Drugs Rampant In Thai Schools

[webfact]

Drugs rampant in Thai schools

BANGKOK: -- An ABAC Poll by the respected Assumption University Research Center has found that drug use and dealing is rampant in Thai schools, academies and institutes of higher education.

The survey of Thai youth aged between 9 and 18-years-old in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Chon Buri and Songkhla found that 30.8 percent of respondents said schools, universities and and academies were a major source of drugs .

The identification of schools and institutes of higher education as a source of illegal drug supply and use was second only to those identifying nightclubs, pubs and bars, which 57.8 percent said were a major location for illegal drug distribution and consumption.

Those responding to the survey urged the government to include the issue in the national agenda, saying that every side must help solve the issue systematically.

-- thaivisa.com 2010-03-07

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[TheWalkingMan]

The survey of kids between 9 and 18 seems really wide. It would be nice to see something like, between 9 and 12, 13 and 15, and 16 and 18. That would probably show a trend upward over the years.

TheWalkingMan

[Squigy]

This is so SAD! Especially the kids who are into drugs and alchol at 7 years of age. But who cares! Who really cares. Nobody! What a failed state Thailand is becoming.

Everybody is more concerned at Thaksin than the kids of tommorow.

[puyaidon]

I question the accuracy of the poll. After teaching here in Thailand at the university level for 14 years, polls and surveys oftentimes are biased depending on the researcher. Polls are set up and if the author of the poll has his/her own opinion of the question at hand, the results are skewed according to the writer of the poll.

I have only seen two students at the university level who have shown drug use in class. After hours, it is a different story but having seen students after hours also, most are just into alcohol.

Incidently, I taught at Assumption University also and never believed any polls that came out of the university as the bias has been there for many years.

[sunsamourai]

a bit of a ridiculous poll :

The survey of Thai youth aged between 9 and 18-years-old in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Chon Buri and Songkhla found that 30.8 percent of respondents said schools, universities and and academies were a major source of drugs .

Spending so much time at school everyday, what else can these kids say ?

It's not as if knowledgeable people did answer the question . . .

Edited March 7, 2010 by sunsamourai

[ScubaBuddha]

So they are asking 9 year old's if they think "nightclubs, pubs and bars," are "a major location for illegal drug distribution and consumption."? <deleted>? I guess that explains why 42.2% of respondents didn't think so.

Yet another head scratcher courtesy of the Thai media.

[hawksway]

Drugs for Children in Schools, Sugar Shortages, the Meking Drying up and half the Country suffering water shortages, Global Warming and all They worry about is this self serving criminal politician and his angy thugs.

No small wonder Thailand remains in the fast lane.

The Media here could do a lot more to help if it focussed less on personalities and more on serious issues.

[dutchinlondon]

So now they have to be 21 before going to school? this kind of polls has as much value as the paper it's printed on.

[anotherpeter]

Questions and results of any survey can usually be twisted to get the results you are looking for.

[samuijimmy]

This is so SAD! Especially the kids who are into drugs and alcohol at 7 years of age. But who cares! Who really cares. Nobody! What a failed state Thailand is becoming.

Everybody is more concerned at Thaksin than the kids of tomorrow.

Yes it is sad,..... but come on... this just does not go on, just in Thailand, drugs are rampant in many "western" schools as well...

Certainly in the junior & high schools in Canada, US & UK... & probably just about every western country.

Seems no one really cares anywhere, or do they?

[gosompoi]

Where I live kids do drugs at school, kids quit school to sell drugs. Some teachers know the names and faces but are afraid that they and their families will be attacked or killed for speaking out.

Edited March 7, 2010 by gosompoi

[Loaded]

There's a lot of money to be made from drugs. Don't think governments don't realize this.

[tonglen]

This is so SAD! Especially the kids who are into drugs and alcohol at 7 years of age. But who cares! Who really cares. Nobody! What a failed state Thailand is becoming.

Everybody is more concerned at Thaksin than the kids of tomorrow.

Yes it is sad,..... but come on... this just does not go on, just in Thailand, drugs are rampant in many "western" schools as well...

Certainly in the junior & high schools in Canada, US & UK... & probably just about every western country.

Seems no one really cares anywhere, or do they?

Agreed. Drugs are in schools everywhere, not just in Thailand. These scumbag dealers get these started early and they have clients for life.

The article seemed to be, as per the usual, incomplete as to WHAT KINDS of drugs are being primarily circulated.

[mythBuster]

How much better was the situation under Thaksin. Although the army and the Abhisit government could both not care less about human rights , anti drugs squads and drugs searches along the border were abandoned because it was not in the interest of Thailand. fact is of course that the police is involved till over their ears in these kinds of businesses and the bangkok elite too. They have to ship the ingredients from Bangkok to other places.

Whatever the comments on Thaksin he truly was worried about the future of the youngest generation.

The fact that drugs are back everywhere is therefore solely to blame on the coup culprits.

[anotherpeter]

How much better was the situation under Thaksin. Although the army and the Abhisit government could both not care less about human rights , anti drugs squads and drugs searches along the border were abandoned because it was not in the interest of Thailand. fact is of course that the police is involved till over their ears in these kinds of businesses and the bangkok elite too. They have to ship the ingredients from Bangkok to other places.

Whatever the comments on Thaksin he truly was worried about the future of the youngest generation.

The fact that drugs are back everywhere is therefore solely to blame on the coup culprits.

Yes ... Bring back Thaksin. Let him be judge, jury and executioner. Ok, we'll skip the judge and jury part. That's a waste of time. And while he's here, let him steal another couple of billion dollars from the Thais.

[hammered]

How much better was the situation under Thaksin. Although the army and the Abhisit government could both not care less about human rights , anti drugs squads and drugs searches along the border were abandoned because it was not in the interest of Thailand. fact is of course that the police is involved till over their ears in these kinds of businesses and the bangkok elite too. They have to ship the ingredients from Bangkok to other places.

Whatever the comments on Thaksin he truly was worried about the future of the youngest generation.

The fact that drugs are back everywhere is therefore solely to blame on the coup culprits.

Yes ... Bring back Thaksin. Let him be judge, jury and executioner. Ok, we'll skip the judge and jury part. That's a waste of time. And while he's here, let him steal another couple of billion dollars from the Thais.

Yes lets bring back Thailand's biggest humna rights abuser in decades. Even the Thai military cant match his acts of buitchery. The official report into Pinochet listed almost the samer number offed as Thaksin managed, not including southern deaths.

[tooninthai]

At those rates we will soon be seeing the dealers selling drugs at the school gates, doling them out like candy to 'help the kids through another stressful day at school'.

[hammered]

Reality is most Thai schoolkids and uni students arent major drug users

[WeeGB]

This is so SAD! Especially the kids who are into drugs and alcohol at 7 years of age. But who cares! Who really cares. Nobody! What a failed state Thailand is becoming.

Everybody is more concerned at Thaksin than the kids of tomorrow.

Yes it is sad,..... but come on... this just does not go on, just in Thailand, drugs are rampant in many "western" schools as well...

Certainly in the junior & high schools in Canada, US & UK... & probably just about every western country.

Seems no one really cares anywhere, or do they?

Drugs and drink help to sedate the section of countries populations, most likely to rebel against "the system", teenagers, by making them too lethargic to be bothered about anything but themselves. I have thought for a number of years that most governments deliberately only scratch the surface of drug and drink abuse in both teenage and general society, because it helps them to maintain the status quo. Thankfully, I've seen no evidence of drug use in our village, but teenage drinking is starting to become a major problem.

[tonglen]

The fact that drugs are back everywhere is therefore solely to blame on the coup culprits.

Um, not really.

Actually, it's a simple equation of supply/demand. If there is a demand, then there is a supply.

If there was a demand for the toe nail clippings of a baby platypus harvested on the first new moon of the spring equinox, then there would be a supply.

Basic economics, Im sure you learned that in school.

[siampolee]

Remember the saying ,

''There are lies, dammed lies and statistics ''

[crusty]

I question the accuracy of the poll. After teaching here in Thailand at the university level for 14 years, polls and surveys oftentimes are biased depending on the researcher. Polls are set up and if the author of the poll has his/her own opinion of the question at hand, the results are skewed according to the writer of the poll.

I have only seen two students at the university level who have shown drug use in class. After hours, it is a different story but having seen students after hours also, most are just into alcohol.

Incidently, I taught at Assumption University also and never believed any polls that came out of the university as the bias has been there for many years.

<deleted> ! The teachers are the ones selling drugs to their students, as my friend found at Assumption College, Siracha. Good result, he broke the teacher's nose !

[WinnieTheKhwai]

How much better was the situation under Thaksin. Although the army and the Abhisit government could both not care less about human rights , anti drugs squads and drugs searches along the border were abandoned because it was not in the interest of Thailand. fact is of course that the police is involved till over their ears in these kinds of businesses and the bangkok elite too. They have to ship the ingredients from Bangkok to other places.

I diagree. Typically the Bangkok middle and upper classes DO start to care when it's about their own kids. As long as they can perceive drugs to be an issue for truck drivers, laborers and general slum-scum it's not very high on the agenda. Same applied to prostitution by the way; as soon as there were reports of UNIVERSITY girls working as hostesses or paid mistresses it suddenly got their attention.

Other than that I echo the sentiment that any kind of statistic in a newspaper leaves more opportunity for head-scratching than getting informed.

Edited March 8, 2010 by WinnieTheKhwai

[jayjayjayjay]

How much better was the situation under Thaksin. Although the army and the Abhisit government could both not care less about human rights , anti drugs squads and drugs searches along the border were abandoned because it was not in the interest of Thailand. fact is of course that the police is involved till over their ears in these kinds of businesses and the bangkok elite too. They have to ship the ingredients from Bangkok to other places.

Whatever the comments on Thaksin he truly was worried about the future of the youngest generation.

The fact that drugs are back everywhere is therefore solely to blame on the coup culprits.

Yes ... Bring back Thaksin. Let him be judge, jury and executioner. Ok, we'll skip the judge and jury part. That's a waste of time. And while he's here, let him steal another couple of billion dollars from the Thais.

Yes lets bring back Thailand's biggest humna rights abuser in decades. Even the Thai military cant match his acts of buitchery. The official report into Pinochet listed almost the samer number offed as Thaksin managed, not including southern deaths.

All I can say is put-sock-in-it. The war on drugs was harsh and for good reason. If it save even a hand full of kids from drug addiction it was worth it. Your blind hatred of Thaksin and all his policies shows how ridiculous your opinions are. If Abhisit does something good, I give him credit, if PAD have a point, I give them credit. People might not have liked the method of execution (no pun intended) of Thaksin's war on drugs, but it did manage to clear the streets every so shortly of the scurge being available to school children. You obviously don't have school age children of your own, thus no empathy with those of us that do. Get a life!

And you follow up post that most students are not users shows you utter ignorance of the issue. It is about exposure. Not all that try drugs will become users and or addicted, but as parents we want to know that exposure is kept to a minimum, schools are a place that should be drug free, it needs a parental/community/school/authority(police) balance to maitain our children drug free. When drugs are readily available in schools the incidence of peer pressure access rised 100 fold, giving opportunity to a far wider and far younger audience. Chuan Lekpai rained over a wet-spong government and the resulting access to drugs in schools went up, I am on record in TV with historical problems this caused for Thailand. We need another war on drugs. I would like to commend the To-be-number-One program as being a fantastic contribution from HRH Ubonrat. Thank you.

Edited March 8, 2010 by jayjayjayjay

[ScubaBuddha]

Remember the saying ,

''There are lies, dammed lies and statistics ''

84.2% of statistics are just made up on the spot.

[anotherpeter]

All I can say is put-sock-in-it. The war on drugs was harsh and for good reason. If it save even a hand full of kids from drug addiction it was worth it. Your blind hatred of Thaksin and all his policies shows how ridiculous your opinions are. If Abhisit does something good, I give him credit, if PAD have a point, I give them credit. People might not have liked the method of execution (no pun intended) of Thaksin's war on drugs, but it did manage to clear the streets every so shortly of the scurge being available to school children. You obviously don't have school age children of your own, thus no empathy with those of us that do. Get a life!

While I sympathise with you regarding your children, there are lots of questions as to whether Thaksin's war on drugs was as much about getting rid of political opposition as getting rid of drug scum. There were also questions as to whether it was an excuse for the army to get rid of drug competition.

There should always be some semblance of being able to prove innocence (if you are not going to assume innocence in the first place) rather than shoot first and ask questions later.

Should the police/army be able to shoot some kid because he happens to have a bag of drugs, when it's completely possible that he was just holding it for a friend and had no idea what was in it. There would certainly be a some assumption of guilt in this case, but he has to be given the chance to explain himself.

[philw]

How much better was the situation under Thaksin. Although the army and the Abhisit government could both not care less about human rights , anti drugs squads and drugs searches along the border were abandoned because it was not in the interest of Thailand. fact is of course that the police is involved till over their ears in these kinds of businesses and the bangkok elite too. They have to ship the ingredients from Bangkok to other places.

Whatever the comments on Thaksin he truly was worried about the future of the youngest generation.

The fact that drugs are back everywhere is therefore solely to blame on the coup culprits.

Yes ... Bring back Thaksin. Let him be judge, jury and executioner. Ok, we'll skip the judge and jury part. That's a waste of time. And while he's here, let him steal another couple of billion dollars from the Thais.

Yes lets bring back Thailand's biggest humna rights abuser in decades. Even the Thai military cant match his acts of buitchery. The official report into Pinochet listed almost the samer number offed as Thaksin managed, not including southern deaths.

All I can say is put-sock-in-it. The war on drugs was harsh and for good reason. If it save even a hand full of kids from drug addiction it was worth it. Your blind hatred of Thaksin and all his policies shows how ridiculous your opinions are. If Abhisit does something good, I give him credit, if PAD have a point, I give them credit. People might not have liked the method of execution (no pun intended) of Thaksin's war on drugs, but it did manage to clear the streets every so shortly of the scurge being available to school children. You obviously don't have school age children of your own, thus no empathy with those of us that do. Get a life!

And you follow up post that most students are not users shows you utter ignorance of the issue. It is about exposure. Not all that try drugs will become users and or addicted, but as parents we want to know that exposure is kept to a minimum, schools are a place that should be drug free, it needs a parental/community/school/authority(police) balance to maitain our children drug free. When drugs are readily available in schools the incidence of peer pressure access rised 100 fold, giving opportunity to a far wider and far younger audience. Chuan Lekpai rained over a wet-spong government and the resulting access to drugs in schools went up, I am on record in TV with historical problems this caused for Thailand. We need another war on drugs. I would like to commend the To-be-number-One program as being a fantastic contribution from HRH Ubonrat. Thank you.

I have kids and certainly worry about the " drug problem " however, I am pretty sure that the arbitrary, summary, extra-judicial execution of alleged dealers is not the best way forwards.

in my opinion the motive for and result of the "war on drugs" was rearrangement of the distribution channels..................

I think you would change your opinion if one of your kids was summarily executed on a policemans whim or to hit some sort of provincial target...............

State murder is State murder ----Period.

phil

[quiksilva]

For those condoning the "war on drugs" consider the following:

Deaths relating to the 2003 war on drugs

See also: Policies of the Shinawatra administration#Anti-drug policies and Thaksin Shinawatra#Anti-drug policies

The government's antidrug war in 2003 resulted in more than 2,500 extrajudicial killings of suspected drug traffickers.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Prison conditions and some provincial immigration detention facilities are characterized as poor. In 2004 more than 1,600 persons died in prison or police custody, 131 as a result of police actions.

The Nation (an English-language newspaper in Thailand) reported on November 27, 2007:

"Of 2,500 deaths in the government's war on drugs in 2003, a fact-finding panel has found that more than half was not involved in drug at all. At a brainstorming session, a representative from the Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) Tuesday disclosed that as many as 1,400 people were killed and labelled as drug suspects despite the fact that they had no link to drugs. ... Senior public prosecutor Kunlapon Ponlawan said it was not difficult to investigate extra-judicial killings carried out by police officers as the trigger-pullers usually confessed."[15][16]

The January 24, 2008 edition of The Economist reported:

Yet a panel set up last year by the outgoing junta recently concluded the opposite: over half of those killed in 2003 had no links to the drugs trade. The panel blamed the violence on a government "shoot-to-kill" policy based on flawed blacklists. But far from leading to the prosecutions of those involved, its findings have been buried. The outgoing interim prime minister, Surayud Chulanont, took office vowing to right Mr Thaksin's wrongs. Yet this week he said there was insufficient evidence to take legal action over the killings. It is easy to see why the tide has turned. Sunai Phasuk, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, a lobbying group, says that the panel's original report named the politicians who egged on the gunmen. But after the PPP won last month's elections, those names were omitted.[17]

The New York Times reported on April 8, 2003:

Since the death of 9-year-old Chakraphan, there have been frequent reports in the Thai press of summary executions and their innocent victims. There was the 16-month-old girl who was shot dead along with her mother, Raiwan Khwanthongyen. There was the pregnant woman, Daranee Tasanawadee, who was killed in front of her two young sons. There was the 8-year-old boy, Jirasak Unthong, who was the only witness to the killing of his parents as they headed home from a temple fair. There was Suwit Baison, 23, a cameraman for a local television station, who fell to his knees in tears in front of Mr. Thaksin and begged for an investigation into the killing of his parents. His stepfather had once been arrested for smoking marijuana, Mr. Suwit said. When the police offered to drop the charge if he would admit to using methamphetamines, he opted instead to pay the $100 fine for marijuana use. Both parents were shot dead as they returned home from the police station on a motorbike. Mr. Suwit said 10 other people in his neighborhood had also been killed after surrendering to the police.[4]

Its understandable that parents want to protect their children, but condoning that practice at the cost of 1,400 innocent lives, including pregnant mothers and children? For what, a few months, only for it all to come back again?

Really?

I'm a parent too but I understand that I can not shield my son entirely from the real world and certainly would not sacrifice other children and innocents to keep drugs away, especially when I can achieve better results through education and responsible parenting.

[way2muchcoffee]

We might as well line up all those who have the occasional beer, or glass of wine or scotch as well. Freakin' drug addicts. Scum of the Earth. Kill 'em all.

Edited March 8, 2010 by way2muchcoffee

[HS Mauberley]

Am I missing something? The survey found that 30% of school children thought that educational establishments were a major source of drugs. That says exactly nothing about how many school children are taking drugs, nor how widespread the sale of drugs is in schools. The 'journalist' responsible for this piece of crap is either too stupid to notice this or too cynical to write an accurate article. And as for the Thaivisa readership throwing their collective knickers in the air over this non-article, well, .....