for instance chewing gums are not allowed. So better don't use them or face the consequences. And many countries have laws that are different than the laws of the countries the tourists come from. Think of Arab countries. And if tourists believe they are so special that they can ignore local laws and regulations - stupid, but up to them.

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If vaping is deemed dangerous and therefore illegal in order to protect people from themselves then driving in Thailand should be illegal for all because more people are killed or maimed on Thai roads than vaping will ever cause. Thailand refuses to properly address the horrendous road statistics and instead constantly picks "low fruit" like vaping in order to keep attention away from real issues.

 

Likewise pollution in Thailand is a bigger risk to people than vaping. I don't vape and I think that vaping is likely bad for people but it ranks lower than other risks in LOS.

 

Edited by metisdead
Extra spacing removed.
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7 minutes ago, Mickeymaus said:

I am not against vaping. But the tourists should understand the laws before they come to Thailand. If they don't do it then it is not the fault of Thailand.

 

In Singapore for instance chewing gums are not allowed. So better don't use them or face the consequences. And many countries have laws that are different than the laws of the countries the tourists come from. Think of Arab countries. And if tourists believe they are so special that they can ignore local laws and regulations - stupid, but up to them.

It's a fair point, the law is the law, but can a tourism based country afford to have stupid, unreasonable laws? Also, it's human nature to flout laws when they are nonsensical.  In addition, if you walk down the street and see vapes on sale, and people walking around vaping (including cops it is claimed) then you can understand why someone else thinks it's ok to do it.

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9 minutes ago, mommysboy said:

It's a fair point, the law is the law, but can a tourism based country afford to have stupid, unreasonable laws? Also, it's human nature to flout laws when they are nonsensical.  In addition, if you walk down the street and see vapes on sale, and people walking around vaping (including cops it is claimed) then you can understand why someone else thinks it's ok to do it.

If I understood it correctly then the police cannot charge you. There needs to be a court case - not easy with tourists. If the police wants money then it is illegal. You also can insist that the vendor that sold this stuff gets immediately removed and also punished.

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