The Health Promotion Fund Kicks Off An Anti-drinking Campaign

[Jai Dee]

The Health Promotion Fund kicks off an anti-drinking campaign

The Health Promotion Fund yesterday kicked off its campaign to encourage people to kick the drinking habit starting this Buddhist Lent to mark the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King’s ascension to the throne.

Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Suchai Charoenrattanakul (สุชัย เจริญรัตนกุล) said the campaign aims to alleviate economic damage caused by alcohol drinking worth 1 trillion baht per year.

Dr. Suchai said the Excise Department found that Thai people drank 10 billion litres of alcohol in 2005 and spent 187 billion baht buying alcohol while drinking caused accidents, damage to health and the state caused by alcohol-related crime worth 500 billion to 1 trillion baht a year.

He said alcohol consumption also was a cause of poverty, adding low-income people wasted a quarter of their earnings on alcohol.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 01 July 2006

[Jai Dee]

Make merit, abstain from drinking for Buddhist Lent

Campaigners say liquor takes heaviest toll among the poor

Alcoholic drinks cost Thailand up to Bt1 trillion a year in losses through accidents, crimes and health problems, Thai Health Promotion Foundation president Suchai Charoenratanakul said yesterday.

The Excise Department reported that Thais last year consumed 10,000 million litres of alcoholic drinks and paid about Bt187 billion for liquor, said Suchai, who is also a caretaker Deputy Prime Minister. Although the economic loss has not been quantified precisely, it should come to between Bt500,000 billion and Bt1 trillion a year, he said.

The foundation's research centre for alcohol-related problems linked consumption to poverty, saying low-income people spent at a higher ratio on drinks compared with those with bigger salaries.

Suchai's comments were made at the beginning of the foundation's campaign to get Thais to stop drinking during the three-month Buddhist Lent starting on July 11 to pay tribute to the His Majesty the King on the 60th anniversary of his accession to the throne.

The foundation's second vice president, Udomsil Srisangnam, said a pledge to refrain from drinking during the Buddhist Lent this year had been woven into a two-section booklet. One part of it is a postcard carrying HM the King's picture taken when he was a monk and the other a balance sheet for the devout to record their expenses during the period to nail down their expenditure - or savings -on alcohol, he said.

The pledge booklets will be distributed through 10,155 health stations nationwide and from the offices of non-government organisations, he said. Requests for the booklets can be channelled through www.stopdrink.com or www.thaihealth.co.th.

The campaign will also co-operate with the Office of National Buddhism to get 30,000 temples across the nation to urge - temporary or permanent - alcoholic abstinence, he said.

It has also joined forces with 19 cooperatives to campaign for "white taxis," implying vehicles with drivers refraining from drinking and helping the anti-alcohol campaign.

Taxi driver Wichai Pahuwattanakorn said most of his colleagues spend between Bt35 and Bt150 a day on liquor. When they get drunk, they cannot work and create problems for their families.

Source: The Nation - 1 July 2006

[leisurely]

Thank goodness we leave on July 12th...................

[astral]

What is a Health Station?

Do they mean hospitals and clinics?

[Jai Dee]

Prime Minister calls on the general public to stop alcoholic drink during Buddhist Lent

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra this morning made a vow to abstain from alcoholic drinks during the Buddhist Lent and urged the general public to follow suit.

The Prime Minister signed a letter of promise forwarded to him by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation representatives and artists from Grammy music entertainment group, who met him at Government House. The meeting was aimed to recruit the Prime Minister's participation in a campaign against the consumption of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages during the Lent. The campaign carries a theme saying "Stop Drinking, Solving Poverty".

To fortify his vow, the Prime Minister also wrote on a candle plate his motto: "Be strong for the future of oneself and one's family". He then urged the public to uphold the five Buddhist precepts and to abstain from liquor during the 3-month Buddhist Lent. He noted that alcoholic beverages have destroyed a lot of families and drinkers' health. He hoped a short period of liquor and cigarette suspension would lead to permanent acquittal of the behaviour.

He also warned teenagers to avoid trying drinking as addiction is easy and difficult to quit.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 04 July 2006