Drawing attention to yourself - backpackers arrested for ganja party at "Overstay"

[elgenon]

I too have felt terror at people sitting next to me sedately enjoying themselves and laughing and having fun.

 

I remember after Taksin's anti-drug rampage that bargirls switched to smoking ice from weed as it has no smell and easier to hide.

[williet98248]

18 hours ago, rkidlad said:

 

A few years in jail is what's needed here. I remember sitting next to some guys smoking weed and it was terrifying. They were just sat there not saying much. Then they started laughing for no reason. To make things worse they ordered loads of food and ate it all. 

 

Luckily they just left and went home. I was very lucky. I could have been killed by these gateway addicts. 

You are joking here.  Right?  Right?

[sanemax]

18 hours ago, YeahSiam said:

A lot of self-righteous claptrap being trotted out here.

Smoking a bit of puff doesn't make you a drug addict any more than having a pint makes you an alcoholic.

Out-of-touch old men flapping their mouths as usual.

 

   Although you are the first person in this thread to use the term "drug addict" 

[sanemax]

17 hours ago, Seismic said:

The irony is that this country is contemplating legalising Methamphetamine, a much more dangerous drug.

 

  That isnt quite accurate . Thailand is considering down grading the drug from class 1 to class 2, which means the drug can be used for medicinal purposes , which it currently cannot 

[nomadicjunkie]

19 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

I had to decide whether you were being sarcastic or serious. If serious, it's definitely more important to clear all these recreational weed users out than to round up the yaba distributors and other hundreds of criminals doing business in Thailand.

Agree.  T'land has an archaic attitude towards MJ users.  Waste of time and money chasing these recreational users.

[Bullie]

19 hours ago, YeahSiam said:

A lot of self-righteous claptrap being trotted out here.

Smoking a bit of puff doesn't make you a drug addict any more than having a pint makes you an alcoholic.

Out-of-touch old men flapping their mouths as usual.

Methinks you are a bit out of touch with the concept of "sarcasm".

[Ahab]

19 hours ago, overherebc said:

 

But it is illegal here and that is the only real point.

Some other countries have made it legal so surely it makes sense to do it there if you want to do it.

Whether it should be legal or not in Thailand is for Thailand to decide.

This is the point that the pro MJ people miss. MJ is illegal in Thailand, and it is not wise to openly defy the drug laws (whether or not you agree with those laws) in any foreign country. Fly to Amsterdam, or the USA (Washington  state, Colorado, or a couple of others very soon), or somewhere else where it is not against the law.

 

I do not indulge in MJ, but I also do not think it should be illegal. However, this does not change the fact that it is illegal.

[jonclark]

There have been a lot of comments about the alleged use of drugs and its merits and the law. But, very few comments about why this place was raided.

 

Imo, it was very simply utter stupidity and arrogance on the part of the owner of this place, that during a very unique time of mourning; when all establishments have been told or have simply volunteered to tone down their entertainments - even deeply cultural entertainments, such as Loy Kratong have been affected.Yet  for this place its business as usual. but now they get noise complaints - possibly frequent, combined with possible gossip on drug use, in an establishment situated not too far from Sanam luang.  Honestly? Ignorance and arrogance of the highest order!

 

Had the whole country not been in a period of national mourning, it would have been business as usual for the overstay, as clearly these parties have been going on for a while. Noise from parties and holidaymakers in and around Khao San is part of the territory and one most businesses exploit and accept.  

 

A poor lapse of judgement on the part of the owner given these unique times. 

[Ahab]

16 hours ago, Lupatria said:

While hundreds of scientific reports state it can cure certain kinds of cancer...

 

While MJ most certainly does have medical uses there are definitely not "hundreds of scientific reports" stating that it cures certain (or any) types of cancer.

 

[joeyg]

18 hours ago, Seismic said:

The irony is that this country is contemplating legalising Methamphetamine, a much more dangerous drug.

Key word contemplating.  It will never happen. IMHO

[joeyg]

20 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

I had to decide whether you were being sarcastic or serious. If serious, it's definitely more important to clear all these recreational weed users out than to round up the yaba distributors and other hundreds of criminals doing business in Thailand.

Perhaps but this thread is about a bunch of people breaking the law smoking pot.  Yaba would be a different topic.

[NongKhaiKid]

Just now, jonclark said:

There have been a lot of comments about the alleged use of drugs and its merits and the law. But, very few comments about why this place was raided.

 

Imo, it was very simply utter stupidity and arrogance on the part of the owner of this place, that during a very unique time of mourning; when all establishments have been told or have simply volunteered to tone down their entertainments - even deeply cultural entertainments, such as Loy Kratong have been affected.Yet  for this place its business as usual. but now they get noise complaints - possibly frequent, combined with possible gossip on drug use, in an establishment situated not too far from Sanam luang.  Honestly? Ignorance and arrogance of the highest order!

 

Had the whole country not been in a period of national mourning, it would have been business as usual for the overstay, as clearly these parties have been going on for a while. Noise from parties and holidaymakers in and around Khao San is part of the territory and one most businesses exploit and accept.  

 

A poor lapse of judgement on the part of the owner given these unique times. 

Agree with you and would add that as some restrictions about the mourning period are being relaxed issues like this could easily upset authority and result in a ' crackdown ' because it's held that proper respect isn't being observed.

I'll just take a couple of places to flout the ' requests ' to tone down music, restrict alcohol sale etc. and requests become enforced bans and who knows but perhaps beyond the initial 30 days.

[joeyg]

20 hours ago, JAG said:

They must have been on a special course - nobody could surely be stupid enought to have a pot smoking party, in a guesthouse called "Overstay", in Bangkok in the current climate?

"How you do anything is how you do everything" - Confucius 

[joeyg]

20 hours ago, 72BKK said:

Daddy prepare the bank transfer please

Wanna play (In Thailand) ya gotta pay...

[joeyg]

20 hours ago, Gainsbourg said:

Is there also a gh in bkk called "Police Corruption"? Or "Tuktuk Ripoff"? Just checking...

This thread is about illegal pot use in the kingdom though.

[boomerangutang]

9 hours ago, F4UCorsair said:

They're not being punished for being youthful.  The charges are for Illegal drug use.

Don't take up the law.... .Please!!

 

Laws are made by men. Men are fallible. All men are, to some degree, hypocritical, wishy washy, thieves, mean-spirited, holier-than-thou.  The laws aren't made by programmed robots.  Laws change, as do people.  As for drugs: the most dangerous drug in Thailand and in the world (alcohol) is legal, and an herb which has never gotten anyone stoned (hemp) can get a person fined and thrown in jail.   The laws are only as smart as the people who make them, and the people who make and enforce them believe in ghosts, are lustful in private but would never admit it, are booze drinkers, take bribes, believe in adult fairy tales (religion), and cheat on their spouses.  In other words, they're human and therefore fallible.  I follow laws (because I don't want to get punished) but I have my own moral code of what's right and wrong, and have less respect for the people who make and enforce laws than I have for the wino tramp living under the bridge - at least he's more real (true to himself) than the lawmakers.

 

22 minutes ago, joeyg said:

I will try a unique concept and stay on point.  I think they should have just gotten a good old fashioned "beat down" and sent on their way.  This has nothing to do with Tuks Tuks or politics.  They flagrantly broke His Majesty's laws. A good beating or even caning I think would send a good message.  Don't do drugs in Thailand.

 

To each his/her own opinion.  Personally, if some youngsters are getting stoned, laughing, talking, listening/playing music, not bothering anyone else, ....I don't think they should be beaten hard with sticks.  Chastised, maybe.

[impulse]

10 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

        Those are our sons and daughter, nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters.  Those photos could have been me and my buddies, decades ago.  I don't put them down.  

 

Silly you.  Those are young people, enjoying life and their youth.  With their entire unwritten futures before them.  

 

Pretty much the quintessential anathema for old farts looking back at a lifetime of regret. 

[orange31]

What if they smoked pot abroad, then just recently came to Thailand with pot still in their system? Surely they wouldn't have broken any Thai laws?

[joeyg]

4 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Silly you.  Those are young people, enjoying life and their youth.  With their entire unwritten futures before them.  

 

Pretty much the quintessential anathema for old farts looking back at a lifetime of regret. 

Anyone that flagrantly smokes pot in Thailand doesn't need a joint.  They need a psychiatrist.

 

[joeyg]

1 minute ago, orange31 said:

What if they smoked pot abroad, then just recently came to Thailand with pot still in their system? Surely they wouldn't have broken any Thai laws?

Tell it to the judge.

[F4UCorsair]

32 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

 

Laws are made by men. Men are fallible. All men are, to some degree, hypocritical, wishy washy, thieves, mean-spirited, holier-than-thou.  The laws aren't made by programmed robots.  Laws change, as do people.  As for drugs: the most dangerous drug in Thailand and in the world (alcohol) is legal, and an herb which has never gotten anyone stoned (hemp) can get a person fined and thrown in jail.   The laws are only as smart as the people who make them, and the people who make and enforce them believe in ghosts, are lustful in private but would never admit it, are booze drinkers, take bribes, believe in adult fairy tales (religion), and cheat on their spouses.  In other words, they're human and therefore fallible.  I follow laws (because I don't want to get punished) but I have my own moral code of what's right and wrong, and have less respect for the people who make and enforce laws than I have for the wino tramp living under the bridge - at least he's more real (true to himself) than the lawmakers.

 

 

To each his/her own opinion.  Personally, if some youngsters are getting stoned, laughing, talking, listening/playing music, not bothering anyone else, ....I don't think they should be beaten hard with sticks.  Chastised, maybe.

 

You're telling the wrong people.   You need to put that case to the police when you/they are arrested for smoking dope.

 

All idealistic stuff, fallibility, hypocritical, etc., but it won't wash with the BiB when you give them that line.  They are there to police the law, and you can talk till the cows come home about weak cops, bribery, unfair, etc., but that's the way it works, and to be a foreigner violating the laws of another country, you put yourself in a particularly difficult position.  You make a choice.

 

If you're unhappy with the/a law, work to change the law, for by just violating it in protest, you will surely find yourself on the inside looking out.

 

An option would be to 'punish' Thailand for their archaic (in the drug user's eyes) laws, and not visit the country.  You don't spend your vast amounts of $$ in the country, and you go to a pot friendly country and get stoned.  Everybody wins.

 

I don't refer to you boomer when I use the word 'you'.  It's addressing anybody and everybody in a general sense.

[gk10002000]

Yeah.  As Forest Gump said, stupid is as stupid does.  This reminds me one night out in back of my place in Florida in the early 90s.  A piece of the intracoastal waterway is right behind my place and a police boat stopped this big long cigarette boat.  Backup arrived, lots of searchlights, and they took the boat and people away.  The name of the boat: "Cool Running".   Now the name could have a lot of innocent meanings and connotations.  But the first thought in my mind was flash and show to me and the people that probably spent their drug money on the boat got burned

[trogers]

16 minutes ago, orange31 said:

What if they smoked pot abroad, then just recently came to Thailand with pot still in their system? Surely they wouldn't have broken any Thai laws?

 

Then you better spend weeks detoxing before coming into East Asia and South East Asia.

 

You can cry about the fairness or unfairness on this issue, but you have the right to choose not to come here and be subjected to the drug laws of this region.

[impulse]

23 minutes ago, joeyg said:

Anyone that flagrantly smokes pot in Thailand doesn't need a joint.  They need a psychiatrist.

 

Or, perhaps just a gentle warning that pot laws and their enforcement are very different here than back home or even in the last country they visited.  Given Thailand's famous (though not deserved) reputation for "anything goes", it's not hard to believe they fell for the line from the guy selling them the weed- who told them to hand over the cash, light up and not to worry. 

 

Edit:  There's also the real possibility that they were set up as a little earner for the local BIB, with a cut going to the guy who convinced them it's all good.

[kiwikeith]

21 hours ago, rkidlad said:

Well done, authorities. 

 

Thailand is now a much safer and moral place. Well, if we ignore the corruption and road deaths. 

 

The owner saw nothing but noticed a strange smell that made him hungry.

[joeyg]

13 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Or, perhaps just a gentle warning that pot laws and their enforcement are very different here than back home or even in the last country they visited.  Given Thailand's famous (though not deserved) reputation for "anything goes", it's not hard to believe they fell for the line from the guy selling them the weed- who told them to hand over the cash, light up and not to worry. 

 

Edit:  There's also the real possibility that they were set up as a little earner for the local BIB, with a cut going to the guy who convinced them it's all good.

That's not the point.  "Ignorance of the law is no excuse."   Especially an adult traveling internationally.  Making it up as you go along is a very bad idea.

[impulse]

1 minute ago, joeyg said:

That's not the point.  "Ignorance of the law is no excuse."   Especially an adult traveling internationally.  Making it up as you go along is a very bad idea.

 

I always get a kick out of that one.  People who choose which laws others should obey.  Illegal prostitution?  Fine and dandy.  Drinking after hours?  No problem.  Scooters with no helmets?  All good.  

 

Blowing dope?  Hang the bastards.

[joeyg]

Just now, impulse said:

 

I always get a kick out of that one.  People who choose which laws others should obey.  Illegal prostitution?  Fine and dandy.  Drinking after hours?  No problem.  Scooters with no helmets?  All good.  

 

Blowing dope?  Hang the bastards.

I think hanging is "overkill" no pun intended.  Just a sound, good old fashioned beating, everyone should have at least one builds character.  Illegal prostitution, after hours drinking, no helmets is not what this thread is about.  Please stop trolling.

 

My advice, blow a big bong hit in a cops face and teach 'im a lesson.  Let us know how that works out...

[impulse]

1 minute ago, joeyg said:

I think hanging is "overkill" no pun intended.  Just a sound, good old fashioned beating, everyone should have at least one builds character.  Illegal prostitution, after hours drinking, no helmets is not what this thread is about.  Please stop trolling.

 

My advice, blow a big bong hit in a cops face and teach 'im a lesson.  Let us know how that works out...

 

Ain't gonna happen.  I took the oath in the '80s and don't even drink, much less toke.  But I'm not evangelical about it.

 

I guess you can't see the double standard when the illegal vices that fit my lifestyle are okay, and the illegal vices I don't agree with aren't okay.

 

It's not hard for me to see how that could confuse travelers new to Thailand- which laws it's okay to violate and which ones you can't.  So I have some compassion for them.  Regardless of how ill advised their actions may have been, they weren't malicious.

[Sandy Freckle]

It's quite simple really and shouldn't take much more than a room temp IQ or missionary position imagination to work it out.
Right or wrong doesn't come into it......, It's their country..., they make the rules...., visitors obey the rules or pay a penalty for getting caught !  Regardless of age...., they couldn't wait till they got home ?