Caffeine Tablets Legal In Thailand?

[Mortenlyngkvist]

Hi there!

I dont drink coffee or any caffeine related drinks or whatever however i use caffeine tablets when i train play ball etc., can you tell me if caffeine tablets is legal in thailand?

thank you!

[PeaceBlondie]

I do not know, but I find none for sale here, as we would in the West. I had to get Ritalin prescribed. Legal? I do not know.

[Sheryl]

Although there are a number of OTC compounds which contain caffeine in combination with other drugs (mostly migraine remedies) ther is no tablet form of caffeine only licensed for sale in Thailand.

There are however many "energy" drinks full of it. Back in my younger days when working in border refugee camps, what got me and the rest of the staff through the very long hours of relief work during the annual offensives was "Lipovitan-D" which is essentially 50mg of caffeine plus a host of B vitamins and glucose.

[wasabi]

Too bad they don't sell Modafinil here.

[PeaceBlondie]

As always, I am impressed by the comments of Nurse Sheryl. She mentions energy drinks here which contain 50 mg of caffeine. Back home, every 7-11 had No-Doz at 100 mg in white tablets, and Vivarin at 200 mg in yellow tablets. I used to take 3 Vivarin to stay awake on a long trip (but I have long been attenuated to caffeine, and suffer from sleep attacks). Here, tablets of caffeine seem unavailable.

[phaethon]

There is (recent?) legislation that limits the amount of caffeine permitted in a single serving, that's why Thai Red Bull (and M150 etc.) have lower caffeine contents than their Western equivalents. Suggests too that it would prevent OTC sale of tablets with more than 50mg (like US Caffedrine at 200mg/tab, IIRC)

I once took a caffedrine as I prepared for a long, early-hours M/C ride - had to stop eventually as it gave me the shakes so bad I couldn't steer

Edited March 1, 2009 by phaethon

[PeaceBlondie]

Every chemical affects different people. I would take 800 mg of caffeine and my ears would ring.

[Arkady]

The Thai FDA is very cautious of products containing caffeine since the Thamjai scandal was unmasked. Thamjai, produced and distributed by the influential Osatapha group was a pill containing aspirin with caffeine. It was aggressively marketed for decades to farmers and laborers for use in the way coolies used opium in bygone days to be able to get through their heavy days. Many workers consumed several packs of thamjai per day for years washed down, of course, with caffeine laden energy drinks, resulting in hundreds, if not thousands of them suffering from massively ulcerated stomachs, albeit mainly from the aspirin component. Finally the publicity about the damage to the health of poor Thais was too much even for Osatapha's millions to resist and the FDA struck it down. You can imagine what abuse would result from allowing products like No-Doz and Vivarin on the market here, not to mention that it might cut into the profits of influential figures in the ya-ba business.

[webworldly]

Wasabi.......ditto!

I would love to hear Nurse Sheryl's thoughts / experiences with Modafinil.....and her assessment of the potential for it becoming available in Thailand.

CHEERS!

D

[Sheryl]

Afraid I can't offer anyhting on either count.

No experience with it, only know what I read. And no idea re becoming licensed for use in LOS.

[Mortenlyngkvist]

Thanks for your answers