Minimum Age Raised To 25 For Buyers Of Booze

[CTM]

"Thailand ranks No. 5 in the world for consumption of alcohol. On average, a Thai consumes 14 litres of alcoholic drinks per year, according to the Thailand Development Research Institute"

Something tells me that if you took all us Farrangs who live here away and stopped others visiting - Thailand would be about number 105 on the list.

You have never actually been to Thailand have you?

[TaxinMeter]

Might be an idea to raise the minimum age for riding motor-cycles also. I'm sure this would help Road Safety

With one year to go, I'm sure they have an outright ban on driving of motor vehicles in the pipeline.

After all, buddhist monks aren't allowed to drive, right?

[sriracha john]

from todays news in the uk , where they have similar problems.

this is the latest government initiative aimed at young drunks.

will this scheme work any better than the thai one ?

Younger people are likely to drink heavily - 48% of men and 39% of women aged 16 to 24 drink above daily recommendations, official figures show. [/color]

bbc news ..... 14 october 2006.

say... the UK'ers beat the Thais, the UK'ers beat the Thais... 3 cheers and a pint of ale.... the UK'ers beat the Thais.....

but of course, both country's figures are depressingly high:

"A study conducted this year by the National Economic and Social Development Board found the number of young drinkers, aged 15-24, has increased from 21.6% to 23.5%. It also found that Thais started drinking at a younger age, with almost 50% of new drinkers aged between 15-19 years old." *

and added to it, Thailand strives to break into the World's Top Three:

"Thailand ranks No. 5 in the world for consumption of alcohol. On average, a Thai consumes 14 litres of alcoholic drinks per year." *

*: from the referenced article.

Edited October 14, 2006 by sriracha john

[RenzoInOz]

So the Govt says it will introduce on ban on anyone buying alcohol aged under 25...

I feel sorry for anyone who is 19, able to drink responsibly who is now being told that after a year of being allowed to buy liquor they now have to wait another SIX years to be able to buy a drink.

Watch out for massive problems at the border as young Thais take bus trips or drive cars to Laos and Cambodia for weekend binge drinking. Or organised groups form to sell liquor to the oyung on the sly.

Worse for the economy, this will encourage thousands of ‘rich’ young holiday makers from overseas to take their money elsewhere. The real beneficiaries of this move will not be Thailand, but the economies of Indonesia, Malaysia and The Philippines. Until, of course, visiting backpackers find ways to beat the law - and there is nothign more certain than that they will - and very promptly. This new measure is but one stop short of the Prohibition theory of the 1930s. It failed than and it will fail now.

I accept Thais perceive there is a problem with younger people drinking (although to be honest I see little evidence of drunkedn behaviour on the streets of Thailand and an enormous amount on the streets of Sydney on an almost daily basis!) But this is not the way to deal with it – it will cause more problems than it will solve – and it will lead to increased corruption as young people find ways of obtaining liquor via other means.

Finally, I sure hope this is not the start of serious Muslim intervention in Thai law-making…

[Thai-Spy]

While it remains to be seen how well this new law could be enforced, it should be noted that it seems to address only the minimum age for purchase and not the minimum age for consumption (at least in the English of the Bangkok Post.)

For those who have as their primary concern the age of the bargirls they may consort with, there should be no noticeable changes.

Our view is that this proposed law is well-intentioned but doomed to fail in every respect except in providing new opportunities for graft. We expect no enforcement at all in rural areas and lax enforcement elsewhere punctuated by a few high-profile rousts.

And let's keep in mind that ths law has not yet been enacted, again per the reading of the article in the Post. It may well be a trial balloon destined to die a quiet death once the money-power of the Thai alcohol industry weighs in on the issue.

[farang prince]

Gosh why stop at 25? Why not just raise the minimum age for booze buyers to 50?

The success of a government is measured by the number of laws it can pass. This way they have room to gradually make more laws.

No, the success of a government is measured by how many laws they can enforce.

[mitrapaap]

Well, there goes our beloved backpackers.

Mission accomplished.

I only say it is doomed to failure above jokingly. But it IS doomed to failure. The concept of the idea (saving the youth) is good. The implementation sucks. Addressing symptoms instead of the problem causing the symptoms rarely works.

This law....if not followed with a breadth of other laws... will not work. But its a nice sentiment.

But this combined with recent other changes WILL accomplish reducing backpackers that later in the future will take off their backpacks.

Okay people the law is bullshit, no matter how high you raise the limit it will never work.

Then I suggest that you better simply reduce the actual limit from 18 to 0. If 25 has no effect on the public health then why 18 would do any good? Let the kids drink and smoke as soon as they can walk! What a great perspective!

[sriracha john]

Yes, TIT, and we don't have lots of laws enforced here, etc. But if the news gets out (even erroneously) that Thailand is now very strict on visas, strict on work permits, xenophobic, the drinking age is 25 minimum, etc., then it will affect tourism.

take note of the wise words, papadon

this is someone who knows that the photos tell the picture.

[sriracha john]

But if the news gets out (even erroneously) that Thailand is now very strict on visas, strict on work permits, xenophobic, the drinking age is 25 minimum, etc., then it will affect tourism.

Certainly, but the cover story for the impending downturn is already in place: New Tourism Minister prefers quality to quantitiy. When the tourist arrivals drop precipitously, the claim will be made "but of course the arrival numbers have dropped, we are focusing on quality tourists now!". This about-face will be backed up in turn by some bogus Krung Thai Bank study showing that those tourists that are still coming are spending 100K baht per day while here.

another reason why those places oriented to 18-25 will become as the photos depict.

[redewenur]

I'd hazard a guess that this is yet another law that will be 99% unenforced and almost totally ineffective; like the need for a driving licence. Have you been out in the sticks? Have you seen how many 10-15 yr olds ride motorcycles? - often four very young kids on one bike, and not a crash helmet between them - totally ignored by the local police. Will more attention be given to this new law? Extremely doubtful, I'd say.

Edited October 14, 2006 by redewenur

[sriracha john]

As to tourists well I don't think many under 25's come to Thailand anyway but still better to make it 21 than 25 !!

Have you ever been to the Khao Sarn Road area? Or Chiang Mai, Koh Phang Ngan, Koh Tao or Phi Phi?

I note they also mention an alcohol free day every so often. Surely this exists already with the various Buddhist days and Royal Birthdays.

"Also, the authorities plan to declare an alcohol-free day when alcohol sales and promotional activities are prohibited."

I take that to mean as in a "day" of the week.... every week.... every month... say for example... Tuesday.

Tuesday would be an auspicious day.

No alcohol sales to anyone on Tuesdays from now on. Until eternity.... Alcohol-free Tuesdays.

Edited October 14, 2006 by sriracha john

[mosquitoman]

[

Well said, what they need to do is encourage people to drink decent alcohol instead of lao cao because decent alcohol is less destructive to the body and in my opinion less addictive.

Very good point, I think Lao Cao is the worst (Id rather drink meths), this stuff should be banned and considered the same way as heroin or any other narcotic in Thailand,

[OOLEEBER]

"Thailand ranks No. 5 in the world for consumption of alcohol. On average, a Thai consumes 14 litres of alcoholic drinks per year, according to the Thailand Development Research Institute"

Something tells me that if you took all us Farrangs who live here away and stopped others visiting - Thailand would be about number 105 on the list.

You have never actually been to Thailand have you?

I just can't see how any reporting body can figure out how much of the total alcohol consumed is consumed by Thai's and how much by Farrangs.

What works against my theory is that they surely can only guess how much of the bags of moonshine (they sell just along the road from me) are sold / consumed.

Or maybe I just live in a quiet area where there only seems to be hard working Thais. Most of whom I never see drink.

I'll be back in BKK tomorrow though so I'll be reminded pretty swiftly - Gullivers - Beer Garden etc.

Agree with the poster re Sydney. One night a couple of months ago I walked from Darling Harbour to Central Station and I saw one guy passed out and pissed himself on the pavement and only about 25 y/o. another guy nursing a broken bleeding nose and talking to police and another passed out while his g/f was kicking and screaming at him to wake up..... all in a 20min walk. Sydney's not the Sydney it was 10 years ago.

[ovenman]

But if the news gets out (even erroneously) that Thailand is now very strict on visas, strict on work permits, xenophobic, the drinking age is 25 minimum, etc., then it will affect tourism.

Certainly, but the cover story for the impending downturn is already in place: New Tourism Minister prefers quality to quantitiy. When the tourist arrivals drop precipitously, the claim will be made "but of course the arrival numbers have dropped, we are focusing on quality tourists now!". This about-face will be backed up in turn by some bogus Krung Thai Bank study showing that those tourists that are still coming are spending 100K baht per day while here.

another reason why those places oriented to 18-25 will become as the photos depict.

I believe the soon-to-be TAT director was noted in the Governmental Officials Quotes of the Future section of the Herald-Examiner for saying "We didn't need any of those people anyway. None of them were quality tourists."

[davee58]

Read the Bangkok Post original article further Bangkok Post Article

"Also, the authorities plan to declare an alcohol-free day when alcohol sales and promotional activities are prohibited."

Does that mean one "ALCOHOL FREE DAY" PER WEEK, I suppose that Saturday would be the most effective.

Stupidity seems to rule the day!!

"On average, a Thai consumes 14 litres of alcoholic drinks per year, according to the Thailand Development Research Institute"

So what, I do that in a week.

Edited October 14, 2006 by davee58

[Tornado]

You cant drink until 25, but you can ride a motor bike down the main street of town at 5 years old.

[PeaceBlondie]

Whether liquor laws appear "rational" or "logical" or "reasonable" by Thai standards or Western standards, don't expect alcohol consumption to be logical. Do you go up to the petrol station and drink from the petrol pump? Of course not; it would kill you. But, we go to the alcohol station and drink from there. InTOXICate means to put a toxin, a poison, inside you. You are poisoned when when you're in-toxic-ated. Our new leaders are anti-toxin.

Human behavior is not rational when it comes to alcohol. For example, take the absolute, T-total Prohibition of alcohol in the USA, when it was a violation of the nearly sacred Constitution - they drank to excess, violating the law of the land, no matter how illegal it was! And evil triumphed, from the Mafia to the whiskey business of Joe Kennedy.

I understand our new leadership includes many octogenarians who dimly recall the Thailand or Siam of the past. Well, gentlemen, it's too late; the horse already was stolen from the barn. Thailand is full of drunks, and this absurd law won't change that. And most of the drunks have Siamese ancestors, who also drank.

Oh, you can try to educate Thai teenagers not to drink. An American exchange student told me, "These teenagers are so immature, the funniest jokes at age 18 are about farts!"

Matayom students have Buddhism training in the government schools. Let the monks teach them not to drink, or to drink responsibly.

[Miami Bob]

I understand the intention of the law but believe it will not truly result in a reduction in underage drinking as with many laws in Thailand the issue is not the law itself but the enforcement of the law. People are supposed to have licenses to drive motorbikes but many in the rural ares do not (and would not be old enough to have them), bars are supposed to stop serving alcohol on Buddha days and election days but there are always many well known (and connected) locations where it is possible to drink openly on those days.... etc etc

Unfortunately I believe it will just be another opportunoity for the lower level enforcers to make more money in on the spot fines and for the well connected (i.e. "service charge" paying) locations to continue to sell to whoever they see fit.

Early on in Thakins regime they appeared to understand this issue and try to get the existing laws enforced (for example- with the closing hours), but it caused so much backlash that the process stopped.

It is an extremely complex and broad issue to deal with as it requires a total revamp at all levels of government - employ the right people, pay them well, hold out against the protests, threats etc and then we would end up having the ability to enforce the laws. Also, there needs to be a better education system in the schools in general so that the youth have a better chance of good jobs and they need to be educated about the problems of alcohol and other substance abuse.

Maybe then theywould not have to be so drastic (25 is not really the youth they are talking about) and perhaps there would be a chance to achieve the intention of the law.

I agree that it is something that needs to be tackled, but just do not hold out much hope that it will be done so very quickly as writing a law takes very little money, but educting the youth and having the right administrators and enforcers takes a huge amount of money.

[MartinBKK]

I think we all know that this has no chance of being enforced however the concept is also quite ridiculous.

I am over 25 by the way however i personally feel that 18 is the right age to be able to purchase alcohol. Do you think at 21 or 25 you will make the decision to drink less than you would have at 18. I know that this certainly was not the case for me. Governments are there to keep law and order not babysit the public.

I am interested to head down to RCA one weekend to see what the reaction is there.

[Neeranam]

Let the monks teach them not to drink, or to drink responsibly.

They do teach the kids not to drink - monks teaching kids to take drugs responsibly, don't be silly .

[San_Belgium]

A rule to make alcohol sales illegal for people under 25 years, is the opposite of what we would call "harm reduction".

By criminalising drinking, if enforced, the youngsters are pushed outside the legal venues, drinking at home or with friends, thus not solving but just moving the problem to an environment where they are harder to reach, isolated, and where problem behaviour can evolve and worsen unnoticed.

Also note that there used to be a very clear difference between alcohol and illegal drugs : alcohol was legal, amfetamines and such, are not.

Now both alcohol and amfetamines would be in the same group of illegal drugs (for minus 25year olds) therefor making the difference between usage of alcohol and amfetamines (ya-ba) smaller again.

However, as said by many posters, the law will probably not be enforced, unless at periods the law enforcement officers need some extra pocket money (or in the 'crackdown season'), this provides them with yet another great excuse for asking bribes.

[johnh101]

Its a crazy idea, I agree with the majority of posters.

But by God it will save me a fortune in Lady Drinks !!!!

[wineman]

god i hope that doesnt mean the girls working at the bars, or the girls allowed inside clubs are going to be minimum 25yo!!!!

In England the minimum age for buying alcohol in a pub for instance is 18yrs. AND the minimum age for a barperson is ALSO 18yrs.

[john b good]

I'm 24. Oh well...

Oh well !! See you in a years time.

[cclub75]

The bottom line is : you have to wonder why the new government is displaying such fast efficiency regarding "toy regulations" (tobaco, alcohool ban etc.)...

Is that all ?

What about the economic policy ? Foreign policy ? Cleaning of Thaksin's network ? Troubles in the south ?

[Thaddeus]

god i hope that doesnt mean the girls working at the bars, or the girls allowed inside clubs are going to be minimum 25yo!!!!

In England the minimum age for buying alcohol in a pub for instance is 18yrs. AND the minimum age for a barperson is ALSO 18yrs.

I think that you may be a couple of years wrong on one of those.

[animatic]

21 would seem reasonable, and in line with much of the west.

25 is too for off. And will likely not work too well.

Granted there is a serious drinking problem with young Thais.

I was warned not to go top a Carabao show, because to many

young drunk Thai guys with guns go there...

But of course I heard this AFTER the show, and had no problems.

But if you consider the issue of loss of face tied,

to alcohol induced misunderstandings,

the ease of gun possesion,

and endemic budhist disregard for the future amoung the young,

exemplified by their motorcycle driving style,

then yeah, removing booze from the equasion does make sense.

Yes this will erase a lot of college age backpackers.

In spite of most being university students out to see

a bit of thre world before continuing their studies,

there is a perception for adult Thais that they are ignorant louts.

Not seeing that they are much the same as their own university students

trying out strange hair and dress, outside the traditional norms.

Granted drunken 20 something farhangs with hair extensions,

and ratty, but in style clothes, do put the adult thais on edge.

Still most over 21's are not problem drinkers,

and those that are, don't settle down at 25.....

Nor would those same problem personages be less of a problem,

if they started drinking so much later.

Some people just should never drink, period.

The new cabinet is so much older,

they forget their youth, me thinks.

But THEY survived.

[Cool Water Palace]

Kerriste!!!!!

Not another dose of Mr Purachai or his clone

Is this a sample of the kind of ill considered populist legislation that we can expect from now on

What else can we bash in the Tourist Industry here?

Why not shut everything down after 8pm as up country and have us all live like submissive peasants. (You vill laugh and be happy or you vill be shot)

Do they have the slightest idea what democracy is about

BTW last week the strip down pattaya was blasting away like the old days till 5am. Everybody happy

This place is going to become the Land of shieser for brains

[OOLEEBER]

"Thailand ranks No. 5 in the world for consumption of alcohol. On average, a Thai consumes 14 litres of alcoholic drinks per year, according to the Thailand Development Research Institute"

Something tells me that if you took all us Farrangs who live here away and stopped others visiting - Thailand would be about number 105 on the list.

Thailand isn't even in the top 40 for per capita alcohol consumption according to the WHO (am I allowed to link to it?) and numerous other studies I just Googled. We can deduce from this it is absolutely impossible for Thailand to be the World's fifth biggest consumer of alcohol, considering the size of it's population and position in the rankings. We can also deduce this is a only a justification in using this incorrect study done by the Thais.

Thank you emperor DUDE! - A dude of my own thinking - That report stunk of B/S from the start.

Thanks Matey.

O

[Huckenfell]

Minimum age raised to 25 for buyers of booze

BANGKOK: -- Health authorities have stepped up measures to curb alcohol consumption among youth by moving up the minimum legal age of buyers from 18 to 25 years. Narong Sahamethapat, deputy chief of the Disease Control Department, said yesterday that the idea was proposed by a network of parents early this year during a public hearing of a draft bill to control alcoholic drinks.

The measure to raise the legal minimum age of buyers is part of a national campaign to save Thai youth from alcohol abuse, he said, adding that it has already been incorporated into Article 28 of the draft.

Under the bill, the following areas will be designated as alcohol-free zones [more...]

--Bangkok Post 2006-10-13

Thats Thailand out as a holiday destination to all farangs (and other non thais) under 25.. many of them have a good disposable income too.. shocking

totster.........................................................................

..............................................part quote finished

This bill was introduced to stop alcohol abuse among the Thai youth and only after a network of parents voiced their concerns about it at a public hearing / meeting.

As the age old observation goes " This Is Thailand " and in this case i think it is very relevant to Thai culture and the deterioration of the slippery slope that drinking is taking it,s young down.

Perhaps we should all recognise this and not start getting off track and undermining this positive action which makes lots of sense from what i,ve / we,ve witnessed in recent times.

After all in many western countries have introduced several measure along these lines to try and stop the a.abuse they have, the U.K. has for one where there is a very big problem relating to this very important health issue.

Well done to you all in my humble opinion and hopefuly it will have the positive results it deserves.

marshbags

So have the Brit government banned all those under 25 yr old soldiers from going to Iraq & Afghanistan now then.