WHO report reveals Thailand is reeling under a liquor tsunami

[Ricardo]

"Thailand is ranked fourth-highest in the world for consumption of alcohol."

Thailand-The Hub of Hootch.

And also a strong-contender, for Hub of Hoochie-Coochie, according to friends who visit go-go/dance-establishments ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoochie_coochie

[tomyummer]

It would be great to see whenever there was an alcohol related accident that the police would trace which brand of alcohol was consumed and the brand were then partly held responsible or fined?

[JesseFrank]

First they taxed Wine and I did not speak out--

Because I don’t drink wine

Then they taxed Foreign Lager , and I did not speak out--

Because I don’t drink Carlsberg

Then they taxed Cider , and I did not speak out--

Because I don’t drink fermented apple juice.

Then they taxed Lao Khao -- then I knew they were taking the p*** !

Funny one, I am against taxing things too much. However if you got free healthcare and the results of drinking strain those budgets a lot because those drinking don't pay more as those not drinking one has to wonder.

I mean why would everyone have to pay more taxes to support healthcare for those that drink too much and damage their body. Isnt it better to use the taxes from alcohol for this ?.

Of course foreigners don't get the free healthcare but as we are a minority I do see the sense.

I am a firm believer to put the cost with those who cause it.

They should also ban the use of cars and motorbikes, because the pollution weighs on the free health care.

At the same time they should ban sodas, sugars, the uv rays from the sun etc for the same reason.

No, it is all about CONTROL.

There is already quite a bit of tax on fuel. Maybe your a heavy drinker.. they hate tax on alcohol.

My argument was quite sound as this article showed.

I'm not a heavy drinker, so no need to make suppositions, but I like my freedom and as I said already this is only about more control.

We all know you're a non-drinker, but what would you say if they introduced a heavy tax on proteins ? We all know that abuse of proteins is damaging for ones health.

[noitom]

tax the liquor, cigarettes and most of all the Thai land. Thais should immediately tax all land whether developed or not. An across the board tax of 10% on the assessed value would create tremendous cash flow for projects to improve education.

[Baerboxer]

" The argument that people should be encouraged to drink less spririts and more beer seems like a valid first step for me. " Isn't it somewhat ironic suggesting heavy drinkers switch drinks and drink more!

Yes, it's a bit silly that the writer recommends switching drinks instead of abstaining or quitting, drinking less or less often.

I think the best solution is to legalize much less harmful alternative recreational drugs like MDMA or cannabis. The ethanol producers have had their monopoly for far too long and at great cost to the health of the worldwide human population.

Great solution - replace one drug by another. Best solution - legalizing drugs? Yeah right.

[Maggusoil]

Next to it was the even cheaper Song Sam -Bt271 and 40 per cent proof.

Lovely writing! What is this?

I agree that the taxes on alcohol don't make any sense to me. They do drive people, especially lower-income groups, to drink "the hard stuff" because there's a financial incentive to do so. Go sit on any beach chair and watch the Thai men. Do the same at any bar frequented by Thais. It's always a bottle of whiskey, ice, and mixers. While most Thai men I know do like to drink beer, they tend to drink more whiskey than beer. The argument that people should be encouraged to drink less spririts and more beer seems like a valid first step for me. These number are astounding if 70% of the population actually does abstain.

I prefer spirits. For my health. Nice and clean, but more in the quantity of one a day max.

The choice to drink or not or what you drink or not, is usually personal taste and one's attitude to personal waste.

One of my young brothers in law died recently from years of serious alcohol abuse. The 'old man' gave up completely when his wife died. No one else in the family drinks that much except for special occasions.

None of these decisions is going to be affected by liquor tax. It goes much deeper than that.

Decriminalising marijuana would be ten times more effective.

The liquor industry in America effectively got rid of that competition many years ago and they got it re-enforced all over the world.

I can think of quite a few drugs my young brother in law could have used, which would probably have given him a far better quality of life

and even saved it. However no one could replace his motivation, a broken heart.

[petertucker48]

Have the WHO allowed for the 26 Million Tourist of 2013 etc.

Is Thailand getting more Beer drinking Farangs !!! during these periods.

[NanLaew]

Love to see the general make the liquor taxes fair across the board. White spirits are the bane of the Thai worker, and should be taxed much more heavily. Time for General Superman Prayuth to take action!

Cheap white liquor is one of the primary pillars of Thailand's subjugation of the great unwashed. There's no way 'superman' will be allowed anywhere near it.

[kuiburi]

The tax on alcohol and Tobacco should all be used in Healthcare , research and hospitals .

Hospitals would then be like 5 star resorts and less people would be in there because there would be much more cures for deseases thanks to

mountains of money invested in research.

[Cake Monster]

One of the main resons for alcoholism is pressure from daily life.

Lets see where the pressure comes from shall we ?

1) Being Thai

2) Maybe working 12 hour shifts in a mundane job with only 2 days per month off

3) Earning only maybe 300 Bht per shift

4) Trying to pay for childrens education and clothes

5) Feeding the family with ever increasing food costs and other inflationary costs

6) Peer pressures

7) Inflationary costs associated with rents and housing

8) Medical care costs

Its really no wonder is it ? that the Thais are turning to the booze and the Yah Bah, when its so readily available 24/7 and at low costs.

Who would not want to try and get some relief from that existance.

[CqK]

" The argument that people should be encouraged to drink less spririts and more beer seems like a valid first step for me. " Isn't it somewhat ironic suggesting heavy drinkers switch drinks and drink more!

Yes, it's a bit silly that the writer recommends switching drinks instead of abstaining or quitting, drinking less or less often.

I think the best solution is to legalize much less harmful alternative recreational drugs like MDMA or cannabis. The ethanol producers have had their monopoly for far too long and at great cost to the health of the worldwide human population.

Great solution - replace one drug by another. Best solution - legalizing drugs? Yeah right.

Alcohol is a legal drug.

[CqK]

" The argument that people should be encouraged to drink less spririts and more beer seems like a valid first step for me. " Isn't it somewhat ironic suggesting heavy drinkers switch drinks and drink more!

Yes, it's a bit silly that the writer recommends switching drinks instead of abstaining or quitting, drinking less or less often.

I think the best solution is to legalize much less harmful alternative recreational drugs like MDMA or cannabis. The ethanol producers have had their monopoly for far too long and at great cost to the health of the worldwide human population.

Great solution - replace one drug by another. Best solution - legalizing drugs? Yeah right.

Alcohol is a legal drug.

And you know that (alcohol is a legal drug) . . . just reread your post . . . sorry about that.

[robblok]

Funny one, I am against taxing things too much. However if you got free healthcare and the results of drinking strain those budgets a lot because those drinking don't pay more as those not drinking one has to wonder.

I mean why would everyone have to pay more taxes to support healthcare for those that drink too much and damage their body. Isnt it better to use the taxes from alcohol for this ?.

Of course foreigners don't get the free healthcare but as we are a minority I do see the sense.

I am a firm believer to put the cost with those who cause it.

They should also ban the use of cars and motorbikes, because the pollution weighs on the free health care.

At the same time they should ban sodas, sugars, the uv rays from the sun etc for the same reason.

No, it is all about CONTROL.

There is already quite a bit of tax on fuel. Maybe your a heavy drinker.. they hate tax on alcohol.

My argument was quite sound as this article showed.

I'm not a heavy drinker, so no need to make suppositions, but I like my freedom and as I said already this is only about more control.

We all know you're a non-drinker, but what would you say if they introduced a heavy tax on proteins ? We all know that abuse of proteins is damaging for ones health.

Tax it all you want i get my proteins from my food in general. The amount i get in powder is inconsequential. I am not going to argue about your research.

The thing is you still did not counter my arguments.

Its a fact that alcohol damages the body and that it is a major problem in Thailand costing healthcare billions. Now do all taxpayers have to pay for this or just the ones damaging themselves.

Just tax the users and let the ones that don't use it have less normal taxes. Sounds fair to me.. same applies to cars the more you drive the more you get taxed.

I only am for this solution IF the tax is used for healthcare of course.. if it is just an other cash cow its stupid.

[WhizBang]

The article missed out on the worst effect of alcohol consumption, and that is having to sit and suffer the ramblings of the inebriated bore. Death by a thousand razor blades is preferable to being a captive audience of the barfly's droning monologue. Ban the bloody lot of it.

Or you could get up and leave. Your choice.

[Cuchulainn]

Have they been going through the bins at the back of my house again!?

[hyperdimension]

One of the main resons for alcoholism is pressure from daily life.

Lets see where the pressure comes from shall we ?

1) Being Thai

2) Maybe working 12 hour shifts in a mundane job with only 2 days per month off

3) Earning only maybe 300 Bht per shift

4) Trying to pay for childrens education and clothes

5) Feeding the family with ever increasing food costs and other inflationary costs

6) Peer pressures

7) Inflationary costs associated with rents and housing

8) Medical care costs

Its really no wonder is it ? that the Thais are turning to the booze and the Yah Bah, when its so readily available 24/7 and at low costs.

Who would not want to try and get some relief from that existance.

Cannabis is a far more effective stress reliever.

[mrblue]

just plain and easy. you will never fix rotten brains.

[hyperdimension]

" The argument that people should be encouraged to drink less spririts and more beer seems like a valid first step for me. " Isn't it somewhat ironic suggesting heavy drinkers switch drinks and drink more!

Yes, it's a bit silly that the writer recommends switching drinks instead of abstaining or quitting, drinking less or less often.

I think the best solution is to legalize much less harmful alternative recreational drugs like MDMA or cannabis. The ethanol producers have had their monopoly for far too long and at great cost to the health of the worldwide human population.

Great solution - replace one drug by another. Best solution - legalizing drugs? Yeah right.

Legalization could at least start with the least harmful drugs like mushrooms and MDMA ("ecstasy").

Source: Scoring drugs

[Disparate Dan]

If you read the report and check the stats in it (via the link supplied), you'll see that Thailand at 7.1 litres is emphatically NOT "fourth in the world" as asserted by the author of the Nation report, who may have been under the influence himself.

Some 31 countries in Europe alone have a higher per capita consumption (including the UK). The US figure is 9.2. In Asia: Japan, Laos, S Korea, Australia and New Zealand all have considerably higher consumption too.

Perhaps more of interest - especially if you are trying to make a case to say Thailand drinks too much - is the intake per day of drinkers only. Here Thailand (at 51.9 grams of pure alcohol) is quite high, though not in the same league as the likes of Korea, India, Iran or Kazakhstan.

Wine is already ludicrously overpriced here. Reduce taxes to encourage tourism!

[h90]

Love to see the general make the liquor taxes fair across the board. White spirits are the bane of the Thai worker, and should be taxed much more heavily. Time for General Superman Prayuth to take action!

More???????

Alcohol is crazy overtaxed already. Reduce the tax for beer and wine, so they don't drink the hard drinks.

[TPI]

Truth be known this is not a problem confined to Thailand alone. The binge drinking antics in the U.K. are horrendous in their impact upon on peoples (victims) lives.

The pace of modern living, the pressure peer wise, work wise and financially are driving people to drink in their attempts forget their or at least temporarily dull the vision of their daily lives.

Increased taxation is not the answer, the money would be found for the desired item (alcohol), education and social awareness of the dangers of over indulgence in drinking, eating smoking and financial planning would be one small step forward in attempting to tackle this problem.

You seem to miss understand. This is Thailand not the UK! What pace of modern living? Peer pressure? Dull the vision of their daily lives? Thai men and the drunks in particular have no idea of "peer pressure" etc, they just like to drink! Their wives and children work to provide "Dad" or "Uncle" with his Lao Kow and snacks, lets not forget his cigarettes and betting on the local chicken fights!

Looking back on the reports of British Ambassadors of over 40 years ago one finds nothing has changed in Thai politics and culture except the names of the participants!

Fortunately this country doesn't want to change either its habits or its way of living in the world, for the last 100 years all efforts to change it have failed (thank god!)! I love this place, I hope it never changes!

[gemini81]

C'mon, tax the frickin' rice farmers instead..c'mon at least one percent instead of totally tax free?! Taxin the piss out of cars, booze, luxury items, cigarettes doesn't balance or compensate the fact there are only 8 million personal income tax payers.

[Docno]

A couple of wee problems using comparisons here (and no I haven't looked at the report). Comparing Thailand to the SE Asian population is misleading for two reasons: 1) there is a large Muslim population in the region, and 2) there are several highly authoritarian regimes in place that I suspect are more inclined to control alcohol access/consumption.

That said, I had beers with a lovely Indonesian Muslim lady just two nights back, so the lines are fuzzier than we might believe....

[NanLaew]

Love to see the general make the liquor taxes fair across the board. White spirits are the bane of the Thai worker, and should be taxed much more heavily. Time for General Superman Prayuth to take action!

More???????

Alcohol is crazy overtaxed already. Reduce the tax for beer and wine, so they don't drink the hard drinks.

Strad was talking about lao khao. Your precious imported Chardonnay and locally stewed Chang doesn't count because the local natives aren't into that stuff so much.

[MaxYakov]

If they want to curtail alcohol consumption they should plonk a heavy tax on soda water. Have you guys seen how much of that stuff the average native douses over their whisky!?

No, don't usually hang around Thai drinkers. But I'm sure they could learn to drink it straight fairly quickly or maybe with ice if soda water got too expensive. Or they'd find a way to manufacture soda water on the sidewalks.

[johnthompson]

7.1 liters of alcohol per day is about half a drink of spirit per day. If you look at the male population they drink about 2 shots per day. That is classified as a moderate drinker.

Hardly anything to worry about. I drink that much.

[SanukJoeII]

Just some remarks, after reading a part of the report.

1. In liters pure alcohol Thailand ranks 22.

2. Thai use of spirits has been stable since at least 5 years, beer consumption has gone up.

I put question marks at the reliability of all figures. I'm afraid, as WHO has a history of wrongly "estimated" figures (in road deaths for instance, where they estimate 20,000 per year and Thai Ministries come to 11,000 real, not estimated), that the report has its failures, but it gives a nice overview.

No reason at all to use the term "liquor tsunami", as liquor consumption has not risen between 2005 and 2010. Taking in consideration that the population has grown, it effectively means that more people consume the same amount of pure alcohol, as far as spirits are concerned. That means a reduction of the percentage pure alcohol, deriving from spirits, per capita 15+.

Interesting is a sentence from the introduction to the report:

The world’s highest alcohol consumption levels are found in the developed world, including
western and eastern Europe. High-income countries generally have the highest alcohol
consumption.

Cheers

[unanimosity]

Next to it was the even cheaper Song Sam -Bt271 and 40 per cent proof.

Lovely writing! What is this?

I agree that the taxes on alcohol don't make any sense to me. They do drive people, especially lower-income groups, to drink "the hard stuff" because there's a financial incentive to do so. Go sit on any beach chair and watch the Thai men. Do the same at any bar frequented by Thais. It's always a bottle of whiskey, ice, and mixers. While most Thai men I know do like to drink beer, they tend to drink more whiskey than beer. The argument that people should be encouraged to drink less spririts and more beer seems like a valid first step for me. These number are astounding if 70% of the population actually does abstain.

Well, 100% of them smile, and that's not accurate either.

[unanimosity]

Just some remarks, after reading a part of the report.

1. In liters pure alcohol Thailand ranks 22.

2. Thai use of spirits has been stable since at least 5 years, beer consumption has gone up.

I put question marks at the reliability of all figures. I'm afraid, as WHO has a history of wrongly "estimated" figures (in road deaths for instance, where they estimate 20,000 per year and Thai Ministries come to 11,000 real, not estimated), that the report has its failures, but it gives a nice overview.

No reason at all to use the term "liquor tsunami", as liquor consumption has not risen between 2005 and 2010. Taking in consideration that the population has grown, it effectively means that more people consume the same amount of pure alcohol, as far as spirits are concerned. That means a reduction of the percentage pure alcohol, deriving from spirits, per capita 15+.

Interesting is a sentence from the introduction to the report:

The world’s highest alcohol consumption levels are found in the developed world, including

western and eastern Europe. High-income countries generally have the highest alcohol

consumption.

Cheers

Must be the three-letters syndrome, viz., WHO and TAT; both inflating the numbers.

[unanimosity]

7.1 liters of alcohol per day is about half a drink of spirit per day. If you look at the male population they drink about 2 shots per day. That is classified as a moderate drinker.

Hardly anything to worry about. I drink that much.

You got some fuzzy math going on there bub.