Thailand a hub for drugs in Asean: Paiboon

[h90]

It's all a blind eye he couldn't care less how many people are addicts. A addict needs rehabilitation not prison and when in prison we all know drugs are available. Only 2 percent of the population are addicts. He must of suck that one at of his thumb. Everyone knows the drug cartels are untouchable.

An addict only needs rehabilitation if he/she wants to quit. If they don't want to quit it is pointless to force them. If they are even addicts, if they put people as drug user into jail who have a regular job and not addicts but happen to have a some weed in their pocket than all is pointless.

(on the other hand drug dealer pay their 50-150K Baht fee and continue.....)

[me313]

Remnants of the Vietnam war, lingering effects of what is now called "globalization". The "Golden Triangle" is still in operation but now it's more synthetic drugs--so I have heard. It seems to me that this place I live, Phuket, is indeed a land of "Lotus eaters" of the synthetic variety. Either that or the expats living here are just decaying meat on two legs, or severe alcoholics. They just look perpetually "wasted".

[CantSpell]

Matichon had a solution in another thread to reduce the big fishes of drug trade.

Can be eradicated though as the others are now ruling...

[SPB65]

Did anyone actually see the police burn the drugs ? I thought it was common knowledge that drug huals usually found their way back on the market via the police. I've heard from Thais that the police usually have the best gear, and I'm not talking uniforms.

[CharlieH]

Off topic posts removed

[gemguy]

In a evolving and growing affluent society there will be recreational drugs included.

But the drug problems here in Thailand pale in comparison to the recreational drug related problems in the USA

Cheers

[lvr181]

Wow! Good to see a high ranking "authority" admitting to something wrong in the country! That alone would be a first, surely.

Can or will there be real action to curb the problem and bring "influential" persons to account? Seizing drugs and disposing of them is great publicity (good for happiness of Thai peoples?) but seizing and publicly punishing the persons behind the supply of drugs would be more beneficial. I wish General Paiboon all the best in his endeavours.

[Bigfarang1948]

Nice to see that you are so focused on the intent of the artlcle as oppposed to words that describe where the drugs are centered; centered meaning the hub; it's a good word with a common ring to it, but I think you have already gone to a thesarus to find something that does not grate on your raw nerve. LOL

Please.....! Can't these guys use a new word? Anything but "hub" or "probe"....

[Lite Beer]

Thailand regional centre for drug dealing, ONCB admits
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Thailand has been the regional trade and distribution centre for narcotics, with heroin and marijuana mostly smuggled out and methamphetamines dominating the local market, Permpong Chaovalit, secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, admitted yesterday.

Ingredients for methamphetamines were produced in China and India and smuggled through Myanmar before being distributed throughout Thailand, he said. To disrupt this process, the ONCB is watching Hmong couriers with a history of drug dealing. Hmong communities with residents with such a history will be registered with the military and ONCB, he said.

The ONCB is also monitoring a group of Thai workers based in Israel for the suspected sale of amphetamines to fellow Thai labourers. Coordination is under way with the Foreign Ministry to tackle this practice and workers with a history linked to drugs will be barred from travelling or working abroad in the near future, Permpong said.

Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya later conceded these facts, saying this news would be the beginning of solving the problem as whole, as previous anti-narcotics policy focused on putting traders, dealers and users in jail. He said the new policy would emphasise tackling root causes.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Thailand-regional-centre-for-drug-dealing-ONCB-adm-30250279.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-20

[flyingdoc]

At last a fact, even if a generic term!

[jcisco]

Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya later conceded these facts, saying this news would be the beginning of solving the problem as whole, as previous anti-narcotics policy focused on putting traders, dealers and users in jail. He said the new policy would emphasise tackling root causes.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Thailand-regional-centre-for-drug-dealing-ONCB-adm-30250279.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-20

Wow this is a quite progressive and radical swing in attitude towards achieving the goals of continued prohibition of certain substances. And I wonder where this is coming from, if its home grown that is fantastic, but also good to know ONCB has been keeping an eye on the statistics worldwide and realized the insanity of custodial punishment for the vast majority of cases

A huge plus from changing the enforcement tactics is that it may relieve a huge number of police from duties targeting consumers and low level dealers. It not only frees up man power but also reduces the exposure of the BiB to the narco trade and the narco dollars. As it is clear that many people first hand have had leverage over drugs applied for a shakedown. If the stakes go down then the leverage disappears and the police force gets a tiny bit cleaner.

On that note, might actually be a disaster for a corrupt officers as their power diminishes.

I can only dream.

Good one thailand. Good luck with rehab not remand.

[wabothai]

You will never be able to stop the suppliers. They are like weed.

[gemguy]

Aspirin, coffee, tea, chocolate and beer/wine/Lao Khao all contain "drugs".

Will the first Thai official who has NEVER done "drugs" before, please step forward.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

What you say is often used as an argument.

However, Besides the alcohol you mention, what you say does not pass as a very good argument at all because those particular items that you cite are not manufactured or supplied by anyone to be purposely used to get high on or stoned on as compared to recreational use drug substances that are consumed for the sole purpose of getting high on ( or let us say intoxicated ) as a general means of explaining the purpose of consuming those recreational drugs.

No one takes aspirin to get stoned on while no one eats chocolate to get high on and no one drinks Tea or Coffee to get stoned on the way that people purposely consume a recreational drug to get stoned on and really no other purpose besides thrill seeking drug induced social adventures on their chosen recreational purpose drug.

I am not prohibitionist at all...rather it needs to be pointed out and recognized that recreational use drugs are consumed for the sole purpose of intoxication while those other consumable items mentioned or implied are not manufactured or classified as recreational drug substance to be consumed for the sole purpose of intoxication.

Cheers

Edited December 20, 2014 by gemguy

[SiSePuede419]

Aspirin, coffee, tea, chocolate and beer/wine/Lao Khao all contain "drugs".

Will the first Thai official who has NEVER done "drugs" before, please step forward.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

What you say is often used as an argument.

However, Besides the alcohol you mention, what you say does not pass as a very good argument at all because those particular items that you cite are not manufactured or supplied by anyone to be purposely used to get high on or stoned on as compared to recreational use drug substances that are consumed for the sole purpose of getting high on ( or let us say intoxicated ) as a general means of explaining the purpose of consuming those recreational drugs.

No one takes aspirin to get stoned on while no one eats chocolate to get high on and no one drinks Tea or Coffee to get stoned on the way that people purposely consume a recreational drug to get stoned on and really no other purpose besides thrill seeking drug induced social adventures on their chosen recreational purpose drug.

I am not prohibitionist at all...rather it needs to be pointed out and recognized that recreational use drugs are consumed for the sole purpose of intoxication while those other consumable items mentioned or implied are not manufactured or classified as recreational drug substance to be consumed for the sole purpose of intoxication.

Cheers

5555.

You're TOTALLY in denial about alcohol. You "sidestepped" around perhaps one of the most deadly intoxicants in the world.

Also, I forgot to mention tobacco. Not one single person uses that as a medicine.

Also, it's only your opinion that Cannabis has no medical value.

Try Googling Granny Storm Crow Lists sometime IF you have an open mind and wish to learn new FACTS.

1000 Pages of Cannabis Research Links.

Only links, not the actual research.

With all due respect, let the first person who has never used drugs step forward.

It ain't gonna happen, Bro.

[gemguy]

Aspirin, coffee, tea, chocolate and beer/wine/Lao Khao all contain "drugs".

Will the first Thai official who has NEVER done "drugs" before, please step forward.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

What you say is often used as an argument.

However, Besides the alcohol you mention, what you say does not pass as a very good argument at all because those particular items that you cite are not manufactured or supplied by anyone to be purposely used to get high on or stoned on as compared to recreational use drug substances that are consumed for the sole purpose of getting high on ( or let us say intoxicated ) as a general means of explaining the purpose of consuming those recreational drugs.

No one takes aspirin to get stoned on while no one eats chocolate to get high on and no one drinks Tea or Coffee to get stoned on the way that people purposely consume a recreational drug to get stoned on and really no other purpose besides thrill seeking drug induced social adventures on their chosen recreational purpose drug.

I am not prohibitionist at all...rather it needs to be pointed out and recognized that recreational use drugs are consumed for the sole purpose of intoxication while those other consumable items mentioned or implied are not manufactured or classified as recreational drug substance to be consumed for the sole purpose of intoxication.

Cheers

5555.

You're TOTALLY in denial about alcohol. You "sidestepped" around perhaps one of the most deadly intoxicants in the world.

Also, I forgot to mention tobacco. Not one single person uses that as a medicine.

Also, it's only your opinion that Cannabis has no medical value.

Try Googling Granny Storm Crow Lists sometime IF you have an open mind and wish to learn new FACTS.

1000 Pages of Cannabis Research Links.

Only links, not the actual research.

With all due respect, let the first person who has never used drugs step forward.

It ain't gonna happen, Bro.

Go over the submission again and read the part where I clearly state, For the record Besides the alcohol you mention.... and go on to inform you that tea and coffee and aspirin and many other consumer products are not a valid comparison to recreational drugs purposely consumed for intoxication.

I am thinking you have held a job with the National Enquirer where the reporters and or the magazine deliberately misconstrue everything said while twisting the original text into something that that is vaguely significant to the original text.

Further more I did not even mention anything at all about marijuana, in particular, while I did not say anything at all about Cannabis having no medical value ( that is your misconstrued fabrication ) while I did not say anything at all about tobacco being used as a medicine...no mention of it all...rather ....just you going off on a "Let me tell you" type of tangent and somewhat of a misconstrued rant on your part.

Now......if you want ...you can come back on track by first realizing that chocolate and coffee and tea and aspirin and nearly all other consumer ingested products, often mistakenly used as an argument in support of recreational drug consumption is hardly a valid argument and never has been and never will be.

First separate their specific purposes as compared to one another.

Cheers and have a drug induced moment

Edited December 20, 2014 by gemguy

[gemguy]

It doesn't help when the BIB are some of the biggest pushers & offer all the protection rackets!!

No doubt about that.

Nearly any law that the police would have to enforce is an opportunity to generate some money for the police officers who are assigned to those law enforcement tasks.

It should be no surprise at all that there are all too many police officers involved in sustaining the narcotics trafficking.

It used to be Opium and Heroin while Thailand has evolved into more of a transit point rather than a direct supplier of Opium and or Heroin with Burma being the source of the Opium used to make Heroin in numerous Heroin Labs along the Thai / Burma border.

That business is not what it used to be....but there remains more than enough Heroin transiting Thailand to make for a nasty social problem within Thailand itself.

There are a notable number of Heroin addicts in Thailand relative to the size of the population.

The logistics of Opium and Heroin trafficking make it more difficult to evade the law enforcement sectors that actually do curb the production and lower the amount of Heroin in the Thai market for domestic consumption.

But it is very difficult to stop completely because of many factors including the subject matter at hand.......that being the involvement of other sectors of law enforcement working to sustain the lucrative trade in heroin trafficking.

30 years ago Thailand was famous for its Thai stick marijuana and highly sought after while the markets in the USA and Europe were growing.

That has changed also as more and more marijuana of higher THC values and being more potent have been developed in the USA...so Thai marijuana is not so sought after as it once was.

The new challenge is Yaa Baa...being much more logistically easier to manufacture and distribute while being very profitable and lucrative.

A contentious recreational drug related social situation that is not going to go away.....ever

Cheers

Edited December 21, 2014 by gemguy