Showing 1 - 10 of 13
Cannabis rules must make sense
Editorial, Published on 07/04/2024
» It's quite a relief that Public Health Minister Cholnan Srikaew is ruling out the recriminalisation of cannabis.
Review 5-pill drug limit
Oped, Editorial, Published on 15/02/2024
» In response to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin's pledge to review a policy that lowers the punishment for ya ba users found to have no more than five methamphetamine pills, the Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) said it is considering reducing the limit to three.
Better weed bill needed
Oped, Editorial, Published on 13/01/2024
» All eyes are on the Public Health Ministry -- which has pushed for a tough draft bill on cannabis and hemp control. The bill was up for a public hearing on Friday.
Building on Apec pluses
Oped, Editorial, Published on 24/11/2022
» The Apec summit gave Thailand and other Apec members an opportunity to strengthen their partnerships, with a number of cooperation deals clinched.
Double-faced drugs policy
News, Editorial, Published on 20/11/2018
» The government has become somewhat schizophrenic about its policies on banned drugs. It has sent mixed signals about the path to legalising medical marijuana. Providing a programme leading to the needed reform of law on illicit drugs is even less clear. In just the past few weeks, senior officials and ministers have indicated, rather, that they expect to renew and redoubled the "war on drugs" policies that have failed so badly.
CCTV claim sows mistrust
News, Editorial, Published on 11/08/2018
» The army's explanation this week about the absence of CCTV camera footage at a crime scene where 17-year-old Lahu activist Chaiyaphum Pasae was shot dead by a soldier last year has not only come too late but has also deepened the public mistrust of the military's claim that the extrajudicial killing was made in "self-defence".
Justice due for slain activist
News, Editorial, Published on 17/03/2018
» It is exactly 12 months since young Lahu rights activist and artist Chaiyaphum Pasae was shot dead at a military-run checkpoint near the Thai-Myanmar border in Chiang Mai's Chiang Dao district. His premature death -- he was only 17 at the time -- is still shrouded in mystery.
Lack of unity in drug sweep
News, Editorial, Published on 28/02/2018
» The government has launched yet another series of anti-drugs sweep aimed at taming the North. They are part of the decades-old campaign to wipe out trafficking in illicit drugs. Authorities came up with reports to the public that had a very tired look and feel. A one-month "massive" suppression campaign resulted in the arrests of 63 suspects, the seizure of many kilogrammes of drugs and the unsurprising discovery of some 241 million baht of "assets" -- cash, gold, cars and motorcycles, up-scale homes, land and condominiums.
Drug fight off the rails
News, Editorial, Published on 18/10/2017
» The government continues to press on with its failed war on drugs, when the country would be better served by a serious effort to reform this old programme. Last week, secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board Sirinya Sitdhichai announced the agency was to assume yet another new power. He says he and ONCB enforcement agents can now hold parcel delivery firms responsible if they carry drugs.
Drug reform still pending
News, Editorial, Published on 10/05/2017
» A year and a month ago, the government promised radical reform of the anti-narcotics laws and the war on drugs. Since then, there has been no significant progress. Then-minister of justice Paiboon Koomchaya, who was leading reform efforts, has left the government. It seems an opportunity has been lost.