News Forum - Men with 1 meth pill arrested in Phuket’s zero-tolerance policy

[Thaiger]

Authorities have been cracking down on drugs and guns since the daycare centre massacre, enacting new restrictions and ramping up enforcement. Police in Phuket are now following a zero-tolerance policy and last night arrested three men for carrying as little as one meth pill. The Thalang Police Chief in Phuket ordered the new zero-tolerance programme and instructed the police force to arrest all people found to be in possession of drugs, regardless of the quantity they were carrying. As a result, three men were arrested last night. Two of the men only had a single yabba pill on them. A […]

The story Men with 1 meth pill arrested in Phuket’s zero-tolerance policy as seen on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

[Ramanathan.P]

Well done Phuket police force. Please sustain the momentum forever. 

[Deputy7]

I am a retired police officer and I can attest to the unbelievable damage drugs have done in the World. I am happy to see a zero tolerance in Thailand maybe it will stop the vial disease before it takes over another country. Drugs are a dead end road, they destroy so many lives, just look around you to the damage. How many impaired drivers killing innocent people does it take to wake people up. I support zero tolerance because rehabilitation is a joke.

[Cabra]

These "war on drugs" are worthless. They never interrupt supply, and all they end up doing is filling jails with low level users too poor or unconnected to buy their freedom. All this is as an overreaction to a crime of unspeakable violence by a mentally unstable police officer with a gun. 

[Nathan]

The global war on drugs is completely pointless.All drugs should be legalised.When will people realise you can't stop people taking drugs.

[Nathan]

6 hours ago, Deputy7 said:

I am a retired police officer and I can attest to the unbelievable damage drugs have done in the World. I am happy to see a zero tolerance in Thailand maybe it will stop the vial disease before it takes over another country. Drugs are a dead end road, they destroy so many lives, just look around you to the damage. How many impaired drivers killing innocent people does it take to wake people up. I support zero tolerance because rehabilitation is a joke.

What about the damage to society that keeping drugs outlawed creates.

[Manu]

9 hours ago, Cabra said:

These "war on drugs" are worthless. They never interrupt supply, and all they end up doing is filling jails with low level users too poor or unconnected to buy their freedom. All this is as an overreaction to a crime of unspeakable violence by a mentally unstable police officer with a gun. 

Of course but then that is what politicians do everywhere, especially when general elections are coming soon: overreacting. It is all about winning the perception of the general public that they are doing something, and in this perticular case pleasing the most conservative voters, the only ones left in this country still backing up this regime. And what better way to do so than pointing out the finger at some scapegoats. Small time users and addicts will pay the price for that nut case unthinkable action the next few months.

[TheDirtyDurian]

14 hours ago, Deputy7 said:

I am a retired police officer and I can attest to the unbelievable damage drugs have done in the World. I am happy to see a zero tolerance in Thailand maybe it will stop the vial disease before it takes over another country. Drugs are a dead end road, they destroy so many lives, just look around you to the damage. How many impaired drivers killing innocent people does it take to wake people up. I support zero tolerance because rehabilitation is a joke.

You fully support the prohibition of alcohol then?? 

The Middle East welcomes you ..

[Vigo]

15 hours ago, Ramanathan.P said:

Well done Phuket police force. Please sustain the momentum forever. 

Oh please. It's all for show. Meanwhile the  sex trafficking, the illegal beach activities, the transport thugs, the land encroachment, the protection rackets, and the gambling all continue. This is an opportunity for the police to extort already marginalized people.

[Vigo]

15 hours ago, Deputy7 said:

I am a retired police officer and I can attest to the unbelievable damage drugs have done in the World. I am happy to see a zero tolerance in Thailand maybe it will stop the vial disease before it takes over another country. Drugs are a dead end road, they destroy so many lives, just look around you to the damage. How many impaired drivers killing innocent people does it take to wake people up. I support zero tolerance because rehabilitation is a joke.

It's good that you are retired from public security, as your attitude is outdated, dangerous and not supported by the results when a concerted effort is made to manage the problem. Yes, non medicinal use of drugs are a dead end, however, many of these people self medicate because they are  victims of crime, crimes which the police failed to  investigate or to take seriously. It is easy to blame the drug user and let's a lot of responsible people avoid responsibility.

When the stories of abuse at orphanages, churches, child care facilities, juvenile detention centers and schools were exposed, police services were implicated either for their direct role in the abuse, or in their cascading series of failures to investigate or to even protect the vulnerable children. Many of the victims had substance abuse problems as they tried to self medicate to cope with the horrors of their abuse.  So,  yes, when I see a retired police officer blame the victims of such abuse for their drug addictions, I  am not so quick to agree.

I have little sympathy for drug addicts, but that doesn't mean I cannot understand that if we do not manage them we are making the problem worse. In western countries , certain populations  are more likely to be incarcerated for possession of drugs and it is not always because they are dangerous.

And most important for me, I do not wish to pay the massive amounts needed to put people in  prison. I understand that the cost to incarcerate  per year averages $120,000 in NZ, $100,000 CAD / $100,000 AUS USA $40,000 - $110,000 depending on state, £48,409 UK which is  EXPENSIVE. The cost of western type drug addiction outreach /treatment is $10,000-$30,000 USD depending on length of facility stay and with ongoing treatment. So, yes for taxpayer like me, I prefer to see my money spent diverting some people. The reality is that if the person doesn't divert, the person is dead in a few years so issue resolves itself.

Drug rehab is said to keep 40%-60% of patients sober. Not a great result, but certainly much better than the prison outcome of less than 10%. Rehab is part of a solution, while prison only postpones the inevitable relapse.