Each Thai Consumes 6-7 Litres Alcohol Per Year

[BSJ]

When your a taxi driver, Vodka is your friend! Everything else has a smell!

[TAWP]

What is needed is for someone to re-calc the 100% pure alcohol volume, to bottles of Whisky, beer etc as comparative numbers.

[loong]

7 litres per year is less than one shot of spirits per day.

Works out at less than 20ml per day which is less than the pitiful UK single measure of 25ml.

Hardly seems chronic abuse to me.

Assuming that 7 litres is pure alcohol, that would make it more like 20 Litres of whisky or whatever.

Is that 7 Litres for every man, woman and child? If so, at least half the country doesn't drink, so that would bring it nearer to 50 Litres of whisky for every drinker. But that is still only an average per drinker and means nothing really.

When I lived in the North (Phrae) the OTOP product where I lived was Lao Khow. Thousands and thousands of litres were shifted every week with no duty paid. We used to buy it in plastic bags for 10 Baht per litre. Of course none of this would be on any official records anyway.

[wilsongbrown]

The figures have obviously been worked on percentages and give I believe a completely wrong picture.

Most Thai men I know in my area ( not all, but definately the majority, around 90% I would say ) drink between 2.450 to 4.9 Litres of whisky per week. Many of them drink only "Thai" whiskey, for most of them it's just a top up the following day and they are drunk again.

About 50% of the wives usually over the mid 30's I would say drink about 1.5 litres of Thai whiskey a week.

Some drink from when they get out of bed to when they get in it, it may only be a nip here or there but it is continuous.

I would like to see the Thai government ban Thai whiskey, I see the effects of this daily and it is a sad sight.

Someone said why do they drink, I have my own theory on this.

Foreigners for the most part have something to look forward to, we work, of an evening most of us can go out, to the beach,, play sport or out to dinner, whatever. We have pension plans and superannuation schemes ( if they didn't go bust in the financial crisis ) we save for holidays, we look forward to our weekend, time to ourselves to do what we want to do.

For a lot of Thais especially rural Thais, their lives are mostly all work, there is no pension plan they generally work in some capacity or other until they die. Most work 7 days a week with just the odd day off here or there throughout the year or 1 day a month off. No such thing as a holiday for most of them.

So they get out of bed each day do the same thing day in day out with not much else to look forward to.

Thai whisky is relatively cheap, it numbs the brain ( as does most alcohol ) This I believe is their outlet.

I only comment on my area, I mix with all these people on a daily basis. Others will have different views living in different areas, if you are a Farang couple, you will have different exposure to this as opposed to someone married to a Thai.

Alcoholism is rampant, but none of them believe they have a problem.

I see my local 'mom and pop' stores lining up the little empty Lipo bottles every day, refilling with that truly awful lao khao. (Can't see how they manage to swallow it, smells so ghastly). I see the poorly dressed guys, young and old come in and out for a 'hit' throughout the day. You're right, that's all they have to look forward to, no money for holidays, same as the poor in the UK with their bottles of White Lightning. They all end up looking like sht and die before their time from liver/brain diseases.

Ban Thai 'whiskey' and FLOOD the market with government subsidized quality health benefitting overseas produced wine I say

[jalansanitwong]

I have seen many europeans and others drink that amount in less than two days. Beer that is not spirits, But even if spirits it's hardly pushing the boat out is it? that is for a yearly intake lol not two days as regards spirits.

I drink about 6 cases of beer every month.Thats about 40 litres!!!Whats the big deal about 7 litres a year. Thais must be teatottlers or the statistician was drunk.

[h90]

7 litres per year is less than one shot of spirits per day.

Works out at less than 20ml per day which is less than the pitiful UK single measure of 25ml.

Hardly seems chronic abuse to me.

7 liter per 2 weeks would be much

[TAWP]

I have seen many europeans and others drink that amount in less than two days. Beer that is not spirits, But even if spirits it's hardly pushing the boat out is it? that is for a yearly intake lol not two days as regards spirits.

I drink about 6 cases of beer every month.Thats about 40 litres!!!Whats the big deal about 7 litres a year. Thais must be teatottlers or the statistician was drunk.

They are talking about pure alcohol, not just any fluid at all...

[Rumfoord]

Tom Hanks, in Apollo 13 said, "Houston, we have a problem." They solved the problem and saved the astronauts.

Thailand, we have a problem. "Arai nah? Mai bpen rai."

that movie was so preditable boring. i watched it only because they had the same haistylist on the the set as for The Bonfire of the Vanities. after hearing the music to the opening title i already knew how the end will be. and let me tell you, there wasn't really a problem. he just said that for some dramatic effect.

in apollo 13 three men in a tin can piss their space suits wet and don't land on he moon. drama!

in thailand they got pissed with moonshine in tin cans and having a awesome good time. problem?

[bkkjames]

I read the article quickly and didnt see a reference to pure alcohol.

Secondly, where did they come up with the 350 Billion Baht in damages?

Really, if a truck full of beer crashes on the way from Khon Kaen to Bangkok and it costs 2 million baht in damages / losses, is that part of the 350 Billion Baht?

7 litres a year seems low to me. Are they including the entire population in their average?

If I drink 7 litres tonight and my 5 month old has zero, the average between us is 3.5. Well below the curve.

[toptuan]

Tom Hanks, in Apollo 13 said, "Houston, we have a problem." They solved the problem and saved the astronauts.

Thailand, we have a problem. "Arai nah? Mai bpen rai."

Not sure what your advanced Thai means on this English-language-only thread , however, here's a schematic view of how cultures handle problems. Guess the Thai approach....

[katana]

...Secondly, where did they come up with the 350 Billion Baht in damages?

Really, if a truck full of beer crashes on the way from Khon Kaen to Bangkok and it costs 2 million baht in damages / losses, is that part of the 350 Billion Baht?...

Alcoholism, ill health, missed days from work etc

[BusyBee123]

thais are only playing at drinking the scots at 12 litres of pure alcohol per year make them look like lightweights http://www.heraldscotland.com/scots-drink-...r-each-1.826602

[johnwills]

2007/2008 it was reported that the average was 11.53 in the UK, so 6-7 doesn't look that bad if that is the true figure.

[rucus7]

Think I drink that much every week.

You sure look like you do

[nisakiman]

7 litres of pure alcohol equates to 17.5 litres of a standard 40% alcohol spirit such as whisky, which in turn equates to 25 standard 70 cl bottles, which is about half a bottle a week. That of course assumes that everyone is drinking at the same level, which of course they aren't. Even so, it doesn't seem like an awful lot to me. Certainly not at a level to warrant the inevitable "crackdown"!

Anyway, as someone mentioned already, NGOs are notorious for coming up with scary figures in order to justify their existence and expense accounts. I tend to treat anything produced by NGO jobsworths as totally unreliable.

[12DrinkMore]

I've just opened another bottle.

So CHEERS everybody!

:D

[nisakiman]

I've just opened another bottle.

So CHEERS everybody!

Think I might join you!

Cheers!

[salty]

I'd hate to be a teetotaler. Imagine getting up in the morning and knowing that's as good as you're going to feel all day.”

Dean Martin quote

[Bagwan]

...Secondly, where did they come up with the 350 Billion Baht in damages?

Really, if a truck full of beer crashes on the way from Khon Kaen to Bangkok and it costs 2 million baht in damages / losses, is that part of the 350 Billion Baht?...

Alcoholism, ill health, missed days from work etc

Missed days off work costs money? TIT. Not going in to work reduces the number of cock-ups that have to be sorted - or not.

[Bagwan]

...Secondly, where did they come up with the 350 Billion Baht in damages?

Really, if a truck full of beer crashes on the way from Khon Kaen to Bangkok and it costs 2 million baht in damages / losses, is that part of the 350 Billion Baht?...

Alcoholism, ill health, missed days from work etc

Missed days off work costs money? TIT. Not going in to work reduces the number of cock-ups that have to be sorted - or not.

[jaideeguy]

IMHO, the problem with the Thai relationship with alcohol is not so much the amount of alcohol, but how they drink it. Maybe not so often....costs too much, but when they do drink it is most often in 'binge drinking' and they drink til they drop, puke, or crash.

Which is worse [for society] the binge drinker or the habitual drinker, who drinks a measured amount of spirits/wine/beer with the evening meal? Both consuming 7 lt/yr??

[grantbkk]

A legal way to cut loose and relax while escaping poverty for a few minutes. IMHO the OP should focus his efforts on something constructive like underage prostitution or free and fair elections.

[IvanDobsky]

thais are only playing at drinking the scots at 12 litres of pure alcohol per year make them look like lightweights http://www.heraldscotland.com/scots-drink-...r-each-1.826602

nice link

these Thais are amatuers eh?

However, the chaps that congregate at my local 'convenience' store put me in the shade. Give them a concrete table and a topic and they're away. No wife or child and I'd join them!

now, this is drinking : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3284487.stm

[Bagwan]

Duplicate post removed