Another Thai Crackdown
Thailand loves banning vaping so much it’s done it a lot – the last time included some well publicised arrests and fines – but it’s still completely failing in its aim
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by Dave Cross
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Thailand loves to hate vaping. The government loves to hate it so much it bans it all over again every couple of years. Each time the bans have failed. Last time, the ban announcement included some well publicised arrests and fines, prompting British travel firms and the UK Government to warn travellers. A couple of years on and this ban has also failed. Now the Ministry of Interior has said it’s implementing an urgent policy aimed at “eradicating e-cigarettes”.
Smoking? Well, that’s completely legal in Thailand - which is almost certainly nothing to do with the fact the government holds an interest in the dominant tobacco company.
Cannabis? It was recently legalised and now every other shop has a big green leaf in its window. The government mentioned banning it again and a furore erupted, causing the administration to back down and implement a public consultation.
Vaping? The Ministry of Interior says that consistent daily reports of e-cigarette busts from administrative officials are forcing it to ban vaping even harder.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Anutin Charnvirakul highlighted “the urgent need to eradicate e-cigarettes”.
Anutin stated that despite the issue seeming minor to anyone with a passing knowledge of the facts about vaping, “it is a significant national problem”.
The Thai Non-Smoking Campaign Foundation recently reported that children as young as 10 are becoming addicted to e-cigarettes. The Foundation receives part of its funding from Michael Bloomberg sources. The Non-Smoking Campaign Foundation claims that vaping “adversely affects children’s brain development”.
Deputy Prime Minister Anutin said: “Children are the future of the nation.” A sharp cookie, that one. He added that vaping “hinders Thailand’s competitiveness globally due to the high number of Thai children addicted to them”.
Nope, we’ve absolutely no idea how the logic in that one pans out.
Deputy Prime Minister Anutin continued by mentioning that doctors in the Ministry of Public Health “unanimously agree that e-cigarettes are dangerous and offer no benefits”.
A cursory glance at the wealth of evidence presented in the UK Government’s ecig reviews and the Cochrane living reviews prove that is nonsense.
Then, just to accentuate the ludicrous nature of his claims, Deputy Prime Minister Anutin stated: “E-cigarettes are just as harmful as traditional cigarettes, containing nicotine, which causes addiction.”
Utter nonsense.
“The absence of nicotine leads to withdrawal symptoms, affecting mental focus and concentration. E-cigarettes are more alarming due to their easy accessibility and high addiction rates, especially among children. Illegal sales are rampant in and around schools despite being against the law,” he continued.
The Minister defended his position by pointing out that “many parents have complained about this issue, which needs immediate attention. Thanks to tips from the public, officials have been effective in seizing e-cigarettes, with confiscated items valued from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of baht”.
Needless to say, UK tourists to Thailand may need to exercise greater care if visiting the country over the summer months.
Photo Credit:
Photo by chris robert on Unsplash, cropped and resized
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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