War On Drugs To Be Revived

[sriracha john]

Still I remain much more concerned about the 'new war'. Putting extrajudicial killing powers in Chalerm's hands would seem a rash thing to do. He has shown little concern for justice of any sort during his career. The next time his sons kill a policeman in a nightclub we may well be told he is simply a drug dealer.

speaking of Chalerm's hand.... he's got an itchy trigger finger...

[Choscura]

I'm going to put in two cents and shut up about this.

the war on drugs is two-fold: first, there is the side of the people that legitimately want to get rid of the drugs. the do-gooders in the government, and they really do exist and believe in what they're doing, but suffer from a crippling amount of ignorance. these are the guys that follow their 'elders/betters' who actually suggest these nonsense policies.

the second group of people are the people who profit from the drug wars. this doesn't mean they're drug dealers or drug lords: this is just as much the police who get huge budget increases to deal with the 'drug problem'. it's a self-sustaining mess wherever it is, be it in the west or in southeast asia or in africa, etc. the drug lords and the police end up pulling in the same direction and usually get more money for it- the politicians throw more money at the police in the form of better weapons, higher training budgets, etc (remember, these guys do usually like what they do for a living), higher pay, better benefits (medical, dental, insurance, etc), and the drug lords get away with charging an arm and a leg for generally really simple chemicals that are easily and cheaply produced, so they make a 10,000% profit on the stuff.

[jberwick]

Can't feel sorry about dead drug dealers ,. if i found a dealer trying to push drugs to my kids , i would also shoot first and ask questions latter,.

Huh? Are you serious? Just fyi, drug dealers don't need to "push" drugs... they sell themselves. It's like Chris Rock said, "I never heard a drug dealer say 'Man, how am I gonna sell all this crack!'"

If your kids went to a drug dealer, it would be because they wanted to buy drugs. And you would shoot the guy for that?? You probably take drugs all the time... you do drink alcohol, don't you? But you consider alcohol much better than other stimulants and relaxants hey? Not too many people get killed by alcohol and alcohol related events every year... I dunno, how many... millions?

The world needs to relax about drugs. The War on Drugs is responsible for almost all the problems, not the actual drugs themselves.

Stop listening to what these governments tell you and teach you through their centralized education systems and actually think logically. Please.

Edited February 27, 2008 by jberwick

[trader1]

The difference in thailand now and 10 years ago is huge. Drugs were rampant- almost compulsory for truck drivers to be ramped on amphetamines, and freely offered to anyone on the streets.

Since 2003/4 the usage has declined dramatically - and peoples percption of drugs has turned more and more to one of disgust. Really whatever the Thai government did has been a huge success.

Compare that with USA where drugs are seen as almost acceptable, despite almost a million people in jail in drug related crime.

[sriracha john]

Flaming aside, most of those examples you cite DID have some degree of judiciary involvement, eg. a trial.

This isn't about the death sentence or harsh punishments issued after conviction.

NOT ONE of those butchered received any judiciary involvement at all. By ANY standard, they were ALL innocent.

[mogoso]

Flaming aside, most of those examples you cite DID have some degree of judiciary involvement, eg. a trial.

This isn't about the death sentence or harsh punishments issued after conviction.

NOT ONE of those butchered received any judiciary involvement at all. By ANY standard, they were ALL innocent.

When they're shooting at the police in some instances, I find it hard to call them innocent. Not all those killed were innocent by a long shot. As for the above cited instances, do you think Maos thugs or Stalins didn't kill outta hand?

But be that as it may, I don't think drugs should be illegal, but the laws in Thailand are their laws and damned if I'm going have any effect changing them dispite my personal viewpoints. I'm long past the 1960's and I'll be darned if I'll protest the deaths of anyone threatening an officer of the law. I'm not saying all were, and if you've watched your tellie recently there've been a lot of footage of Thai officers being over zealous in their submission tactics. But the Thai people seem to like the reduction of trafficers and I cannot do a thing one way or the other. Still its really hard to get sympathy for the loss of yaa bah users. I deplore the loss of life and would of course prefer arrest, but I must side with the law in effect.

[Ijustwannateach]

Re. the rules, a public warning has already been issued and I am now issuing a nice shiny warning to at least one poster.

Re. the thread, it is BECAUSE the drug users are so well known to the police that I find it particularly deplorable that the police are given a free license to gun them down- after all, what were they doing prior to this time? It is particularly convenient that those shot do not get a chance to point the finger that might just possibly lead back to the ones holding the guns.

"S"

[burman]

I'm long past the 1960's and I'll be darned if I'll protest the deaths of anyone threatening an officer of the law. I'm not saying all were, and if you've watched your tellie recently there've been a lot of footage of Thai officers being over zealous in their submission tactics. But the Thai people seem to like the reduction of trafficers and I cannot do a thing one way or the other. Still its really hard to get sympathy for the loss of yaa bah users. I deplore the loss of life and would of course prefer arrest, but I must side with the law in effect.

You have to take into account that the police officers that may have been shot at or threatened were on their way to committing unlawful murders.

[seonai]

I have tried, in vain, to say before that all the rumours about what happened during the last 'drug war' are true. I saw it with my own eyes. This is going to be nothing short of policemen and gangsters having free license to shoot anyone they please... not a pretty picture

[howtoescape]

"The lady is not for turning" is what Margaret Thatcher once said, however Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej most certainly is.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=126576

(BangkokPost.com) - Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej will chair a meeting on Friday to announce the revival of the war on drugs, according to the Justice Minister.

Sompong Amornwiwat underlined the government's intention to crack down on drugs trafficking in Thailand. He explained tthere will be cash rewards for those able to provide information leading to arrests, but is unable to disclose further details at this point in time.

He also assured that there will be no cases of extra-judicial killings.

"What was described as extra-judicial killings in the past were actually silence killings. Those in the drugs ring were getting rid of each other to avoid arrest," he said. (So the government/police had nothing to do with them)

Mr Sompong declined to comment when asked by reporters if Mr Samak's war on drugs would be similar to ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra's war on drugs, saying only that it's still early days and that he needs to attend Friday's meeting before knowing more about what is on the agenda.

What he does know is that eliminating the drugs problem has always been a priority but the government is now ready to impose stricter measures and step up efforts to fight the drugs trade.

Edited March 18, 2008 by howtoescape