Report Thailand Eases Alcohol Laws Amid Concerns Over Safety Impact

[dinsdale]

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

However, the Alcohol Watch Network has raised alarms, warning that these relaxed laws could exacerbate alcohol-related deaths in the country.

False logic. Having a greater variety does not equate to more consumption. 

[connda]

20 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

Try reducing the high taxation on imported spirits & wine this would help considerably !!!

Try ditching that stupid ban on alcohol between 2PM to 5PM. 

[BeastOfBodmin]

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Alcohol Watch Network

I wonder who these guys work for?

[StevieAus]

1 hour ago, cedel said:

plus abolish the stupid ban related to the time of purchase (known as 2-5 PM ban).. but also 00-11 AM ban..! 

This is really, but really annoying when you lose 1 or 2 hours in the traffic to go shopping afternoon and you are prohibited to buy a bottle of wine... counter productive! Nobody will lose time and money to come back again after 5pm !! 

Buy your wine in advance I have always have a dozen at home for years could not be bothered driving out every time I want a drink.

[Davedub]

It's refreshing to see a pulling back from the 'solve alcohol related issues by using a broad stroke, heavy handed control' approach.

 

Issues like problem drinking are better dealt with by treating the underlying cause of alcohol abuse - treating mental health issues or eduction on more effective, healthy coping mechanisms for stress being good examples of this.

 

Issues like drink driving are best dealt with by targetting offenders (as opposed to implementing broad stroke reductions in alcohol availablity). Better enforcement of current drink driving laws is the obvious solution.

 

It's good to see progress in what I'd consider the right direction.

[sambum]

21 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

Try reducing the high taxation on imported spirits & wine this would help considerably !!!

 

That was supposed to be implemented  a couple of years ago , but never happened! 

[sambum]

1 hour ago, connda said:

Try ditching that stupid ban on alcohol between 2PM to 5PM. 

 

Agree 100% - especially when it only seems to apply to the larger Supermarkets (Tesco Lotus, Macro, and 711)

Well - 99% - they could also ditch the midnight to 11 am ban!

 

Archaic law that should have been dumped years ago.

[PingRoundTheWorld]

23 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Mr Chantaros attributed the nation's high alcohol-related death toll to the ethics and responsibility of alcohol distributors

Another day, another ****. Alcohol-induced traffic accidents have nothing to do with manufacturers or distributors. If someone wants to drink and drive they will no matter how few brewers there are. The real problem is that people aren't educated enough about the danger of drunk driving and the fact it is rarely enforced by police. Start enforcing it and taking licenses away and miraculously drunk driving incidents will shrink significantly. It's no coincidence that drunk driving is much more common in Thailand than other countries - lack of enforcement.

 

Anyway, welcome change. I don't drink beer so this won't affect me - but smaller brewers deserve a chance, though I'm sure they'll still face further headwings by the industry giants.

[PingRoundTheWorld]

22 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

Try reducing the high taxation on imported spirits & wine this would help considerably !!!

Very little chance of that happening, unfortunately. It's a cash cow AND seen as protecting local industry. There's simply no political incentive for them to do it. Tourists will pay the inflated prices anyway.

[Quentin Zen]

[sambum]

26 minutes ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

Very little chance of that happening, unfortunately. It's a cash cow AND seen as protecting local industry. There's simply no political incentive for them to do it. Tourists will pay the inflated prices anyway.

 

See my post 3 above this one - it was supposed to happen but didn't!

[sandyf]

8 hours ago, Nickcage49 said:

This is the same stupid argument about why they tax wine so much.

Not really. The tax on wine was increased quite significantly not that long ago as protectionism.

If you saw the prices at Silverlake you could see why, Thai vineyards just can't compete.

They charge more for grape juice than we would pay for wine.

[ronnie50]

5 hours ago, Watawattana said:

Get over to Da Nang if you can.  I was there last week and there's a decent craft beer scene, including what you describe.  The picture is one of the places I did my "research" in.  For balance, I did end up at a Russian bar later in that evening, where they claimed that San Miguel was a craft beer.  I thought about telling them that this was a worse distortion of the facts that anything Putin has ever said, but thought better of it.

I noticed that San Miguel seems to be on draft in a lot of places there. Finding the regular draft beers from Hanoi and Saigon wasn't easy in Da Nang (unfortunately).

[eastlight]

8 hours ago, Ubonian Canadian said:

I'd love to get my hands on a nice brown ale. Something akin to a Sleemans Honey Brown.

Cold & crisp.......yummmm

I support craft beer and only hope they don't follow in the footsteps of Leo, Singha & Chang.

Bring back Kloster I say

[tukpong]

If the Police actually made some visible presence on the roads Somchai would think twice about drink driving. We had a guy Sat night slam into electric pole outside our house and snapped it off. Totally pissed. Relaxing alcohol laws is good for tourism locals can get any time of the day from mom and pop shop.