"Reefer Madness": Thai media continue to attack marijuana use blaming it for violence/addiction

[webfact]

 

Several Thai media outlets continued their attack on the use of marijuana in the kingdom.

 

They have claimed it is responsible for acts of violence after users go berserk when they can't get a "fix".

 

They claim that weed is addictive.

 

There are shades of the so called "Reefer Madness" that references a film that led to decades of disinformation about the drug.

 

Users and those who see nothing wrong with weed have been critical of media that is jumping on negative stories since marijuana was legalized in Thailand in June last year.

 

Many fear that the next government might do a U-turn. This despite huge investment in the marijuana industry and shops popping up everywhere in Thailand, not just in tourist enclaves, notes ASEAN NOW.

 

The issue is becoming a massive political hot potato in the lead up to the general election expected in May.

 

Chuwit Kamolwisit the whistleblower has been attacking the Bhumjaithai party chief Anutin Charnvirakul for their marijuana policy.

 

Anutin always said that medicinal weed and allowing people to grow it to make money was his aim. Not recreational use. And the drug should be off limits to children.

 

So what were the Thai media saying today:

 

Siam Rath - following many stories critical of marijuana - reported that they were contacted by concerned residents in a row of houses in Soi Khao Talo in Pattaya.

 

It concerned a 14 year old boy "A" who is living with his gran "Da", 68.

 

Picture: Siam Rath

 

They said the boy is not going to school and is addicted to weed and gets angry with his gran when she doesn't give him money for it.

 

Siam Rath contacted Lt-Col Natthakorn Janlort of the Nong Prue police and the local authority and they all went to the area.

 

"A" was ashen faced when they arrived and his gran burst into tears.

 

Da said she had looked after her grandson since birth as his parents couldn't care less. Everything was fine until a year ago when he stopped going to M1 classes at school and asked her for 100-200 baht a day for money to buy weed.

 

Picture: Siam Rath

 

He just wanted to hang out with friends.

 

If he didn't get his fix he got irritable, stomach problems, starting mumbling and smashing things up.

 

"Once he threw a glass of water in my face", she said fighting back the tears. She went to the neighbors for help when things turned violent.

 

Hugging her grandson she begged him to give up the habit and go to rehab so they can get their lives back on track. He "wai-ed" and said he would follow his gran's advice.

 

A admitted that he used a home made bong and needed 100 baht every two or three days.

 

His friends introduced the drug to him and he felt good when he had it and irritable when he didn't.

 

Natthakorn said that the relevant authorities would provide help to A to help him kick the habit.

 

Though the Cannabis Act has yet to be ratified, health department rules forbid the sale of weed to under 20s.

 

This was not mentioned by Siam Rath who also disn't say where the youngster got his marijuana. It is however widely available outside of regulated shops, especially in Pattaya where vendors sell 100 baht packs in places like Beach Road.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

Daily News also joined in the anti-weed rhetoric.

 

They carried a story about a man who smashed up a female dormitory in Udon Thani that said "Man High on Marijuana" in their headline.

 

Only hidden in the body of their story was the fact that the man was a yaba addict who also smoked weed.

 

Yaba use - undoubtedly responsible for many acts of paranoid violence - is clearly on the back-burner in the Thai press.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

They reported that a 42 year old man broke his way into a room and turned on the aircon waiting for a woman.

 

The owner called the police.

 

The man's 62 year old father said his son was a drug addict and needed rehab. He said he had been addicted to drugs since he was a child.

 

Additional reporting by the ASEAN NOW news team.

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2023-03-21

 

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[KannikaP]

4 minutes ago, webfact said:

They reported that a 42 year old man broke his way into a room and turned on the aircon waiting for a woman.

Ooooh what a bad man, turning on the air con.

[ezzra]

This is a hotly debated subject here in this forum and in many other places and there isn't much to add then what already have been known of the properties of the weed and consequences of using only to say that on certain people the weed can have different more profound effects then others that is true

as the article above illustrates.

 

[ChipButty]

Here in Phuket it's looking like every row of shops has got a shop selling weed, In a soi down the road from me they have a built a weed farm, if thats the correct term, 

[connda]

Anutin For PM!

[MrMuddle]

Ridiculous stories, anyone with any inteligence can see it's propaganda.
Every village has kids, usually boys, who are uncontrollable, due to their every wish being granted by aging grandparents, who look after them, while the kid's parents chase big money, in the cities. NOTHING at all to do with Cannabis, and EVERYTHING to do with bad parenting.
There's a man who visits our village, who has tantrums, and jumps up and down like a big soft girl, when he can't get his own way, and shakes when he can't get any alcohol. All caused by his parents indulging him when he was a boy.

[n00dle]

its idiotic. 

[Pouatchee]

It has nothing to do with weed. This kid has other serious mental issues and the lack of psychologists and the shame of losing face if one has mental issues are the real problems here. This kid has issues and he is using weed as an excuse in a cry for help and attention.

[bamnutsak]

When Cannabis was normalized in June 2022 some 4,000 prisoners were released, out of a total prison population of 350,000-ish.

 

Yaba/methamphetamine is said to be responsible for ~ 80% of incarcerations, so ~ 270,000 prisoners.

 

And the authorities just made possession of two or more tablets (down from 15) of yaba in the catgeory of "dealer".

 

Meth is truly addictive, and much more harmful to the mind and body than almost any widely available 'drug'

 

Tell me again that canabis is worse for Thai scoiety than tobacco, alcohol and meth.

 

I think meth is just so deeply ingrained in Thai society that it is almost accepted as a cost of doing business. We never hear the stories about youngsters abusing meth, why is that? And the policeman who murdered 37 people in Uthai Sawan, including 22 children, was purported to be a meth head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CLW]

As usual, Thai press looking for a culprit and news to make headlines, instead of addressing the real drug issue in Thailand: Alcohol and Meth / Yaba

[RandolphGB]

The British boiler room boys who've poured millions into those tacky neon-lit shops across the country won't be happy when the drug is criminalised again.

[freedomnow]

if a Shinawatra gets in to office, it will probably be all over regardless of opinions.

[IamNoone88]

There is no need to be concerned in Phuket with the PSI index from the annual burning in Indonesia as it drifts across. The island is awash with pot shops and the pungent smell of weed on the beach and in the bars which can be an unbearable thick haze. Personally, I don't care if people want to trip out the stuff ... just don't subject me and my like minded friends to the same pungent smoke .... <deleted> off outside and smoke yer joints.

[Robert Tyrrell]

Yet you can purchase alcohol under age in Thailand and people kill people with drunk driving and they pay money and it all goes away !!?? 
Personally the Thai government is making revenue from these weed shops , Talk about shooting yourself in the foot if you make it illegal again !! And destroying peoples lively hoods instead it won’t be covid it will be your own government if you allow it VOTE  !!

KNOW WHO YOU VOTE FOR TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES THAILAND !! 

[asf6]

Reefer Madness. LOL 

 

Have we moved on from 1936?

 

 

[Purdey]

23 minutes ago, asf6 said:

Reefer Madness. LOL 

 

Have we moved on from 1936?

 

 

He says at one point, "Rolled into harmless looking cigarettes." This is what makes it truly crazy.

[BangkokReady]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Da said she had looked after her grandson since birth as his parents couldn't care less.

This is the source of A's problems.  He's a kid who has fallen through the cracks, is desperate for a father figure and has fallen in with a bad crowd as a result.

 

You would think that he might have some sort of relationship with a male teacher and actually want to go to school.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if his "friends" were older than him and simply want to mess his life up because they can.

 

(Also he's under age so any weed he buys is illegal weed anyway.)

[Burma Bill]

7 hours ago, ChipButty said:

they have a built a weed farm,

Not so across the border here in Cambodia:

 

1 During an investigation into a suspected marijuana plantation, police seized and destroyed 300 marijuana plants.

 

2 National Authority for Combating Drugs, said yesterday that authorities found 32 cases of marijuana cultivation and arrested five Cambodian growers.

 

3 Provincial Gendarmerie cracked down on 10 marijuana plantations in the province and cut and destroyed the illegal crops.

 

4 The National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD) yesterday warned that anyone who cultivates marijuana, processes it for any form of business, or abuses it will be punished in accordance with the Anti-Drug Law.

 

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/?s=marijuana

[smedly]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

This despite huge investment in the marijuana industry

explains everything, would be interesting to see who is connected to these "huge investments" - individuals, families, businesses, I am pretty sure about one in particular and we all know who

[smedly]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Anutin always said that medicinal weed and allowing people to grow it to make money was his aim

ahem - allowing people lol

 

allowing him is likely closer to the truth

[Gecko123]

It's more than a little disingenuous and intellectually dishonest to pretend that restricting marijuana usage to those over 20 years old will effectively manage underage misuse when Thailand is known for lax law enforcement and cultivation is permitted indiscriminately.

 

Reading this forum and the endless cheerleading for decriminalization by certain columnists, you would think there is universal support in the expat community for these proposals, which is far from the case.

 

I, for one, still believe that decriminalization is a step backwards for Thailand's social and educational development as well as for road safety, and that the encouragement of cannabis tourism is an abomination and scourge driven far more by avarice than any so-called enlightened forward thinking. It is my belief that these reforms will ultimately be repealed because of the weakening effect they have on the social fabric and Thai core values.

 

[jacko45k]

4 hours ago, KannikaP said:

Ooooh what a bad man, turning on the air con.

Get short shrift from me if he did it... my electric bill came today!

[Jumbo1968]

1 hour ago, Robert Tyrrell said:

Yet you can purchase alcohol under age in Thailand and people kill people with drunk driving and they pay money and it all goes away !!?? 
Personally the Thai government is making revenue from these weed shops , Talk about shooting yourself in the foot if you make it illegal again !! And destroying peoples lively hoods instead it won’t be covid it will be your own government if you allow it VOTE  !!

KNOW WHO YOU VOTE FOR TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES THAILAND !! 

As far as I know there is no tax on selling cannabis albeit you have apply for a licence to grow or sell so how is the Thai government making money from it ?

[sidneybear]

It's amazing how powerful the big dope lobby is. Who would have thought that Thailand would have legalised it? Fact is that dope causes mental illness in some of its users.

[AmySukwan]

This concern about marijuana seems more about a cultural thing where Thai men who can't get their "fix," whether their fix is booze, yaba, et cetera, might become violent to try to extort money from grandma, say. I don't think it is about weed per say

[ignore it]

Granny Da's nomination for best parenting skills 2023 has been rejected by the committee. 

[freedomnow]

1 hour ago, IamNoone88 said:

There is no need to be concerned in Phuket with the PSI index from the annual burning in Indonesia as it drifts across. The island is awash with pot shops and the pungent smell of weed on the beach and in the bars which can be an unbearable thick haze. Personally, I don't care if people want to trip out the stuff ... just don't subject me and my like minded friends to the same pungent smoke .... <deleted> off outside and smoke yer joints.

I'd have thought the cops would have been all over that cash cow of weed smell in public....follow their nose to a spot fine....strange stuff.

[wombat]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

If he didn't get his fix he got irritable, stomach problems, starting mumbling and smashing things up.

er...amphetamine psychosis yes....weed no

[LiamB80]

Cannabis isn’t as harmless as people think especially for teenagers and young adults when the human brain isn’t fully developed until 25yo. It can severely alter the psyche of these young people. Modern strains are highly potent and basically zonk people out of their mind. I myself was a regular cannabis and quit a few years ago when I noticed things in my life i didn’t like. Irritability and even outbursts when I didn’t have it and I also felt its better to face the world with a clear mind. Occasional users won’t have these issues but when it becomes a habit it can be harmful.

[PETERTHEEATER]

It's all about education of the young.

The BBC had a TV programme for infants in the distant past featuring Bill and Ben the flower POT Men. Their sidekick was a cannabis looking spikey leaved smiling plant uttering the catch phrase

" Bop de bop WEED" ????