Piss Testing In Pai...again

[JungleJim]

Certain places in Thailand become very popular with tourists very quickly because of easy access to recreational drugs and a lack of punishment for using them. Pai is one of these places.

It looks like the authorities there want to get rid of this image and this kind of tourist and they have found a method that does both in short order.

As a long term resident of Pai, it's annoying to read all this hearsay and speculation from people who clearly don't have much of an idea about the situation here.

When I first came to Pai 6 years ago the availability and use of drugs was far more widespread than it is now. Drug tourists in the know came here to get smacked off their faces. Every year 4 or 5 tourists would die from overdoses. Every drug on the Thai market could be obtained openly up at the Lahu waterfall village. The war on drugs changed all this. Many dealers went 'missing', others were lucky enough to be arrested. In the 3 or 4 years since the police and army have successfully disrupted supply and scared the villagers so much that only a few hardcore continue to deal and far less openly than before.

In other words there are far less drug taking tourists visiting Pai than ever before and those that do come for the drugs, are disappointed at the lack of availability. I'm not saying the problem is solved but overdose deaths are now a rarity.

Pai's reputation as a drug taking hippy utopia was well founded 5 or 6 years ago. These days it really is a different place, with a far broader cross section of tourist visiting than just blissed out hippies. The recent attempts to piss test people in town (which have been grossly exagerrated on this site), are a bit on the late side.They would have caught hundreds of people 5 years ago.

Because Pai has become an established part of the mainstream tourist scene now, and has this out of date reputation, the police are under pressure from their superiors to clean up a town, that has for the most part, already been cleaned.

More to the point, the authorities have finally realised how many long term farang residents live, work (some illegally) and own businesses in Pai and want to know who is doing what. Hence recent pressure from immigration teams and police drug testing units and a generally more intensive focus on the resident farang community, the vast majority of whom follow the rules.

There is also the very real possibility that outside investors want to turn Pai into a high class thai tourist destination by building upmarket resorts for rich thais. They don't want farang businesses owners to have a say in the development of the valley and they certainly don't want those smelly hippy types around either. A word or two in the right ear, a backhander there and hey presto, it's open season on long term residents and anyone who looks like they might take drugs. Unfortunately for them, with a few exceptions, that boat has sailed and Pai is a far 'cleaner' place then it has ever been.

[tijnebijn]

Good to hear what is really going on in Pai !

[mcgriffith]

Yeah, good post, JungleJim!

[sceadugenga]

I note Jungle Jim's post with interest.

Four years ago my then new wife and I drove around that area for several days, seeing the country and getting to know each other. She had worked as a tour guide out of Chiang Mai and Mai Hong Son for more than ten years, (she tells the story about when her boss thought of the idea of motorbike tours in the mountains he gave her a hand gun to carry in her bag in case of bandits), and knew the area well. When we drove through Pai I said it looked interesting but she told me not to stop. "So many Farang junkie live here".

So the reputation was there then but I fully admit that her information could have been out of date as she had worked in Europe and Ko Samui for a number of years since last being in the area.

If you believe that the Thais are going to muscle out Farang investors in the area it's certainly a good idea to keep yourself squeaky clean. Foreigners who have owned businesses there for a number of years may be automatically under suspicion as associated with the "bad old days". Keep clear of addicts and users, the old adage "If you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas" doesn't only apply in Thailand.

Edited October 8, 2007 by sceadugenga

[sabaijai]

I'm in Pai now and have first-hand reports from friends who watched as police visited Be-Bop Bar and took urine samples from two Thai customers, both of whom tested negative, about two weeks ago. The same week they visited Phu Pai with similar results. I was told that the MHS gov was in town one those particular days, and that it was all a show for the gov.

[JungleJim]

I'm in Pai now and have first-hand reports from friends who watched as police visited Be-Bop Bar and took urine samples from two Thai customers, both of whom tested negative, about two weeks ago. The same week they visited Phu Pai with similar results. I was told that the MHS gov was in town one those particular days, and that it was all a show for the gov.

I can confirm this to be true having witnessed both incidents. The night they visited Phu Pai, they went to most of the bars along the road to Be-Bop. There were some local cops present, but most of the personel (and there were lots of them) were from out of town including a particularly shady looking bunch in a different uniform, the colour of which escapes me. They were accompanied by a mobile piss testing unit in the form of an ambulance. They were shining torches in everybodies eyes to see if there were any dilated pupils staring back, indicating amphetamine use. I also heard the MHS govenor was in town. This was all about 3 weeks ago and has yet to happen again. The drug testers have been replaced with a heavy immigration presence trying to root out farangs working illegally.

Piss testing is not a 100% new addition to Pai's charms. I remember around 5 years ago, sitting in a bar and the police arriving and asking the owner if he could provide them with a couple of volunteers for a test. In other words, he could chose people who were definitely clean, which is what he duly did. The Modus Operandi is a little different these days.

[november222]

I have a friend that was in Pai about 2 weeks ago. He said a group of police officers entered the bar they were at. They were carrying a plastic jug that had writing on it. He said they walked thru the bar but he did not see or hear of them taking any samples. He said before the police officers arrived they were warned that they would be there shortly and what they were coming for.

So yes it is true.

nicky here from guitarman, we played up at be-bop in pai 2 weeks ago with our band november222, pai was swarming with police, we were told that later on in the evening the police would be coming in to piss test everybody, at about 10 bells they entered the building lead by the admiral police fella wid a big hat ,stripes and loads of medals, they walked up to the bar,took the owner aside,had a chat for about 2 minutes and left, make of that what you will ! fortunatly being such a clean living rock'n'roll band, we had nothing to worry about .

[booma]

Clean up operations in pai are the norm when officials visit, these used to include the enforcement of wearing crash helmets, police officers hiding in the bushes near the waterfall (where the hilltribers sell there (illicit) wares) etc. On one occasion people caught with drugs wern't given the opportunity to 'pay an on the spot fine' but were shipped straight to BKK. The motorbike checks were only in the morning and were at the same junction every day, this was announced before the checks started so was easy to avoid.

Edited October 11, 2007 by booma

[davidgtr]

October month is usually when they make the annual transfers - police / military / bureaucrats.

And it's not uncommon for the new guys in town to always strut their stuff & flex their muscles (enforce the laws) to let everyone know there's a new boss on the block. So I wonder if it is new staff in MHS just checking the "troops & barricades"

There are "new" immig staff & cops in many places in the North, not just Pai/ MHS & my guess is they are just making everyone go through the hoops for their first 4-6 weeks in town.

Also this most definitely is not the first crack down on illegal substances / activities in North Thailand.

There's nothing to worry about if you're not doing anything illegal.

Do all you whingers complain when police raid / check a pub or club back home?

[cloudhopper]

I don't know if this represents a significant escalation of the recent crackdown in Pai, but two resident farangs caught smoking a spliff at a local restaurant are apparently being deported.

[Rasseru]

There's nothing to worry about if you're not doing anything illegal.

Ah! Good to know that the risk of a false positive, while a reality elsewhere in the world, is not here.