News Forum - Justice Minister insists Thailand winning the war against drugs

[Thaiger]

The Justice Minister, Somsak Thepsutin, insists the government is winning the war against drugs in Thailand because of the kingdom’s strict laws, despite opposition saying it is worse and out of control. Pheu Thai Party MP Manaporn Charoensri yesterday blamed the government at the censure motion for failing to control the drug situation in Thailand. The MP said drugs were not only more accessible now but cheaper nowadays. But the Justice Minister hit back declaring that, under PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, the government has worked hard to suppress drugs in all forms. He added people could see that drugs in the […]

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[brian60221]

This is absurd. It's easy to understand why either from first principles or empirically.

From first principles, the basic reason is that in the war on drugs, supply is crushed but very little is done to reduce demand, so the price goes up. When the profits are high enough, dangerous and violent people will organize themselves into gangs to do that kind of business. The war on drugs is a boon to the most dangerous criminals on earth. Many cartels exist only as a consequence of the war on drugs.

Empirically, there have been huge busts more or less continuously for decades. The quantity of drugs interdicted probably amounts to a few percent of the flow. Decades after the war began, you're stopping a few percent of the flow while your enemies are stuffing their pockets with cash every day, and you think this is winning?

[ronnie666]

You can never win the war on drugs.. totally nonsense claim

[Chatogaster]

1 hour ago, Thaiger said:

The Justice Minister, Somsak Thepsutin, insists the government is winning the war against drugs in Thailand because of the kingdom’s strict laws, despite opposition saying it is worse and out of control. Pheu Thai Party MP Manaporn Charoensri yesterday blamed the government at the censure motion for failing to control the drug situation in Thailand. The MP said drugs were not only more accessible now but cheaper nowadays. But the Justice Minister hit back declaring that, under PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, the government has worked hard to suppress drugs in all forms. He added people could see that drugs in the […]

The story Justice Minister insists Thailand winning the war against drugs as seen on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

 

Winning can only be concluded if the margin of profit is shown to be evermore nearing the negative range. 

Merely mentioning that self-set targets (in terms of total street value) have been exceeded doesn't even come close to allowing that conclusion. If anything, it only raises the question of 1) whether or not those targets were adequate in the first place and 2) whether or not the mentioner has a clue about what actually matters (and also whereabouts Thailand is on the trajectory).

(Disclaimer: I don't know if the topic of margins was discussed in a meaningful way; I'm lazily assuming that the article is a good enough summary of what was discussed.)

 

[Fanta]

Arresting cops get 25% of any assets seized so this war against drugs will stop when the cops decide that they have enough money. Not holding my breath. 

[palooka]

Winning the war against corruption too.   55555555

[23RD]

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had a very successful model for winning the war on drugs. 

[astro]

11 minutes ago, 23RD said:

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had a very successful model for winning the war on drugs. 

No, he hadn't and hasn't won 'the war' either.

 

Same as former Premier Thaksin, nothing achieved but thousands of deaths, fear & misery.

[23RD]

5 minutes ago, astro said:

No, he hadn't and hasn't won 'the war' either.

Same as former Premier Thaksin, nothing achieved but thousands of deaths, fear & misery.

Yes death and misery for the dealers. 

[astro]

They weren't all dealers...

[astro]

Anyway, more than ever and cheaper than 20 years ago in Thailand.

A huge success.

[23RD]

1 minute ago, astro said:

They weren't all dealers...

That old chestnut of course they weren't 5555

[Giltee]

And just where does the 25% & 5% come from. On selling the drugs 

[Chatogaster]

 

 

The best that can be hoped for is a balance (winning is over-ambitious). Here's a very radical idea that would achieve a balance without burdening tax payers to keep inflating the budget:

Whenever drugs are confiscated, they shouldn't be destroyed but sold at a discount to consumers (without legal repercussions and for as long as supplies last). That makes the state a major competitor who doesn't produce but always undercuts producers. The money thus earned should be fully invested into finding & confiscating more drugs from producers (the budget that was kick-started via taxes has now become self-supporting!).

Any confiscated load not only reduces current profit margins of producers (because buyers go for the cheaper channel), it even reduces future margins (because of more confiscations). When producers throw in the towel, the supply by the state automatically stops. Balance achieved, problem solved!

 

 

[Shishi]

 

Want to win the war on drugs? Portugal have the answer.

 

[Janneman]

His next job will be chief analyst at TAT?

[Venusianhart]

Ask Al Capone. The way to control drugs is to legalise, tax and distribute safe doses. 

Alcohol is a highly addictive and deadly drug.

But most adults don't decide to drink two litres of vodka and die, and no matter what you heard, all drugs are dose dependent, all of them, even meth. 

The Wehrmacht almost won the war on meth. Nowhere in their archives is there a wave of addictions recorded, or regiments of meth-heads. 

Clean controlled dose heroin never killed its users Queen Victoria being a famous daily user into old age. 

Addiction is in the individual.

The fatal poison is in the dose, as per alcohol as well.

The way to win this war is to simply end it and let users lawfully use clean safe products. 

3% will always become addicted and the money saved fighting an unwinnable war that enriches the worst scum imaginable, would more than cover all the health costs of problem users. 

There's no other solution that works. 

Edited July 23, 2022 by Venusianhart

[Fanta]

14 hours ago, 23RD said:

That old chestnut of course they weren't 5555

So what if they were all dealers? Some people learn the error of their ways while executing them is still murder. That POS president should be on trial for crimes against humanity. 

[23RD]

41 minutes ago, Fanta said:

So what if they were all dealers? Some people learn the error of their ways while executing them is still murder. That POS president should be on trial for crimes against humanity. 

It depends what side you look at it from how many lives of the innocents were saved by Rodrigos robust actions ?.

This is the time we live in when the perpetrators of crime get more sympathy and rights than the victims of crime. 

In your own native Country Fanta there's a man in charge who allowed 107'000 of his own Citizens to be poisoned by drugs in a calendar year when he had the ability at his finger tips to drastically reduce that number but couldn't be arsed about his own people. 

I'd take Rodrigo's methods any day remember your first duty as a head of state is to your own people first. 

[Fanta]

1 hour ago, 23RD said:

It depends what side you look at it from how many lives of the innocents were saved by Rodrigos robust actions ?.

This is the time we live in when the perpetrators of crime get more sympathy and rights than the victims of crime. 

In your own native Country Fanta there's a man in charge who allowed 107'000 of his own Citizens to be poisoned by drugs in a calendar year when he had the ability at his finger tips to drastically reduce that number but couldn't be arsed about his own people. 

I'd take Rodrigo's methods any day remember your first duty as a head of state is to your own people first. 

In the Philippines life is cheap and all people are not created equal so Duterts’ methods were somewhat effective there. As a blueprint for global law enforcement? Absolutely not. 

[23RD]

3 minutes ago, Fanta said:

In the Philippines life is cheap and all people are not created equal so Duterts’ methods were somewhat effective there. As a blueprint for global law enforcement? Absolutely not. 

At the moment you could say life is cheap in the US record overdoses, homicides, and illegal immigration. 

And that's a result liberal policies of giving human rights to people who don't deserve them. 

The Broken windows policy worked alot better don't you think Fanta.

[Fanta]

2 minutes ago, 23RD said:

And that's a result liberal policies of giving human rights to people who don't deserve them. 

The Broken windows policy worked alot better don't you think Fanta

Everyone deserves human rights, even the humans that seemingly don’t deserve them. Let’s not get into who decides who is worthy and who is not.

The Broken Windows theory increases police powers to combat disorder in society. It does nothing to address the root causes of this disorder such as poverty, inadequate education and lack of opportunity. It is an effective policy for immediate short term results favored by populists and police forces however without adequate longer term measures in place it condemns the “saved” to fall into the same cycle of disorder and subsequent punishment. “You” cannot beat a hungry dog for biting the hand that feeds it while “you” also keep stealing it’s food. 

[Thommo]

18 hours ago, 23RD said:

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had a very successful model for winning the war on drugs. 

Strange how his son survived then 

[cowslip]

22 hours ago, Thaiger said:

The Justice Minister, Somsak Thepsutin, insists the government is winning the war against drugs in Thailand because of the kingdom’s strict laws, despite opposition saying it is worse and out of control. Pheu Thai Party MP Manaporn Charoensri yesterday blamed the government at the censure motion for failing to control the drug situation in Thailand. The MP said drugs were not only more accessible now but cheaper nowadays. But the Justice Minister hit back declaring that, under PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, the government has worked hard to suppress drugs in all forms. He added people could see that drugs in the […]

The story Justice Minister insists Thailand winning the war against drugs as seen on Thaiger News.

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Flies in the face of the facts and experience. So long as they think they are in a "war on drugs" they will NEVER succeed.

[cowslip]

3 hours ago, Fanta said:

In the Philippines life is cheap and all people are not created equal so Duterts’ methods were somewhat effective there. As a blueprint for global law enforcement? Absolutely not. 

Really??

"Now the head of drug enforcement for the Philippine National Police, Caramat said that ultra-violent approach to curbing illicit drugs had not been effective.

“Shock and awe definitely did not work,” he told Reuters in an interview, speaking out for the first time on the issue. “Drug supply is still rampant.” - Reuters