Caught With Cannabis In Thailand

[frenchFARANGbkk]

So what going to happen to the OP?

Well, I would not have paid the solicitor Baht60K, because I don't believe its going to make dot differance in a case like this quite frankly - and all the Thai's I have spoken to about this over the last few days were a little taken back when I told them that a solictor had been paid 60k to represent an expat for been caught smoking a joint.

Of course this is now easy to say and shake ones head over it, but in the heat of moment and perhaps not having 20plus years of experiance living here, one would feel somewhat threatened, if not indeed scared been caught in a situation like that.

First things first - you will not be blacklisted. So relax about that. Absolutely no chance you are going to be blacklisted - period.

Secondly, as a first offender you are not going to get a prison sentance for this.

Thirdly, the fact that you are an ex-pat means little to the courts - in a case like this (the cops might, and the solicitor certainly did see the oppurtunity - but the court won't - you'll be treated by his Honour the same as a Thai would be treated.

Likely outcome: dress smart and clean on the day, be respectful and polite, plead guilty and stomach the fine. You'll be given the oppurtnity to say something, if you want to you may wish to say something in mitigation (that bad accident you had years ago and how you use the stuff occassionaly for medicinal purposes), but beyond that I wouldn;t spin to much of a story - the judge heears them day in day out, and quite frnakly he a) has no interest in filling the jails up with tourists, and just wants the case out the court asap.

The fine - theres all sorts of figures - some say 50K or thereabouts. My personal feeling is as a first offender I dont beleive you'll come out much worse than 10K poorer - but lets see.

Come back and let us know.

All the best.

At least, somebody intelligent !

All the best to the OP, next time avoid Full moon party.

[madjbs]

The only one thing you need to know is: harsh penalties for doing drugs in thailand full stop

Not that harsh really though.

As has been stated already, the standard sentence the OP would receive is a small fine and possibly some community service.

Compare that to Dubai for example, where you would receive a definite 4 years in jail.

Edited March 16, 2009 by madjbs

[adjan jb]

Could you please tell me why smoking weed should be illegal ?

http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/...030039&ct=1

From the article: "As a rule of thumb, adolescents who use cannabis more than weekly probably increase their risk of experiencing psychotic symptoms and developing psychosis if they are vulnerable"

The adverb "probably" doesn't sound too scientific to me.

[Swelters]

My goodness, sure a lot of mean-spirited posters on his post. Deserve this, deserve that.

Imagination would call for a fresh attack. Why not criticize the guy cause he's Irish? Maybe he's a catholic, those guys deserve all the bad stuff they get.

Try a session at Suan Mokh, boys, add a year or two to those angry lives.

Swelters

[kbvicar]

Good effort GW, it stirred up about 5 pages worth of responses so far or I wouldn't be congratulating you so soon. The court-clothes question/answer was perfect...

Holy moly, Mr Fields was right after all...one born every minute! A tip 'o' the hat to you my man, thanks for the entertainment...

[cognos]

Thais make the laws in Thailand.

They say weed is illegal and booze is OK.

Hem and haw all you like, but thems is the facts. Twist and contort away, but mj is a crime and booze ain't.

"Which is objectively more harmful? Obviously the alcoholic."

Obviously that's your opinion.

If the speed limit is 80 and you're caught doing 81, are you going to argue that 81 is no more dangerous than 80? That inexperienced drivers are more dangerous than speeding experts? That the cops ought be out catching bank robbers?

The law is what it is. If you want to smoke dope, I recommend a holiday in Amsterdam.

A policeman aquantance in Canada told me years ago that of all the murders he has investigated,alcohol is always involved and never mj.He joked the ones with the latter never commit violent crimes like murder ,because they are too mellow and tired from eating a lot of food because they got so hungry after smoking.He supported legalisation,partially to get the criminal element out of distribution and the concomitant violence of biker gangs in the drug industry vying for territory and living off the proceeds.

[Phatcharanan]

A good punishment would be deportation and a long-life ban to ever to set foot again in Thailand.

No judicial caning ? You are far too lenient !

Could you please tell me why smoking weed should be illegal ?

Who was he harming while smoking ?

If one day breathing was deemed illegal, would you stop breathing ?

Now you are being silly.

[Tigs]

There's a lot of urban myth floating around about penalties for drug possesion in Thailand. The fine she mentioned is correct, whether you have an attorney or not.

What is the fine for possesion of say 1 gram of cocaine? If you are otherwise a reasonably productive member of society?

If after snorting 1 gram of cocaine you're only reasonably producive, the stuff was not that good

You're right!

But I was wondering how seriously it is looked upon, because I understand it is not much of a an issue in Thailand, since too expensive for the average thai.

Its the only drug I ever enjoyed, and I would say it is perfectly possible to use in moderation and get no negative side effects. After all it is a natural drug, unlike amphetamines and extasy all that junk.

So do you get whopped in jail for a small amount of coke or what?

Just a word of caution, these forums are only anonymous to other forum members, not law enforcement agencies. So if it is your own computer from your own house from your own ISP etc , don't admit serious crime.

I hope the OP just gets a small fine. The thing that scares me to death about committing any crime here is that this is now where all my family live and the potential of being banned or blacklisted from the country would be too much.

OP

I would go for trousers, shirt, tie, shoes and Wai to the judge whenever everyone else does and before you speak just for good measure. Bye the way if you are going to speak, I would get an independent translator who you brief to say what you say, because your lawyer won't do for sure. Say you were wrong and stupid, maybe thank the police for their courteous handling of you and how much you love the country. Unless anyone can give better advice. Maybe it is better to not say anything, I dont know as I have never been in a Thai court. Good luck

Edited March 16, 2009 by Tigs

[Yaaklenmai]

What is the fine for possesion of say 1 gram of cocaine? If you are otherwise a reasonably productive member of society?

If after snorting 1 gram of cocaine you're only reasonably producive, the stuff was not that good

You're right!

But I was wondering how seriously it is looked upon, because I understand it is not much of a an issue in Thailand, since too expensive for the average thai.

Its the only drug I ever enjoyed, and I would say it is perfectly possible to use in moderation and get no negative side effects. After all it is a natural drug, unlike amphetamines and extasy all that junk.

So do you get whopped in jail for a small amount of coke or what?

Just a word of caution, these forums are only anonymous to other forum members, not law enforcement agencies. So if it is your own computer from your own house from your own ISP etc , don't admit serious crime.

I hope the OP just gets a small fine. The thing that scares me to death about committing any crime here is that this is now where all my family live and the potential of being banned or blacklisted from the country would be too much.

OP

I would go for trousers, shirt, tie, shoes and Wai to the judge whenever everyone else does and before you speak just for good measure. Bye the way if you are going to speak, I would get an independent translator who you brief to say what you say, because your lawyer won't do for sure. Say you were wrong and stupid, maybe thank the police for their courteous handling of you and how much you love the country. Unless anyone can give better advice. Maybe it is better to not say anything, I dont know as I have never been in a Thai court. Good luck

I, totally, concur.

However, one thing that puzzles me, from the OP.

He/She must be fully aware about the Thai legislation about drugs.

I don't say this with a "holier than thou" attitude - I drink too much and smoke too much, but have never "crossed the line".

The reason is simple, if I did I KNOW I would want more and more!

Anyway, best of luck with the charges.

Machine gun bullets don't come cheap!

[t.s]

Could you please tell me why smoking weed should be illegal ?

http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/...030039&ct=1

From the article: "As a rule of thumb, adolescents who use cannabis more than weekly probably increase their risk of experiencing psychotic symptoms and developing psychosis if they are vulnerable"

The adverb "probably" doesn't sound too scientific to me.

you mean the probably that is qualified with " 'if' they are vulnerable"?

[t.s]

There's a lot of urban myth floating around about penalties for drug possesion in Thailand. The fine she mentioned is correct, whether you have an attorney or not.

What is the fine for possesion of say 1 gram of cocaine? If you are otherwise a reasonably productive member of society?

if you get caught wwith coke in bangkok the fine is 10k to 20k baht at the nearest atm

[OxfordWill]

.. if you're lucky.

[hhgz]

The OP sounds like a guy who knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing. "Hey, my personal freedom isn't worth 60K THB to me." Incredible. Most of that is a tax for being stupid enough to smoke dope in front of two cops.

[adjan jb]

The OP was supposed to appear in court this week.

No news, good news?

[BAZZAT]

If you are a Tourist on a 30 day visa or a nom B Visa you will be deported and in some cases you may even get a chance to inspect there government hotel scheme, your passport details will be stored on there unafficial Black list and you will never gain entry again to thailand this is why passports these days are Biometric and in some cases in the pre bio metric they are machine readable these measures in passport developement are implemented to stop undesirables and stupid people returnining to this fantastic country and other destinations around the world.

I know a guy on a Non B visa who was caught with a small amount of weed by the police. He had to spend the night in a cell at the police station, the next day he was sent in front of the judge, and he had to leave a 50'000 baht deposit and his passport and get a pee test every week for a couple of month.

If you are on a tourist visa I'm not sure how it goes, it probably also depends on the judge and in what part of Thailand it happened.

Anyway, good luck with it and let us know what happens.

[BAZZAT]

maybe he cannot access a computer in in a government hotel!!!!!!!!

The OP was supposed to appear in court this week.

No news, good news?

[BAZZAT]

my god do these people think they are super stars exemt from any reprisals from the law or are they really THICK!!!! i agree 60k goes a long way in thailand.

The OP sounds like a guy who knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing. "Hey, my personal freedom isn't worth 60K THB to me." Incredible. Most of that is a tax for being stupid enough to smoke dope in front of two cops.

[BAZZAT]

I say To all Drug dealers and user's in Thailand Bring it on avertise your phone number and addess let the thai clean up brigade give you a visit preferabaly with a quantity of you favorite tipple on your body look forward to the amazing oppertunities they can offer you.

A good punishment would be deportation and a long-life ban to ever to set foot again in Thailand.

No judicial caning ? You are far too lenient !

Could you please tell me why smoking weed should be illegal ?

Who was he harming while smoking ?

If one day breathing was deemed illegal, would you stop breathing ?

Now you are being silly.

[male]

Jail time for weed?? What's for cocaine then? Death penalty?

[Soutpeel]

Jail time for weed?? What's for cocaine then? Death penalty?

Yes...its legally possible

[Mario2008]

You have to make a distinction bewteen smugling (being caught at the border) and not smuggling.

[Soutpeel]

You have to make a distinction bewteen smugling (being caught at the border) and not smuggling.

Of course there is a difference...but "Male" never specified, and suppose its the amount you get caught with, believe one does not need to be caught a border to be classed as a smuggler or dealer, its the amount ..suppose you where caught 0.25kg of coke for "personal" use...think that would put you in the dealer/smuggler catagory in the eyes of the law...

[bkkdawg]

About a 60k 'fine', or so I have heard

Thats steep..

A well to do Thai friend of mine was fined 40,000 after been piss tested positive for Ice. Definitely leave the chemicals alone over here...

[CFIT]

I don't know about the rest of Thailand but in Phuket there are " Reggae " bars on or near every beach, Jamaican flags flying, red, yellow and green motif with a Marley look alike proprietor who openly sells pot and will roll one and smoke with cutomers right on the premises.

He also pays the police for this privileged arrangement .

So, if you are busted with a small amount , say you got it from the Reggae bar and chances are you'll be let go because they don't want one telling this to any judge on any record .

Word of caution . Ibuprofen , the pain killer can look like MJ on piss tests .

If you are tested in the recent local bar piss round- ups, , go to hospital imediately afterward and get your own sample taken and tested.

[Oberkommando]

If you are a Tourist on a 30 day visa or a nom B Visa you will be deported and in some cases you may even get a chance to inspect there government hotel scheme, your passport details will be stored on there unafficial Black list and you will never gain entry again to thailand this is why passports these days are Biometric and in some cases in the pre bio metric they are machine readable these measures in passport developement are implemented to stop undesirables and stupid people returnining to this fantastic country and other destinations around the world.

Just come back in through one of the non-computerised entry/exit points to Thailand and you can return to Thailand no problem. There's 55 entry/exit points in total and not all are computerised.

[Thaifan2]

Any update yet on Dope head ?

[mrt273nva]

Any update yet on Dope head ?

Last i heard of him it was he and the judge seen running naked through the jungles of southern Thailand smoking dope and raping the locals. When they weren't violently hopped up on dope they were seen recruiting the local school children into their world of crime. It came as a shock to the western media that a white boy was let off the hook in a country so well known for castrating a large percentage of their population, however it was not reported that the young man hired a lawyer that had offered to share the joint with the judge. It turns out that the more serious crime in the kingdom is "bogarting" that joint. As it turns out the man knew quite well the international rules off "puff puff pass" and "pass the duechie to the left hand side". Now he has become an island attraction and is drawing people from all over the world to join his circle. It seems however that he is met with opposition only by the grumpy old ex-pats that tend find happiness through misfortune of others. Unbeknown to the sadistic party poopers trace amounts of THC have been added to bottled water by such names as Singha and Minere in hopes to make their stay in the Kingdom that much more enjoyable/paranoid.

[Scott]

So to repeat the question, and hopefully get an aswer in English, any updates?

[deon]

Well how did i guess, yet again clayton cymore the plank would be making some crap comment,You really are a joke you think someone should be killed and there life taken for abit of weed. You really do need you head testing.Sorry but you are a joke m8 you talk of something, you know nothing about and i mean Nothing. Just the rubbish you see in the papers like killer skunk all bs.

The strange thing is i know some ex pats from canada who have been over here for well over 20 years, and he said back then it was ok to smoke weed well notok but some bar would openly have some in a bowl, as thai weed was some of the best in the world back then.

And less trouble ,less fights ,

ps to the person who got cought with a joint i wish you all the best in court.

Edited March 20, 2009 by deon

[waza]

Did someone say that MJ is legal in Cambodia?