Shisha cafes must stop selling shisha, Thai officials warn of crackdown

[Dogmatix]

Shisha cafes must stop selling shisha...

So will they still be called shisha cafes?

[lvr181]

The reason they want to clamp down on that and the electronic cigarettes is they are missing out on collecting the tax

That may indeed be true but in the case of shisha targeting student areas in mentioned, indicating a concern about health, and keep in mind shisha smoking is extremely carcinogenic.

I would very much doubt that shisha users would understand the word "carcinogenic".

[gigman]

I never even realized it was illegal, given how commonly it is available....

Because if people have nothing else to do then are looking for things like.... what to make illegal.

Many things should be illegal but everything must come in right order of things.

Even food we eat and most of it should be illegal due to chemicals they have been used simple from grain to ready to consume product.

In alphabetical order veggies are on the list but we are at letter C for cigarettes ....weird why Shisha it is on the end of alphabet...

Maybe we should start from letter A ...for " air" we breath polluted from cars and industry.....somehow everything which is not easy to fix (or brings big profit)

will stay untouched.

hehe ..water "W" is on long list

[HooHaa]

The reason they want to clamp down on that and the electronic cigarettes is they are missing out on collecting the tax

That may indeed be true but in the case of shisha targeting student areas in mentioned, indicating a concern about health, and keep in mind shisha smoking is extremely carcinogenic.

yes but where is the problem if someone want to smoke something carcinogenic?

A few problems.

First people are seduced into the fun of shisha who aren't even really smokers to begin with.

Then of course many get addicted and develop cancer and heart disease from the smoking.

Many people, especially uneducated young people, are not educated that shisha is not a form of "safe" smoking.

Also there is the second hand smoke issue.

Tobacco in general isn't illegal, but government efforts globally to tax it and WARN about on labels actually is proven effective in reducing youth tobacco addiction rates.

Imagine going to a shisha cafe and being presented a huge poster of graphic pictures of diseases as part of the FLAVOR MENU.

And the taxes.

The government is on to something here.

If it was legal, it SHOULD be taxed and it should be warned against, especially to youth.

Not clear the intentions in this case are so noble, BUT again it is illegal in Thailand. Hard to complain about authorities enforcing laws.

ah yes, the gateway drug theory.

utter <deleted> in my opinion.

the second hand smoke bit gave me a good chuckle though.

people understand the deal with tobacco already, it aint rocket science.

[ravip]

Great, after the imporatant Shisha issue is over I may I want to suggest that the general tries to get Thailand of the second place in the worldwide ranking of the number traffic deaths.

How many Thai people need to see their children die before something will be done?

Why not tell him direct?

Send a letter, email, whatever...

That approach would help TH more than just commenting on a forum, would it not?

[Jools]

Thailand.....boldly going where only Myanmar has gone before.

[ravip]

Great, after the imporatant Shisha issue is over I may I want to suggest that the general tries to get Thailand of the second place in the worldwide ranking of the number traffic deaths.

How many Thai people need to see their children die before something will be done?

Why not tell him direct?

That would help TH more than just commenting in a forum.

Just send him a letter, email or try and meet him in person.

[nisakiman]

You want to smoke?

Fine. Go ahead.

Just don't do it around those of us who find it a foul habit.

Indeed, the last thing I want to do is to inlfict my pleasures on someone who doesn't like them. However, the anti-smoking lobby finds it quite acceptable to inflict their displeasures on me by removing my choice to enjoy sitting in a bar with a beer and a cigarette. It would have been so easy to mandate separate, well signed bars where smoking is or isn't permitted. Or separate areas, with good ventilation. But of course, it never was anything to do with health. It was always about social engineering. And increased profits for the pharmaceutical industry.

I do not have a problem with people smoking, just as long as

1. I do not have to inhale the smoke, which gives me asthma.

Oddly enough, smoking is supposed to be protective against asthma, although I haven't done much research on it.

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/2596/want_to_cure_your_asthma_start_smoking

2. I do not have to inhale the stench that the hookahs emit.

Hookahs do not emit a stench, they give off an aroma. Whether you like the aroma or not is purely subjective.

3. I do not have to pay for their healthcare.

According the the (doubtless inflated) figures from the NHS in the UK, 'smoking related' diseases costs them £2.7 billion a year.

Smokers pay £11 billion in taxes every year. So we subsidise your healthcare to a large degree. Be grateful!

[lvr181]

So we subsidise your healthcare to a large degree. Be grateful!

Got any other good jokes?

[emilymat]

Couldn't The General just adopt the principle employed in the old Soviet Union; ie everything that is not expressly permitted is forbidden?

It would be much more efficient than having to dream up a new ban every day.

You raise a good point actually. The fact is, as many know, that when the coup took place a number of posters were very pleased and aired all sorts of positive messages on TVF and elsewhere.

Now, I'm not arguing the politics of the previous government but, as this poster suggests - maybe light heartedly - the junta needs to be seen to be taking a new 'initiative' almost daily. Given we are at least 400 days away from a general election, that's an awful lot of new initiatives and bans.

Meanwhile, I can't even listen to the radio anymore as it is off the air as subversive. The danger is that people - farangs and Thai's - have got so used to this they forget that martial law and military rule still exist, with all that that entails.

[SPALAX]

The reason they want to clamp down on that and the electronic cigarettes is they are missing out on collecting the tax

Rubbish: Both E-Cigarettes AND the Shisha Tobacco are extremely hazardous to one's health ! ! ! End of argument.

surely not extremely hazardous as there are smoker that reach 90-100 years of age.

It is not good for health but not extremely hazardous.

Some years ago the oldest woman in the world was Jeanne Calmant. She had been a chain smoker since she was 16 years old. She was 123 years when she finally decided to follow her doctors' advice. She quit smoking. 3 months later she died.

Many Japanese can live more Than 100 years. Most of them of smokers.

But selling drugs is good for Big Pharma and governments need money.

I am a chain smoker and would in any case advise any young man or woman not to smoke. It is expensive and not really healthy. I would advise long time smokers to never stop smoking. They would spend the rest of their lifes eating drugs.

This crazy concept of passive smoking was created in the 1930's by a german doctor who wrote a more than 1000 pages report about it. A certain

Adolf Hitler financed the research. But he never banned smoking because this would have caused many depressions and ilnesses in the population. As Joseph Goebbels his propaganda minister wrote in his memoirs, smoking would have been definitely banned after the war. Luckily they lost it. The winners were the famous cigar smokers Churchill and Roosevelt and the cigarette chain smoker Staline. The SS were not allowed to smoke more than 6 cigarettes a day. The GI's could smoke as much as they wanted.

I generally accept non smokers if they don't drink or eat triple double burgers. Alcohool is a lot more hazardous to your health than smoking.

I think that it was HM the King Chulalongkorn who decided to ban opium smoking. The Prince in charge of that was very smart. It took years and years and at the end was successfull (you can download the story from the Siam Society JSS).

Being a French national, I have to write the following lie. That's the law.

"Smoking kills"

[slipperx]

“We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and our banks destroy the economy.”

I guess you will never need a doctor then, nor a lawyer, nor knowledge, nor freedom, nor to read TVF which is a press outlet. Don't bank your money, don't carry morals, and refuse to exist in a society you have just judged and complained about so much. There are honest people, and they pave the ways for new ground, even if tried to be removed by corrupt oppositions - there are honest people who continue societies with correct morals. If you don't believe that then don't pay your electric bill, or complain about it, and live like a hermit.... as that is the answer to your belief in what you posted, assuming you actually believe it??????

Actually the answer is to rid society of those that do it harm rather than live like a hermit to avoid them

[kimamey]

^{What I want is the enforcement of the No Smoking in the Go Go Bars and restaurants. 90 % of the people will go outside and smoke the 10% make it unpleasant. Secondary Smoke is dangerous and smoking makes all smell bad !!}

The human race survived for millinea around cooking fires, yet tobacco smoke is the killer.

Yeah, right.

A particularly stupid comment.

If people die young from smoking related diseases it won't end the human race. Thousands of years ago they wouldn't know what cancer and other illnesses related to smoke inhalation were so they wouldn't be recorded as such. Life expectancy has increased greatly in recent years and that has led to more people getting cancer as previously they didn't live long enough. Cooking fires don't have the same constituents as tobacco smoke which is why people pay the tax to smoke at home rather than just sitting round a fire.

Whether you agree with the ban or not the fact is research has shown that smoking tobacco can have health implications of many types and not only death. What if anything should be done about it is another matter but your reasoning is ridiculous.

[AdamRich]

I believe that it s ridiculous to put so much effort for so little thing...

As somebody said, this is only to force people to smoke normal cigarette et pay taxes... the same happen in EUrope.

Electronic cigaret are not worst than normal cigaret...but it gives less taxes to the governement...

Taking away shisha does not force anyone to do anything. That is just like saying if you take away cigarettes those people will just start smoking cigars. Most of the people I know that smoke shisha do not go near normal cigarettes. They do it because they think it is fun and cool, not because they are tobacco addicts.

[gigman]

You want to smoke?

Fine. Go ahead.

Just don't do it around those of us who find it a foul habit.

Indeed, the last thing I want to do is to inlfict my pleasures on someone who doesn't like them. However, the anti-smoking lobby finds it quite acceptable to inflict their displeasures on me by removing my choice to enjoy sitting in a bar with a beer and a cigarette. It would have been so easy to mandate separate, well signed bars where smoking is or isn't permitted. Or separate areas, with good ventilation. But of course, it never was anything to do with health. It was always about social engineering. And increased profits for the pharmaceutical industry.

I do not have a problem with people smoking, just as long as

1. I do not have to inhale the smoke, which gives me asthma.

Oddly enough, smoking is supposed to be protective against asthma, although I haven't done much research on it.

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/2596/want_to_cure_your_asthma_start_smoking

2. I do not have to inhale the stench that the hookahs emit.

Hookahs do not emit a stench, they give off an aroma. Whether you like the aroma or not is purely subjective.

3. I do not have to pay for their healthcare.

According the the (doubtless inflated) figures from the NHS in the UK, 'smoking related' diseases costs them £2.7 billion a year.

Smokers pay £11 billion in taxes every year. So we subsidise your healthcare to a large degree. Be grateful!

In reply.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

To be honest years ago I stopped smoking for 3 years because of heavy bronchities

I did not help and actualy after 2 years doctors described my problem as asthma on top of my first problem. I was just terrified when i forgot my inhaler ...

To make long story short....something happened in my life that I started with smoking again.

Now just gone 4 years since I started smoking and I do not need any medicines at all and my previous attacks just gone...

Unfortunately my cough was still heavy but much much less then NOT smoking.

Believe it or not I do not cough now and it has been last 6 month like that ...and reason ???

........I was introduced to e-cigarettes ...

I manage to switch to them in 2 weeks ( price of tobacco helped me also to do this)

Previously I could not freely talk without constantly coughing and now everything just gone .

I am scared now what happen if e-cigarettes (actually vapor inhalers ) will be banned......

I was able to heal myself from my problems where doctors could not help me and now what??

Banned e-cigarettes, shisha hence what the future for me ....return to doctors and same bs.????

Edited August 18, 2014 by gigman

[Chao Lao Beach]

Why is it illegal ?

Not that I would personally enjoy it, just wondering.

[Simons3]

didn't they Ban regular cigarettes in Bars about 5 or 6 years ago? I remember everyone smoked outside for about a month, then came back inside again

[FredNL]

What will be next?

Crackdown on orgasms ???

[RTH10260]

Interesting.

These are very popular in Pattaya ... among Middle Eastern tourists, Thais, and also Russian tourists.

I was in a restaurant the other day and it was all Russian tourists doing that ... the stink ruined the food experience of eating unfortunately.

It sounds like that kind of place would be a low priority to crack down on based on the OP. Hmm.

Including many places along Jomtien beach. Like the shops at the night market. They better legalize the stinky stuff and gain the excise income. Forcing the shops to drop the smokers will force many shops out of business. Not to speak that TAT will need an extra budget to polish up the image after TIT.

[RTH10260]

I never even realized it was illegal, given how commonly it is available....

Because if people have nothing else to do then are looking for things like.... what to make illegal.

Many things should be illegal but everything must come in right order of things.

Even food we eat and most of it should be illegal due to chemicals they have been used simple from grain to ready to consume product.

In alphabetical order veggies are on the list but we are at letter C for cigarettes ....weird why Shisha it is on the end of alphabet...

Maybe we should start from letter A ...for " air" we breath polluted from cars and industry.....somehow everything which is not easy to fix (or brings big profit)

will stay untouched.

hehe ..water "W" is on long list

better not give the powers-to-be the idea to ban dihxdroxymonoxide

"DHMO Research Org"

Edited August 18, 2014 by RTH10260

[shawndoc]

Why is it illegal ?

Not that I would personally enjoy it, just wondering.

Can't speak for Thailand, but from reading the article they hint at it being the same reason flavored tobacco products are illegal in the US, that it is viewed as being marketed to children (Because only children like flavors other than menthol or pure tobacco). However, somehow in the US the ban on flavored tobaccos, which made clove cigarettes & Indian beedis illegal, didn't affect cigars or shisha.

[Thai at Heart]

If its illegal how do people manage to.open whole bars devoted to it?

One would presume someone in customs knows how this stuff gets into the country.

Do you also want to know how illegal prostitution happens where "whole bars are devoted to it"?

Yeah, but the women aren't delivered by boat or plane.

[Friendly Stranger]

Maybe it's illegal because big tobacco has lobbied against it but then again this would also be done in others countries, unsure it is or not. Surprised they have not got into the shisha business as it can then be taxed and expand their demo.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Friendly Stranger

[bartender100]

It was banned under MrT administration

[khounteen]

About time too.

[balo]

It's not only Thailand that says no to sisha , you wont find it in Singapore or KL either.

And please stop using the excuse that Bangkok is so polluted that a few cigarettes doesn't matter for the rest of us sensible people that are looking after our health. Well you¨re wrong , it does matter .

[Jingthing]

It really has gotten out of hand in Pattaya. Mini shisha operations are popping up everywhere, even worse than the fish massage fad when that peaked. Often they are directly attached to restaurants.

[nisakiman]

It really has gotten out of hand in Pattaya. Mini shisha operations are popping up everywhere, even worse than the fish massage fad when that peaked. Often they are directly attached to restaurants.

So what's the problem? Too many fish massage shops - they go out of business. Did they somehow offend you? Did they have a detrimental effect on your life?

Same with shisha bars. Do they adversely effect you? Were you a regular customer of shisha bars until they started smoking - shishas - in there, meaning you could no longer go there? Or is it that you just don't like smoking in any shape or form, so you'd like to stop everybody doing it, because, well, it offends you, so nobody should be allowed to do it.

There are many things that I don't like in other people (sanctimonious self-righteousness being at the top of the list), but it would never occur to me to try to ban those activities. I'm a live and let live kind of person. If I don't like something, I can walk away. We have that choice. We don't have to insist that we don't want to deviate from our path, so all others must clear the way.

It's called tolerance. Something I would have thought that you, Jingthing, would be particularly aware of.

[Newguy70]

The reason they want to clamp down on that and the electronic cigarettes is they are missing out on collecting the tax

That may indeed be true but in the case of shisha targeting student areas in mentioned, indicating a concern about health, and keep in mind shisha smoking is extremely carcinogenic.

How are they missing out on the tax if they were taxed when they were imported ? ? ? Edited August 18, 2014 by Newguy70

[Jingthing]

The reason they want to clamp down on that and the electronic cigarettes is they are missing out on collecting the tax

That may indeed be true but in the case of shisha targeting student areas in mentioned, indicating a concern about health, and keep in mind shisha smoking is extremely carcinogenic.

How are they missing out on the tax if they were taxed when they were imported ? ? ?

I don't know. If it's not legal, it would have had to been smuggled in, innit?