Sale and use of Shisha banned in Pattaya
Last Friday, a letter from Banglamung District Licensing Unit was distributed to all bar owners in Pattaya, confirming that it will immediately ban the sale and use of shisha (hookah) in entertainment venues. The letter was labeled “urgent” and announced strict enforcement of this ban.
A bar owner caught selling shisha can face a prison sentence of up to 5 years and/or a fine of up to 500.000 Baht. That owner is also held responsible in case of damage or death resulting from the sale of shisha in his bar. The penalty can then be up to 10 years in prison and/or 1 million Baht.
That it seems to be a serious prohibition can be deduced from the last part of the letter. Police officers who offer bar owners protection for money in order to (continue to) sell shisha can be reported to the Licensing Unit. Such “protection” is illegal and is of no use to the bar owner.
Hundreds of bars and nightclubs in and around Pattaya sell shisha and thousands smoke the shisha tobacco regularly. With this ban, the use of shisha in Pattaya is expected to decrease drastically, although there will be locations that will not heed this stern warning from the authorities.
Source: PattayaOne
A good measure, it was becoming a stinking habit, I also thought that the users became a bit too "euphoric" after a few rounds of inhalation..., I suspect that every now and then they incorporated something more..., also even more unhealthy than regular smoking (although…) due to the essences used, probably chemically for the cheap!
Hopefully they keep this measure and it doesn't dilute it as usual.
David,
What is the danger of smoking through the hookah? Rob
Let's first look at the habit of using the same mouthpiece with many people... never heard of hepatitis or jaundice? Treatable, but extremely contagious through saliva, for example, and a precursor to hepatitis C and possibly a precursor to liver cancer. I think it STINKS!
I am not a smoker myself, but then I would rather smell a cigar smoker in my neighborhood than these fumes.
Why not immediately ban smoking in the bars, or was that not officially banned already?
Ban smoking in bars completely agree and also alcohol that claims more lives than smoking read Pattaya News.
Very good measure.
In my opinion, this filthy, smelly, Arab habit did not belong in beautiful Thailand.
If people want to make their lungs sick if necessary, I have no problem with that, but don't bother others with it.
hahaha another joke. The military junta wants so much, but implementation in Pattaya is still not forthcoming.
The police in Pattaya are so corrupt they do what they want and the military junta does not change that. Examples about; illegal gambling houses continue as usual in Pattaya. More and more whores on the beach road, you can no longer walk normally there in the evening.
Traffic violations are still bought off illegally and so on. The workplace police are supreme.
Dear Henry,
Do you live in Pattaya that you know this so well?
Name 1 illegal gambling house or at least the area where it is located.
How often do you come to the beach road so that you notice that more and more whores are coming?
There are more questions, but I think this is enough.
Such reactions push Pattaya back into a certain corner .
Sincerely,
Lodewijk
I think this is a good measure, but that has more to do with my personal aversion to the people from that particular community who use these things...
On the other hand, I do miss arguments and substantiation in the article, why is it actually banned now?
In any case: if we were to ban this in the West, politically correct Belgium would be on its hind legs!
For that alone, a person would go to live in a country like Thailand!
In the short term, the water pipe poses the same risks to the heart and blood vessels as smoking cigarettes. The risk of tobacco dependence is also high. And since passing the hookah is part of the ritual, there is also a risk of infection with herpes, hepatitis or tuberculosis… In the long term, the risk of various types of cancer (lung, bladder, oral cancer, etc.) of serious concern to scientists… (5)
So a valid reason to ban it in Belgium too! And why political Belgium would stand on its hind legs is a mystery to me.
I wonder how they will also apply this measure in the “Arab” street on Friday evening in one of the last side streets on the left in the Walking Street.
Will an exception be created for this?
Bad luck for the Russian ladies, who are not allowed to go there.
Sincerely,
Lodewijk
Pity. It didn't drive the ladies as crazy as the alcohol and they still had the idea that they were under the influence. I've been getting one myself lately. No more irritating than a cigarette and certainly less than common foreign smoking habits elsewhere in the world.
Cost a lot of people their jobs.
Its use will hardly affect the spread of hepatitis and other diseases. There are plenty of other methods that are extremely effective for this, but life is not without risks.
It is of course completely sad for the visitors of the arab quarter.
That drugs were added in a public place is again pure speculation.
I never noticed it and I have a nice nose for it.
It was a fairly harmless socializing pastime, which countless tourists also participated in, and which I didn't get the impression that a substantial part of it could no longer do without at home.
The only hope I still have is that the enforcement of the ban will end up in the theoretical phase over time.
Was having a drink in a bar across the street the other day. Suddenly such a water pipe appears and a moment later I was enveloped in a smoke screen. Even though I smoked it myself, it took my breath away. Can you tell that I keep blowing my cigarette smoke away from people. So I'm pretty happy with it disappearing. That it costs jobs is rubbish, what did those salesmen do for it? They will soon find something new. And the fact that it is an Arab import cannot count on sympathy at all. Far too much of that import in non-Arab countries, and good for nothing. Get rid of it!