Alcohol beverages ban during New Year and Songkran triggers outcry

[thesetat2013]

I think it's a good idea. Get's rid of all the undesirable drunks with one stroke of a pen. Imagine how many pimp bars would close down over night. Bring it on I say

What nonsense you wrote.

This ban will surely not stop the people from getting drunk because drinking is not banned and you can go anywhere to drink only you must BYOB. It will not reduce accidents for the same reasons.

The only thing it would do would be to hurt alcohol sales on those days and hurt newly arrived tourists wanting to party. Those foreigners that live here know the mom and pop places to buy alcohol anytime.

It also may force bars to impose a drinking fee to recoup losses from lack of alcohol sales

[bapoboy]

"However Dr Samarn assured, however, he proposed only banning of sales but did not prohibit drinking.

Customers still can buy before the banned time goes into effect, and then take them out for drinking during the festive time, he said."

So what is the point of the ban then?

Thainess at its very best or should that be worst ?

Good to know the country has such outstanding leaders.

we have a fairly similar law in Norway, you can not buy alcohol based on election days but one can drink. makes no sense, people act only alcohol based day before.

[KissMyAxe]

ha ha! something new and rediculous every day......so funny! this country is defo being run by 'The Muppets '

[Bluespunk]

Well, we could all go to a Muslim country like Malaysia or UAE or Oman where you will still be able to toast in the New Year at a pub.

Incredibly, Thailand's take on alcohol is becoming even more fundamentalist than many Islamic states.

Now that's not quite true is it?

"However Dr Samarn assured, however, he proposed only banning of sales but did not prohibit drinking.

Customers still can buy before the banned time goes into effect, and then take them out for drinking during the festive time, he said."

[Johnnie99]

Oh I thought they were mostly Buddhist here.

As we know, Buddha forbids alcohol.

What's the problem then?

[lavezzi]

Those proposal are made only to let wise falang comment. They want us to hate Thailand, but they can't!

I <3 thai

[jlwilliamsjr18]

Give me a break, everyday is "a time for celebration and rejoicing and alcohol consumption is the norm."

[kingstonkid]

So instead of going to a bar where people can make sure i do not get overly pissed i can go out on the 30th by a crap load of booze have a private party and let my friends get sh!tfaced and drive home while TAT gets a huge hit.

Works for me.

Better solution

Do what they do in Canada and many states. Have all the cops working whether they are traffic or not and set up road side checks.

have tow trucks on standby at locations. They smell booze you lose teh keys for 24 hours. Blow over .08 spend the night in jail. Blow over .15 and you get a 30 day sentence in jail.

No if's no buts

Oh yeah and any taxis that are in the area doing the i will drive you through the check point for 100 baht lose their cab license

[oneday]

Ah, the heck with it...they should just move straight to "Prohibition" so we can revisit the good old misguided US in the 1920's and have Speakeasies and criminals making loads of money on boot-legging. Let's face it, that's what the prudes in office really want.

[Bkklocal]

Yeah it effects tourism no end.

Went to Bali the other day, half the price to here, and the number of Japanese where everywhere, 100 times than in bkk, and they were smoking everywhere, unreal.

Small laws like no smoking in public venues, makes a huge difference to tourism. they were smoking everywhere!

That and the number of business's I see first hand moving to Singapore and smarter based countries is interesting. Stupid laws like this... I think they really do just want everyone out and will wake up to the fact the money leaves with them at a later point in time.

Stupidest stuff I have ever heard comes from Thailand.

No Alcohol between 3- 5 is it? then none after 12pm, daftest laws ever. Makes no sense at all.

Is prostitution illegal and enforced 100% yet ? along with flashy lights and no partial nudity allowed in the kingdom of bars? that has to be next right.

[tracklayer]

Ooh they left that late. Luckily my friends have been able to cancel their holiday and go somewhere else.

[metisdead]

Posts containing inflammatory insults and overly derogatory comments have been removed as well as the replies.

[smellthecoffee]

Why not just ban smiling.

[charmonman]

Given the complete lack of common sense and good judgement contained in his proposal, perhaps Dr. Samarn was drunk when he came up with it?

If drunk driving is the issue, why not just have the police out in force doing road checks for drunk drivers, like is done in saner countries? They could get the Thonglor division police to do it, it would give tourists a break from being forced to piss into bottles.

[junk1e]

Got it in a nutshell. However president of the Medical Council Prof Dr Sonsaj Loleka said no countries has ever come out with such proposal, no matter they be the United States or Japan.

They seriously tackle drunk drivers with heavy punishment outright and booking their records for life, he said.

For Thailand, he said it was the matter of no serious enforcement of laws that resulted in all measures becoming ineffective.

[Suffinator]

Great idea ... why not ban it all year long and have done with it. Just imagine if Thailand banned all alcohol and prostitution ... that would pretty much kill off 99% of tourism.

I wonder what other bright ideas the Departments can come up with to help kill off tourism so that Thailand can once again be free of the vile foreigners?

[robertson468]

If a Lawmaker has an idea of a Law that is unenforceable (which this one clearly is), it makes not only the Law an ass, but the originator or the Law. Would recommend engaging brain before opening mouth!

[bangkokheat]

drink driving is not the biggest problem, its idiot driving

[PatOngo]

Well, we could all go to a Muslim country like Malaysia or UAE or Oman where you will still be able to toast in the New Year at a pub.

Incredibly, Thailand's take on alcohol is becoming even more fundamentalist than many Islamic states.

Now that's not quite true is it?

"However Dr Samarn assured, however, he proposed only banning of sales but did not prohibit drinking.

Customers still can buy before the banned time goes into effect, and then take them out for drinking during the festive time, he said."

.....There'll be more than enough time to load up the pickup for the drive home upcountry.

[Morakot]

So what is the point of the ban then?

Increase the sale of uncontrolled alcohol and create a thriving black market economy?

[empireboy]

Is there even one shred of evidence that this sort of action anywhere else in the world has actually worked to produce the desired result without creating irreparable damage for business owners?

[weegee]

what is happening to the land of smiles?

Slowly but surely it is becoming a Muslim state. Thats what is wrong....

Malaysia is worried about their citizens coming to Thailand and enjoying New Years Eve?....so they get someone to help them convert Thailand to their way of their religion?

[rwdrwdrwd]

If the goal is to avoid road killing, why not....enforce the law???

The law is to "don't drink and drive", not "don't drink"

Banning drink to ensure people don't drink and drive is like banning matches because some people commit arson.

Edit - just realised this may well be the point you're making aaacorp, apologies if so, I initially read your comment as 'If the goal is to avoid road killing, why not?... enforce the law!'

Edited December 9, 2014 by rwdrwdrwd

[Lupatria]

However Dr. Samarn assured, however, he proposed only banning of sales but did not prohibit drinking.

University of Khao Sarn road, or Alumni of Duckville Genius'?

Edited December 9, 2014 by Lupatria

[RustBucket]

One simple workaround is to pre-sell tickets for a New Years Eve party at a certain inflated price and you get entry plus 10 free drinks.

Technically they are not selling drinks on that day.... they are merely delivering them.

[Credo]

They need to decide what it is they want to achieve. If they are against alcohol, then ban alcohol. If they don't want road accidents then ban driving.

If they wish to cut down on the number of accidents/deaths due to driving then they need to have law enforcement. Unfortunately, there are a good number who will either slip through the net, pay their way through the net, or be too far up the social ladder to be stopped.

A good system of public transportation on New Year's Eve in the major cities would go a long way to keeping drunks off the road. Put the vans, buses and everything else out that night to ferry people to and from their favorite party destination.

[Basil B]

Did not the Americans try banning alcohol some 90 years ago...

and guess who profited... the mobsters and corrupt police.

[BudRight]

Holy crap maybe I'll come back for a visit after all.

[micmichd]

If the goal is to avoid road killing, why not....enforce the law???

Why not ban private driving ?

[bubba]

what is happening to the land of smiles?

Slowly but surely it is becoming a Muslim state. Thats what is wrong....

Malaysia is worried about their citizens coming to Thailand and enjoying New Years Eve?....so they get someone to help them convert Thailand to their way of their religion?

Ironically, you WOULD be able to have some drinks in most of Malaysia on NYE. Just not in the new Islamic Republic of Thailand.