News Forum - Kiwi tourist pleads guilty to ecstasy possession in Phuket, Thailand

[Thaiger]

A tourist from New Zealand pleaded guilty to drug possession at a court in Phuket, southern Thailand, on Monday. In September, police arrested 45 year old Ari Michael Salinger after finding two ecstasy tablets on his person. He was released on bail and his passport was confiscated while awaiting trial. On Monday, the court sentenced …

The story Kiwi tourist pleads guilty to ecstasy possession in Phuket, Thailand as seen on Thaiger News.

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[ChrisS]

Can't say I have any sympathy for the guy, it is not exactly a secret that Thailand is not a good place to decide to play around with drugs. I wonder what the circumstances were leading up to his search that discovered the drugs, I doubt he was stopped and searched at random if he was not doing something to draw the attention of the police to him in the first place. All in all he is lucky to get off with a fine and deportation.

[TheDirtyDurian]

Hopefully he got his clothes back before deportation 

[HolyCowCm]

2 pills? Give me a break! 

[Vigo]

  On 5/12/2023 at 4:50 PM, HolyCowCm said:

2 pills? Give me a break! 

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Because the popo were unable to find his stash does not excuse his lawlessness. Anyway, based upon the hysteria the man's father has made about his being on medication, it looks like the Thai police did him a favour and maybe saved his life.  If he  was so fragile as to require medication, he shouldn't have been taking chemicals of unknown origin and quality, They could have killed him.

[palooka]

Idiot in more ways than one, do think he may have been unsociable after his arrest to get the treatment he received.

[Onthedimside]

Everyone should be treated in a fair and humane manner , at least untill convicted , we all are at risk of being setup by rouge police and then to be treated like that is not a good thing , I think the police in charge at that station should be sacked . I am anti drugs but that battle was lost long ago just look at the Thai parliament members 

[HolyCowCm]

  On 5/12/2023 at 6:36 PM, Vigo said:

Because the popo were unable to find his stash does not excuse his lawlessness. Anyway, based upon the hysteria the man's father has made about his being on medication, it looks like the Thai police did him a favour and maybe saved his life.  If he  was so fragile as to require medication, he shouldn't have been taking chemicals of unknown origin and quality, They could have killed him.

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Medication? That doesn’t exactly mean fragile as lots of people have a chemical imbalance, and my guess it is anti depression medication. As for ecstasy, it is a love happy drug, big deal. Not my cup of tea but relatively harmless except the effects of someone looking stupidly overly friendly. The RTP probably were selectively patting down searching many that time looking for free money as they regularly do in BKK on a couple place on Sukhumvit. 2 tablets is nothing. Big deal. 

[Vigo]

  On 5/13/2023 at 3:34 AM, HolyCowCm said:

Medication? That doesn’t exactly mean fragile as lots of people have a chemical imbalance, and my guess it is anti depression medication. As for ecstasy, it is a love happy drug, big deal. Not my cup of tea but relatively harmless except the effects of someone looking stupidly overly friendly. The RTP probably were selectively patting down searching many that time looking for free money as they regularly do in BKK on a couple place on Sukhumvit. 2 tablets is nothing. Big deal. 

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You just supported my position. Assuming the product was clean and free of  contaminants and adulterants and  other toxic ingredients,  MDMA is both a stimulant and psychedelic. The potential for  negative outcome interactions with other drugs or chemicals has lethal consequences. Patients who take anti depressants , particularly the class of drugs that are monamine oxidase inhibitors can and do die from drug interactions. MDNA  spikes blood pressure, so people who have  high blood pressure or previously undiagnosed  heart conditions are at risk. MDMA destroys liver cells. The liver is the body's protection against toxicity, and when the liver is damaged, that's it. Because the drug causes hallucinations, people who are already mentally ill or who are borderline  are at risk.  Please don't say it is harmless, because you are unaware of the cumulative damage to the liver or witness the impact on the 20%+ of the population  very susceptible to adverse reactions.   How you can term a product that is produced without quality control and without any safety certification as  relatively harmless is astounding. If his product was treated as a conventional drug, it would be banned.

[TheDirtyDurian]

  On 5/13/2023 at 3:09 PM, Vigo said:

You just supported my position. Assuming the product was clean and free of  contaminants and adulterants and  other toxic ingredients,  MDMA is both a stimulant and psychedelic. The potential for  negative outcome interactions with other drugs or chemicals has lethal consequences. Patients who take anti depressants , particularly the class of drugs that are monamine oxidase inhibitors can and do die from drug interactions. MDNA  spikes blood pressure, so people who have  high blood pressure or previously undiagnosed  heart conditions are at risk. MDMA destroys liver cells. The liver is the body's protection against toxicity, and when the liver is damaged, that's it. Because the drug causes hallucinations, people who are already mentally ill or who are borderline  are at risk.  Please don't say it is harmless, because you are unaware of the cumulative damage to the liver or witness the impact on the 20%+ of the population  very susceptible to adverse reactions.   How you can term a product that is produced without quality control and without any safety certification as  relatively harmless is astounding. If his product was treated as a conventional drug, it would be banned.

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And yet looking at MDMA related deaths in the UK over the past 30 years, not once have there been more than 100 deaths per year. 

And this is with many, many millions of tablets being taken over the course of year.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/470824/drug-poisoning-deaths-mdma-ecstasy-in-england-and-wales/

[socal]

  On 5/12/2023 at 2:22 PM, ChrisS said:

Can't say I have any sympathy for the guy, it is not exactly a secret that Thailand is not a good place to decide to play around with drugs. I wonder what the circumstances were leading up to his search that discovered the drugs, I doubt he was stopped and searched at random if he was not doing something to draw the attention of the police to him in the first place. All in all he is lucky to get off with a fine and deportation.

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The circumstances ? Just arrogance and believing he wont get caught. Cops follow around dealers. And then know their customers.

[TheDirtyDurian]

  On 5/13/2023 at 9:56 PM, socal said:

The circumstances ? Just arrogance and believing he wont get caught. Cops follow around dealers. And then know their customers.

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The cops are the dealers in many cases. 

[Vigo]

  On 5/13/2023 at 3:40 PM, TheDirtyDurian said:

And yet looking at MDMA related deaths in the UK over the past 30 years, not once have there been more than 100 deaths per year. 

And this is with many, many millions of tablets being taken over the course of year.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/470824/drug-poisoning-deaths-mdma-ecstasy-in-england-and-wales/

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A couple things to keep in mind;

-Exclusive MDMA caused death is much less than multi drug toxicity. In plain language  people who die while using MDMA often  drink alcohol excessively or on other drugs at the same time, so MDMA abuse is not  deemed the cause of death.

- Medical Examiners and Coroners can and do modify their findings to show "death by misadventure" or multiple causation factors. This is for the family's sake. Most of the fatalities are young people (especially males), so there is pressure to do this. Nothing is covered up, but it saves the family the pain of  being told flat out that Junior ODed on drug popular in the gay community.

- Most people do not report their adverse drug reactions. They just have a bad trip on their own. 

- Excluding multiple drug causation, the fact remains that Thousands of people have died from MDMA overdoses. e,g,  A total of 1400 MDMA-related deaths were identified in Turkey, 507 in Australia, 100 in Finland and 45 in Portugal from 2011-2017. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33739562/   Even little Norway reported 142 fatalities in a 10 year period    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35635429/

You appear to have the view  that less than 100 deaths in the UK is acceptable. Well it is not.  A drug having a handful of deaths associated with it is subject to review and probable withdrawal from the market. The people gobbling down black market  recreational  chemicals are often the first to decry big pharma and its evils. The hypocrisy is obvious.   What's never mentioned is that drugs like MDMA shred the liver. Eventually the damage catches up to the person, but then the cancer or organ damage that ensues isn't  tied back to the recreational drug.

[TheDirtyDurian]

  On 5/14/2023 at 4:59 PM, Vigo said:

A couple things to keep in mind;

-Exclusive MDMA caused death is much less than multi drug toxicity. In plain language  people who die while using MDMA often  drink alcohol excessively or on other drugs at the same time, so MDMA abuse is not  deemed the cause of death.

- Medical Examiners and Coroners can and do modify their findings to show "death by misadventure" or multiple causation factors. This is for the family's sake. Most of the fatalities are young people (especially males), so there is pressure to do this. Nothing is covered up, but it saves the family the pain of  being told flat out that Junior ODed on drug popular in the gay community.

- Most people do not report their adverse drug reactions. They just have a bad trip on their own. 

- Excluding multiple drug causation, the fact remains that Thousands of people have died from MDMA overdoses. e,g,  A total of 1400 MDMA-related deaths were identified in Turkey, 507 in Australia, 100 in Finland and 45 in Portugal from 2011-2017. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33739562/   Even little Norway reported 142 fatalities in a 10 year period    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35635429/

You appear to have the view  that less than 100 deaths in the UK is acceptable. Well it is not.  A drug having a handful of deaths associated with it is subject to review and probable withdrawal from the market. The people gobbling down black market  recreational  chemicals are often the first to decry big pharma and its evils. The hypocrisy is obvious.   What's never mentioned is that drugs like MDMA shred the liver. Eventually the damage catches up to the person, but then the cancer or organ damage that ensues isn't  tied back to the recreational drug.

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So why are tobacco and alcohol not "withdrawn from the market?"

[Marc26]

  On 5/14/2023 at 4:59 PM, Vigo said:

A couple things to keep in mind;

-Exclusive MDMA caused death is much less than multi drug toxicity. In plain language  people who die while using MDMA often  drink alcohol excessively or on other drugs at the same time, so MDMA abuse is not  deemed the cause of death.

- Medical Examiners and Coroners can and do modify their findings to show "death by misadventure" or multiple causation factors. This is for the family's sake. Most of the fatalities are young people (especially males), so there is pressure to do this. Nothing is covered up, but it saves the family the pain of  being told flat out that Junior ODed on drug popular in the gay community.

- Most people do not report their adverse drug reactions. They just have a bad trip on their own. 

- Excluding multiple drug causation, the fact remains that Thousands of people have died from MDMA overdoses. e,g,  A total of 1400 MDMA-related deaths were identified in Turkey, 507 in Australia, 100 in Finland and 45 in Portugal from 2011-2017. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33739562/   Even little Norway reported 142 fatalities in a 10 year period    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35635429/

You appear to have the view  that less than 100 deaths in the UK is acceptable. Well it is not.  A drug having a handful of deaths associated with it is subject to review and probable withdrawal from the market. The people gobbling down black market  recreational  chemicals are often the first to decry big pharma and its evils. The hypocrisy is obvious.   What's never mentioned is that drugs like MDMA shred the liver. Eventually the damage catches up to the person, but then the cancer or organ damage that ensues isn't  tied back to the recreational drug.

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You must be a hoot at parties!  5555

[Vigo]

  On 5/14/2023 at 7:59 PM, TheDirtyDurian said:

So why are tobacco and alcohol not "withdrawn from the market?"

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The subject isn't alcohol or tobacco. 

[Vigo]

  On 5/15/2023 at 2:20 AM, Marc26 said:

You must be a hoot at parties!  5555

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Are your parties attended by drug crazed nutters on MDMA hallucinating and peeing in their pants?

[TheDirtyDurian]

  On 5/15/2023 at 3:37 AM, Vigo said:

The subject isn't alcohol or tobacco. 

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I see what you did there! Nice try...

[TheDirtyDurian]

  On 5/15/2023 at 3:39 AM, Vigo said:

Are your parties attended by drug crazed nutters on MDMA hallucinating and peeing in their pants?

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You've never taken mdma have you? ️️ 

[Mamachigawa]

How long to get out of IDC minimum if you have money for fines and flight? 

[Fanta]

  On 5/15/2023 at 6:32 AM, Mamachigawa said:

How long to get out of IDC minimum if you have money for fines and flight? 

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It depends on if court attendance is required or not. For this guy pretty much as soon as his ticket is booked he can be taken to the airport, will be blacklisted there and escorted onto the plane. As always there is “fee” payable for the free transport, about 1000 baht. If you want to hand yourself in, you can call IDC to explain your situation and, generally, arrange it so you go to IDC first, hit the court in the morning and be on your flight in the afternoon. YMMV. You do not need a lawyer for this unless you enjoy wasting money. 

[Karolyn]

This drug, like pot, is less harmful than is alcohol. Why is this illegal if ppt is legalised?