PM Prayut says he cannot stop people from smoking

[webfact]

PM says he cannot stop people from smoking



BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha said Wednesday he could not stop people from smoking but hoped that they could judge by themselves whether to continue the habit or not.

While voicing his support for increased taxation on cigarettes, the prime minister said that cigarettes could not be banned “because this is a little happiness that the people can enjoy in the same way as liquor”.

The new cigarette tax which will increase the price of cigarettes to 5-10 baht per pack was imposed Tuesday night with immediate effect.

Meanwhile, management of Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, the only local producer of cigarettes, met on Wednesday to discuss impacts on cigarettes from increased taxation, to adjust production plan and marketing.

TTM director Ms Daonoi Sutthinipapand said that TTM has not benefitted from the tax increase although it has leftover stocks because excise officials will check the stocks and change the excise stamps.

She added that it was earlier speculated that excise tax on cigarettes would be increased early this year although it was not known when exactly. But several wholesalers have increased their stockpiles two weeks ago in anticipation of the tax increase.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/150439


-- Thai PBS 2016-02-11

[ukrules]

Expect 15-20 Baht price increases in the shops.

[davehowden]

Yes, even on the old stocks !

[coulson]

Heaben forbid he would never *take happiness from the people*.....

[SABloke]

Only on Thailand can you get away with calling your company '' Thailand Tobacco Monopoly''

[noosard]

Should use his 44 law

[NongKhaiKid]

I can't stop you smoking but can make up for it as there's so much I have, am and will continue to prevent you doing.

[craigt3365]

This has become a huge problem in China. I was there years ago and the price was something like 20B per pack. They were called Double Happiness! LOL

Up the price is not a bad way to go.

[berybert]

Stopping people from driving would be far more healthy than stopping them from smoking. I have no choice to breath in car fumes if I go out for a walk. Cigarette smoke I can get away from.

Let the people smoke, they only harm themselves.

[Thian]

He also can't make traffic more safe....or make the police do their job.

[craigt3365]

Stopping people from driving would be far more healthy than stopping them from smoking. I have no choice to breath in car fumes if I go out for a walk. Cigarette smoke I can get away from.

Let the people smoke, they only harm themselves.

They harm more than themselves. Those living with them due to second hand smoke. Their family due to the financial drain of smoking. And the economy due to health care costs. It's significant.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-11/22/content_11584799.htm

It is estimated that tobacco kills a million Chinese each year, says Yang Gonghuan, deputy head of China's National Tobacco Control Office.

..............

However, citing the report to be released in January 2011, Yang argues the net contribution of tobacco to China's economy is around minus 20 percent.

Cases of lung cancer in China have soared by 465 percent since 1980, and account for nearly a quarter of cancer deaths, says Zhi Xiuyi, head of the Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Center of the Capital Medical University in Beijing.

[DavisH]

This has become a huge problem in China. I was there years ago and the price was something like 20B per pack. They were called Double Happiness! LOL

Up the price is not a bad way to go.

Jacking the price has worked in Australia. Smoking rates are at all time lows. 10-20b rise won't do much and just increase income for the government.

[Thian]

This has become a huge problem in China. I was there years ago and the price was something like 20B per pack. They were called Double Happiness! LOL

Up the price is not a bad way to go.

Jacking the price has worked in Australia. Smoking rates are at all time lows. 10-20b rise won't do much and just increase income for the government.

My backpacking nephews won't go to australia for that reason, too expensive to smoke but beer is really cheap and so is meat.

Thai people are getting fat, why not tax dunkin donuts? That's pure pumpui what you eat there and nobody burns so much energy in thailand. That's food for in the snow.

[LannaGuy]

no but he can stop secondary smoking by ENFORCING no smoking in public places and bars

[Thian]

More people get killed in the dangerous traffic, but also that he can't improve.

[toybits]

But that's the easier task compared with eliminating corruption! Is he also saying he can't stop corruption? or Nepotism?

Edited February 11, 2016 by toybits

[Lupatria]

I wonder how many sleepless nights it caused him to admit there is something beyond his abilities.

[user82374298374]

What he could do is to rescind the counterproductive, draconian ban on nicotine-based vaping products. I smoked 2 packs/day of filterless Lucky Strikes, then switched to Camel Shorts after the Luckies were discontinued, and then to Malboro Reds after the Camels were discontinued, for 25 years. In other words, I was a classic, hopelessly-addicted, hardcore smoker.

I started vaping 2.5 years ago, and have never smoked another cigarette, nor had the desire to do so, since.

I know vaping isn't good for me, but it's far less harmful than cigarettes. I have my senses of smell and taste back, far more energy, and no smoker's cough. Not to mention no nasty odors, no unsightly ashes, and no open flames or glowing embers to start a fire.

All the unscientific rubbish published about vaping is nonsense - a great deal of it sponsored by an unholy alliance of Big Tobacco and Big Pharma. Big Pharma keep pushing nicotine gum and patches, which don't work; Big Tobacco don't want their revenue streams disrupted. And of course, Big Government like the tax money, even as they decry smoking.

All that needs to happen is for the Thai government to tax vaping products and supplies the way that they tax cigarettes. But the tobacco monopoly in Thailand, instead of embracing vaping and getting into the vaping business themselves, lobby against it.

This results in the most effective harm-reduction path for smokers, vaping, out of the mainstream. And that's a shame.

Edited February 11, 2016 by disambiguated

[pookiki]

If the regime leader can reach the conclusion that there is nothing he can do about people smoking, why can't he reach a similar conclusion about people having ideas and opinions that run counter to junta policy? Maybe he should impose a 'thought tax' on all Thais so they can regain the rights to freedom of expression!

[jaywalker]

no but he can stop secondary smoking by ENFORCING no smoking in public places and bars

Public places are fair enough.

Bars belong to bar owners and are not public.

If I walk into a bar that is filled with ladyboys, I don't like it, so I walk out.

If you walk into a bar filled with smokers, and you don't like it, you can just walk out.

Being a transvestite, and or liking transvestites is a personal choice.

I don't care for guys that want to be girls, but a smoke, in a bar is something I do like.

Can you see the paradox?

Would you be cheering if they started persecuting gay people?

I personally think two men having sex is disgusting, but it's none of my damned business.

Don't get me started on what I think about ladyboys. I will say this though. They are more dangerous than cigarettes.

I don't see where the government should have a say in either situation.

Smokers should smoke outside and respect other folks that don't like it, OR go to bars where the owner says it's OK.

I know the owner of the TQ in Pattaya would never allow a katoey thru the door, but I can smoke in there.

I'm fine with that. It's HIS bar.

Blanket laws that restrict personal choice I disagree with.

[gerryBScot]

no but he can stop secondary smoking by ENFORCING no smoking in public places and bars

Well said. Therein is the problem in most of S E Asia - at best, selective enforcement, at worst non-enforcement and this is replicated in many critical areas such as environmental protection etc.

[gerryBScot]

no but he can stop secondary smoking by ENFORCING no smoking in public places and bars

Public places are fair enough.

Bars belong to bar owners and are not public.

If I walk into a bar that is filled with ladyboys, I don't like it, so I walk out.

If you walk into a bar filled with smokers, and you don't like it, you can just walk out.

Being a transvestite, and or liking transvestites is a personal choice.

I don't care for guys that want to be girls, but a smoke, in a bar is something I do like.

Can you see the paradox?

Would you be cheering if they started persecuting gay people?

I personally think two men having sex is disgusting, but it's none of my damned business.

Don't get me started on what I think about ladyboys. I will say this though. They are more dangerous than cigarettes.

I don't see where the government should have a say in either situation.

Smokers should smoke outside and respect other folks that don't like it, OR go to bars where the owner says it's OK.

I know the owner of the TQ in Pattaya would never allow a katoey thru the door, but I can smoke in there.

I'm fine with that. It's HIS bar.

Blanket laws that restrict personal choice I disagree with.

I am with you in terms of choice and free will in general terms: ultimately if you don't like eggs, well don't eat them. That seems entirely logical. However in the case of smoking there is no doubt that the ban on smoking in the UK in places like restaurants saved me on a number of occasions in the early days of cessation. I watched friends traipsing off outside to spark up for their post-prandial smokes and I distinctly recall the relief of the temptation of watching someone spark up being removed. That's why I can understand the approach to banning smoking in public places.

[bark]

Stopping people from driving would be far more healthy than stopping them from smoking. I have no choice to breath in car fumes if I go out for a walk. Cigarette smoke I can get away from.

Let the people smoke, they only harm themselves.

They harm more than themselves. Those living with them due to second hand smoke. Their family due to the financial drain of smoking. And the economy due to health care costs. It's significant.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-11/22/content_11584799.htm

It is estimated that tobacco kills a million Chinese each year, says Yang Gonghuan, deputy head of China's National Tobacco Control Office.

..............

However, citing the report to be released in January 2011, Yang argues the net contribution of tobacco to China's economy is around minus 20 percent.

Cases of lung cancer in China have soared by 465 percent since 1980, and account for nearly a quarter of cancer deaths, says Zhi Xiuyi, head of the Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Center of the Capital Medical University in Beijing.

The Chinese Government use smoking as a way to reduce the population. The Chinese Government wants kids to start smoking at the age of 5 years old. They hope that they will start to die by the time they reach the age of 50 ! Smoking kills 1 million/year. They need to get this number up to 40-50 million/ year.

[dcnx]

In regards to enforcement, at 2000b a pop around the clock, I'm surprised the current law is not enforced. It is a goldmine.

Instead, the police chase 200b helmet tickets for a few hours per day.

[Krataiboy]

PM Prayut says he cannot stop people from smoking

This is a pretty flabby response to a massive problem which costs Thailand dearly in health care costs and and lost lives. Around 50,000 Thais die each year from smoking-related causes - many of them non-smokers who have simply inhaled the toxic fumes from addicts' cigarettes.

With big tobacco companies increasingly targetting Thailand to boost their falling sales, the problem is getting worse.. Latest figure show the number of smokers across the Kingdom leaped by more than a fifth in 2014 to 11.4 million. Worryingly, Thai youngsters are getting hooked earlier, with 100,000 under-18's joining the ranks of smokers last year.

By 2030 smoking is expected to kill on person in six.

These disturbing facts - which come most from Thai government sources - must be known to the Prime Minister, who the electorate has a right to turn to for a more positive approach to the problem and its appalling consequences.

Across Europe and much of the developed world, ongoing anti-smoking campaigns have dramatically reduced the toll of death and destroyed lives and the cost has been recouped in reduced health care and social welfare expenditure on smoking victims and their families. To talk of cigarettes in terms of "a little happiness that the people can enjoy in the same way as liquor", as the good General does, is disingenuous to say the least.

Thailand's love affair with alcohol is arguably even worse than its addiction to cigarettes and far more costly in terms of fuelling serious crimes such as rape and murder and filling hospital wards and doctors' clinics with patients suffering from drink-related diseases.

[torpedo1970]

"PM Prayut says he cannot stop people from smoking"

That is the first, even with the number four four, there seems to be something he cant do.....

As they say to admit it is the first step....

[dbrenn]

He's trying to stop people from thinking. Stopping them from smoking, and even breathing, is only a small step beyond that.

[jaywalker]

Stopping people from driving would be far more healthy than stopping them from smoking. I have no choice to breath in car fumes if I go out for a walk. Cigarette smoke I can get away from.

Let the people smoke, they only harm themselves.

They harm more than themselves. Those living with them due to second hand smoke. Their family due to the financial drain of smoking. And the economy due to health care costs. It's significant.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-11/22/content_11584799.htm

It is estimated that tobacco kills a million Chinese each year, says Yang Gonghuan, deputy head of China's National Tobacco Control Office.

..............

However, citing the report to be released in January 2011, Yang argues the net contribution of tobacco to China's economy is around minus 20 percent.

Cases of lung cancer in China have soared by 465 percent since 1980, and account for nearly a quarter of cancer deaths, says Zhi Xiuyi, head of the Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Center of the Capital Medical University in Beijing.

They also have laws against meth and weed and coke.

Fat lot of good that has done.

[arrowsdawdle]

Article 44 can stop people from anything of his choice but the little general will not interfere with crony profits.

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

Stopping people from driving would be far more healthy than stopping them from smoking. I have no choice to breath in car fumes if I go out for a walk. Cigarette smoke I can get away from.

Let the people smoke, they only harm themselves.

They harm more than themselves. Those living with them due to second hand smoke. Their family due to the financial drain of smoking. And the economy due to health care costs. It's significant.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-11/22/content_11584799.htm

It is estimated that tobacco kills a million Chinese each year, says Yang Gonghuan, deputy head of China's National Tobacco Control Office.

..............

However, citing the report to be released in January 2011, Yang argues the net contribution of tobacco to China's economy is around minus 20 percent.

Cases of lung cancer in China have soared by 465 percent since 1980, and account for nearly a quarter of cancer deaths, says Zhi Xiuyi, head of the Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Center of the Capital Medical University in Beijing.

Diesel vehicles cause more pollution and more harmful pollution than smoking, but they don't ban diesel vehicles or tax them at a higher rate. Let's take alcohol's effect on society, deaths due to drunk drivers, abused women and children and a string of health problems, but it's not banned in public, like smoking is a many countries. I am not a smoker but hate double standards.