I'm not talking about weed / marijuana here. I am delighted that this was made recreationally legal in Thailand and hope it stays that way. There has been some talk about reversing the legalization and I hope that it gets squashed because it is nice to see Thailand do something that most of the rest of the world doesn't have the balls to do. Thailand at times walks to the beat of its own drum but other times they seem to be doing the bidding of other nations. By legalizing weed for recreational use, they were clearly looking out for their own financial interests as well as recognizing that the "war on drugs" and particularly towards this specific drug, is a futile one that cannot be won. Although weed shops are everywhere now, it's not like it was impossible or even remotely difficult to find some. I say this as someone who doesn't even use the stuff as well.
But hard drugs exist quite prevalently in this country as well and they are frequently offered to visiting foreigners or those that live here long term. Hard drugs have definitely never been my thing, although I did try some of them when I was in college. I suppose what turned me off to them is the OD factor and because I don't want to get addicted to something or be incapable of having a good time without them. In Thailand the hard drug industry is alive and well, and a lot of people travel here to have access to things like meth, heroin, and cocaine. I am sure there are other ones as well but I am not a part of this demographic so I don't really know what people like to put up their noses or into their veins these days.
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This happens a lot more often than the news will allow you to see online, because Thailand pretends to have a free press when they really do not. Anything that appears as though it could be negatively affecting the government or GDP, is pulled from the press and there have even been instances of major news outlets like the Bangkok Post having their offices raided by government officials. There is also almost no criticism of the ruling political party in the press and NEVER any criticism of the Royal Family.
When they do report on drug overdoses it is almost always a foreigner that is involved even though since foreigners constitute a very small portion of the population and OD's are obviously just as common with Thai nationals as they are with visitors.
A recent story in Phuket was online only a day before it was taken down and it was a story about an English tourist that was found dead in his hotel room and drugs were found chopped up on a plate with the man dead on the bed next to them. They didn't specifically say what it was but it's probably meth or coke or a mix of the two.
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This is the actual picture from the hotel room in question and it is funny to me that the police say that there is "suspected drug use involved." I don't know how much more clear it needs to be than a hotel room that nobody (according to CCTV) entered the room other than the person occupying it and there is a plate of powder as well as the note used to ingest it just a meter away from the corpse.
I have met a few people that visit this country because of the ease of access of drugs and these are not great people to hang around. If you ever go to Laos this is even more of a trend with travelers. I guess I am lucky or smart to have never really gotten involved with these sorts of things because it never occurs to me to do any more than just grab perhaps too many beers if I am partying. I don't see the need to get needles or a powder that I am going to thrust upon my brain involved.
Imagine traveling purely for the sake of getting your hands on some drugs that we are aware are regularly killing people in this very country. I don't know if it is a quality control issue or what, but the statistics on how many people are harmed by this sort of use in this country is never going to be fully known since according to the news, it is exclusively a foreigner problem and even then it is very rare (so they say.) The reality is that this happens regularly here and while I have never seen the stuff, I can't help but think that Fentanyl is likely a culprit here.
I guess it is a dark side of Thailand that I haver never explored and have no intention of doing so either.
The politicians who want to see marijuana criminalized again will likely use these statistics to further their cause to make that harmless drug that nobody has ever OD'd from, illegal again.