Images of young children smoking cannabis in Pattaya, eastern Thailand, have shocked Thai netizens and gone viral on social media.
Internet users are concerned about the safety of children after photos surfaced showing a group of 9- and 10-year-olds smoking cannabis in a bamboo bong on a Pattaya .
The man who posted the photos, Krittiwat Matrong, 35, said he met the children while attending a fireworks display in Pattaya.
As Krittiwat was preparing to board a boat, he saw some children sitting on the beach wall smoking from a bamboo bong.
At first, Krittiwat thought the children were just playing, but as he approached them, he realized the boys were smoking marijuana.
Krittiwat approached the children and asked their ages only to find out they were only 9-10 years old.
When Krittiwat asked where their parents were, they told him they didn't have any.
However, when Krittiwat warned them that they were too young to smoke marijuana, one of the children replied:
"I'm not afraid of you. My father is a soldier."
Netizens are concerned about the children's well-being, and many have criticized their guardians for allowing them to go to Pattaya Beach unsupervised.
Young children openly smoking marijuana on the beach also damage Pattaya's image, Krittiwat added.
Update: One of the children has been found by authorities
Following the photos, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul called on police to enforce the law.
Mr. Anutin, who is also deputy prime minister, expressed concern about the photo on Friday.
“The way these young people acquired ganja is certainly a violation of the law.
"The police must find the seller," he said.
"Even if their family members gave them ganja, legal punishment must be applied."
However, he expressed skepticism that the photo was "choreographed" in advance for unknown reasons.
According to him, the cannabis bill, still under development, does not encourage recreational use of the plant.
Its sole aim is to promote medicinal cannabis for the benefit of society and the economy, he said.
The photo was posted on Facebook on November 26 by a Pattaya resident.
According to media reports, Sadayu Wilawan, a municipal official in Pattaya City, found one of the boys yesterday (December 2).
He was napping under a coconut tree 100 meters from where the photo was taken, according to reports.
Mr. Sadayu reportedly said the 10-year-old boy spoke rudely to him and used strong words against local officials.
He reportedly ran away from the Pattaya Children and Family Home to live with his grandmother in Bang Lamung district, Chon Buri.
The boy allegedly fought with his grandmother before stabbing her with a knife.
He then ran away and was photographed smoking cannabis on the beach, according to reports, adding that authorities would conduct a medical examination of the child before assisting him.
A legal plant, but poorly regulated
Thailand removed cannabis from its list of illicit narcotics in June to allow the public to use the plant's medicinal properties.
See: Cannabis is no longer an illicit drug in Thailand, but smoking in public places is prohibited.
But the legislation to regulate marijuana use is not entirely clear.
New, more comprehensive regulations are expected to be introduced next year.
A clear rule is that cannabis cannot be sold to or used by anyone under the age of 20.
However, when cannabis is so accessible that it can be purchased from vans and street vendors, it's no surprise that the group of primary school-aged children in the photos managed to get their hands on some.
Thailand recently made cannabis flowers, the part that contains the most THC (the substance that gets you high), a "controlled herb" and banned all advertising for the plant.
See: Thailand changes cannabis rules
Source: The Thaiger , Bangkok Post
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3 comments
The sole culprit for this situation is the legislator who launched the decriminalization of cannabis without taking the time to frame his project with a strict and well-structured law to prevent this kind of excess.
Currently in Thailand, anyone can do almost anything as long as they respect the use of parts of the plant containing no more than 0.2% THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, the main hallucinogenic active ingredient of the plant...
This is practically the only legal barrier and prohibition that limits its recreational use, which consumers have rushed into, due to the lack of adequate and well-thought-out legislation to limit access to it only for medical use in hospitals and by doctors, as was initially the intention of the Minister of Health, Mr. Anutin.
Without clear and precise legal and judicial barriers, it was predictable that supporters of the total liberalization of cannabis would rush into the gaping breaches of a shaky and poorly legislated liberalization.
It seems that a new legal framework, better thought out this time, will be put in place at the beginning of 2023...
Let us hope that other, even more serious and significant abuses will be avoided in the meantime!!!
Hello Hansson,
Obviously, sellers are not allowed to sell marijuana to children.
And just seeing 10-year-olds smoking even tobacco would have been shocking too.
Afterwards, we will also have to see the economic contribution made to the country by the legalization of cannabis.
These figures, which I think will be impressive, are likely to make those for and against legalization think twice.
Hello,
Obviously, your comparison with the use of tobacco, this "drug" that has been legal since the dawn of time, is entirely relevant, and what's more, it is even more easily accessible to adolescents and children than cannabis, still basking in the glow of its total ban less than a year ago...
And I also agree when you mention the financial return of this legalization which will, I also believe, be very important in the medium and long term...
But I wanted to highlight the poor management and bad timing of this legalization, which was planned, authorized and implemented before an adequate and comprehensive legal framework came to cement this initiative, which in itself is not a bad thing in many respects, provided that it is once again cemented in a law providing for all the aspects, applications and consequences of this liberalization, which has not been done and has allowed permissive abuses until now and for several months.