Alcohol abuse a growing problem in Thailand
– Reposted article from November 11, 2010 –
Who regularly in Thailand and occasionally goes among the Thai population, one thing will have been noticed: Thai and alcohol, they don't go well together. We sometimes grab a pint for fun, but with some Thai people there is little fun about it. Drink until you drop, seems to be the motto.
Anyone who has ever been surprised about the fact that all bars are closed the day before the elections, this is a preventive measure by the government to prevent too few Thai people from voting. It is illustrative of the magnitude of the problem.
Traffic and alcohol: a bad combination
Now we wrote earlier that it traffic in Thailand it's a trial. Even when a Thai is sober, they already drive like crazy. Just fill in what happens when they get behind the wheel with alcohol. Unfortunately, this happens in large numbers. It partly explains the many road deaths every year. Songkran is such a dangerous period. Half the country is in oil and is therefore the cause of a lot of traffic suffering. I advise tourists to be extra careful in traffic during Songkran and other holidays. Although Thailand has excellent hospitals, it is better to prevent this.
Thai drink more
A while ago there was an article in 'The Nation' about the extreme alcohol consumption among the Thai. Every Thai consumes 6-7 liters of alcohol per year. Which is considerably higher than in Japan or South Korea, for example. The damage caused by alcohol in Thailand is estimated at 350 billion baht per year. The Thai themselves spend 200 billion baht on alcohol. The damage that alcohol causes to society is many times higher than the revenue from excise duty on alcohol. Drinking is even a threat to Thailand's economic development:
“Director of the AntiAlcohol Organisations' Network, Songkran Pakchokdee, said that though the government believed that collecting a lot of taxes from alcohol would boost the economy, Thai society only spent Bt200 billion on alcohol while the damages cost the government Bt350 billion every year. He went on to say that the World Bank had warned that if a country could not control alcohol consumption among its citizens, its economy would not grow. He quoted the Excise Department as saying that for every Bt1 collected on alcohol tax, Bt2 was spent on damages.”
Young Thai under the spell of booze
The increased drinking among Thai youth is a worrying development. Alcohol is sold in the vicinity of schools by shops that do not have a liquor license. Because the fines do not outweigh the earnings, mopping with the tap is open:
A secondyear student at Ratchaphruek College, Jiraporn Kamolrangsan, said the cocktail shops mushrooming everywhere were leading Thai youth astray. She said Deputy Prime Minister MajGeneral Sanan Kajornprasart, who chairs the National Committee on Alcohol Policy, had told her and fellow students in September that he would implement tougher anti-alcohol measures in October. However, nothing has been done so far because Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had asked for the issue to be put on halt, even though he claims on his website that he wants to solve this problem as soon as possible, she said. She also wondered if the authorities' lack of sincerity in tackling the problem could be blamed on overlapping benefits.
Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Pongsan Jiamon admitted that many cocktail stands and shops selling booze were found near schools and most of them had no operating licenses. Each month police raided about 400 such shops, but could do little because the fines for selling without permission are light – Bt2,000 for foreign and Bt500 for local brands – and the police had no authority to close these venues, he said.
Kraisak Choonhavan, who chairs the standing committee, said he would have his panel draft a letter calling on all other Parliament standing committees to sign a request for Sanan and Abhisit to look into the problem.
Singha beer
Beer is relatively expensive in Thailand due to the high excise duty. That is actually the opposite of what we are used to. In the Netherlands we know the principle that the more alcohol the drink contains, the higher the excise duty. This is not the case in Thailand. Beer is therefore quite pricey compared to spirits.
Well-known beer brands in Thailand are Singha, Leo, Thai beer and Chang. The Heineken that we trust is available almost everywhere, especially in the tourist areas.
Mekhong, Thai whiskey
MekhongA popular drink with the Thai is Mekhong. For convenience tourists and also Thai call it Mekhong whiskey but it is not whisky. Mekhong is more like rum than whisky. Mekhong is made from 95% sugar cane/molasses and 5% rice. The spirit is then blended according to a secret recipe of native herbs and spices that provide the distinctive aroma and flavour.
Mekhong is distilled, blended and bottled at the Bangyikhan Distillery on the outskirts of Bangkok. Mekhong contains 35% alcohol and can therefore not be called whiskey, because whiskey must contain at least 40% alcohol. Mekhong is great for mixing and tastes good as an ingredient in cocktails. A delicious cocktail is the 'Sabai Sabai', also known as the Thai welcome drink.
Lao Khao, popular among the poor Thai
Lao Khao, is a white liqueur made from glutinous rice and has an alcohol content of about 35%. Foreign spirits are very expensive in Thailand due to the high import duties. Partly for this reason, cheap Lao Khao is popular with the lower income classes.
In 1786, King Puttha Yotfa Chulaloke (Rama I) built a state distillery. He hoped this would put a foot in the way of illegal distilleries. That did not work. Even today, Lao Khao is distilled illegally in the countryside and mountain villages.
an annoying characteristic of the Thai that drinking. They can't stand it and they get annoying. Yelling and sometimes aggressive. But yes alcohol is drugs for the poor.
The alcohol problem in Thailand is huge and it's getting worse. More than 7000 fatalities in traffic caused by alcohol. In the Netherlands about 200!! Every day I try to draw people's attention to the fact that they drive without lights by means of horns and flashing lights, but that penny never drops because they are too far gone. The police can hardly be seen at night, except for the much-needed check on mopeds to see if they are insured. The Thais celebrate everywhere for I don't know what and I have never seen so many drunk people together during the many invitations. People often drown the problems and that often keeps them afloat. They accept that the problems are even worse the next day, because people simply don't think about tomorrow and my ned. linguistic hit at the time; Seize the day and seize life is especially important here. But people here have not been brought up with norms and values and rules as we know them in the West. In short, a complete culture crash.
All a bit short through the bend, the above comments. Many Thai people drink quite a bit in this country, but hundreds of thousands of tourists who come here every year are not inferior to that. The English, Russians, Dutch to a lesser extent I think, but no one spits in a bucket of Sang Som, Red Bull and Coke.
Alcohol consumption (abuse) is of course a big problem, perhaps even a bigger problem than drugs. But don't worry, the whiskey guzzler Chalerm has eradicated that problem root and branch (?). Oh wait, no..
Moderator: Your comment is rather incoherent and contains many errors. Unreadable to me.
Thai and alcohol do indeed go pretty bad or pretty well together, depending on how you want to see it. Under the influence of alcohol, those things that normally remain hidden behind the smile often come to the surface and that is not always a positive thing. I dispute that there is a lack of norms and values. Alcohol abuse is condemned from the faith, but also from society where alcohol abuse destroys families, it is reacted negatively. Nevertheless, the problem has not been solved. Despite the beautiful image we often have of this country, the average Thai has more reasons to reach for the bottle than we Dutch. Furthermore, the government has less grip on the behavior of its citizens than it does with us. The influence of the Dutch government is often seen as patronizing on this blog. Thailand is the "land of the free" (also often of the free, by the way, but that aside). Alcohol abuse may be a price to pay for this freedom.
They do close bars and cafes with the elections in more countries. and not just in Asia.
I also know them in Europe. regards Cor
Alcohol is a problem in every country, including the Netherlands, which has some 800.000 severe alcoholics. Binge drinking (drinking until you drop) is also very popular in England. After living in Thailand for 3 years and driving about 50.000 kilometers, I think it's not too bad with the “driving like a man possessed”. It's even crazier in the Middle East, Egypt, Morocco, Russia and Turkey, and I speak from experience here. In Africa things seem to be even worse. The Thai are generally polite drivers, rarely if ever honk, and generally give way.