The dark side of the drug crisis in Thailand

Two grim drug abuse stories recently made headlines and shocked Thais, prompting the government to respond.

In Buriram province, northeast Thailand, a 64-year-old mother took an extraordinary step that shocked the nation: she built a jail cell in her home to lock up her drug-addicted son.

Nearly 350 kilometers away, a little boy in Udon Thani province was found wandering alone on a highway, trying to reach his grandmother's house to escape life with his drug-addicted mother.

These two stories, which occurred in the same week, have become powerful symbols of Thailand's worsening drug crisis.

A challenge that the government of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has now placed at the top of its national priorities.

It should be remembered that his father, Thaksin Shinawatra, in addition to the Tak Bai massacre , was also behind a murderous campaign against drugs.

According to Amnesty International , at least 2,500 people were killed between February and May 2003 as part of the campaign launched by then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to combat drug trafficking.

The findings of a special commission established by the military government in 2007, made public in 2008, showed that among these victims, more than a thousand people had little or no connection to drug trafficking.

Despite findings and evidence that senior officials instructed the use of brutal methods to carry out this campaign, not a single government or police official has been held accountable for the 2003 killings.

As with the Tak Bai massacre…

One of the most commonly used drugs in the country is ya ba , a methamphetamine mixed with caffeine.

See: Destroyed Lives, Overcrowded Prisons: The Hidden Cost of Ya Ba, Methamphetamine in Thailand

She builds a prison for her drug addict son

The 64-year-old woman (left) shows authorities the wire mesh cell she built inside her house in Nang Rong district of Buriram province on November 6, 2024.

“For 20 years, I lived in constant fear,” said a mother in Buriram province, who hired contractors to build a wire cell outside her kitchen after her 42-year-old son was last released.

This desperate measure came after decades of watching her son cycle through drug addiction, rehabilitation and relapse, his behavior becoming increasingly aggressive and unpredictable.

Of course, this measure is illegal and constitutes a violation of human rights, as the authorities will later explain.

This case caught the attention of Justice Minister Colonel Thawee Sodsong, who convened the first meeting of the National Committee for Drug Prevention, Control and Resolution 2024 on November 7.

"This is a problem that deserves joint investigation," Sodsong said, stressing that solutions must go beyond simply cracking down on traffickers.

The authorities have already begun to intervene.

Buriram's son will be evaluated at Thanyarak Hospital in Khon Kaen for possible mental health treatment.

If such treatment is necessary, it could take more than a year.

A little boy tries to escape life with his drug-addicted mother

A teenager picked up a three-and-a-half-year-old boy walking alone on a road between Udon Thani and Nong Bua Lam Phu, prompting him to alert police for help on November 5, 2024.

Meanwhile, in Udon Thani province, another face of addiction emerged when good Samaritans discovered a three-and-a-half-year-old boy walking alone on a bypass road between Udon Thani and Nong Bua Lam Phu.

The child wanted to go to his grandmother's house, 15 kilometers away.

They alerted the police.

The police returned the child safely to his mother, who took him to his grandmother's house, but she and the neighbors were very concerned for his well-being.

The child's mother is said to be a drug addict and often neglects her son, forcing him to go hungry and beg for food from neighbors and temples.

Neighbors and family members are concerned about the child's well-being and hope that authorities will intervene and arrange treatment for the mother.

When reporters questioned the mother about drug use, she admitted to taking them, but claimed she was not addicted and only took them "every three or four days" when she had money.

She emphasized that she loved her son and wanted to raise him to join the military like her.

This case presents the authorities who want to solve it with an equally difficult task.

The question is whether the boy will continue to run away in the future and whether he will grow up safely in his current environment.

Drug addiction ravages families in Thailand

A mother confesses to police that she ordered the murder of her drug-addicted son in November 2023. Photo: Amarin TV.

These parallel crises highlight the complex reality facing Thailand's drug control efforts.

Drug addiction not only destroys individuals, it ravages families for generations.

It forces parents, children, and communities to make impossible choices in their search for safety and healing.

In November 2023, a mother confessed to hiring a gunman to murder her drug-addicted son in northeast Thailand.

She had come to this terrible solution because her son would come and attack her every time he needed money to buy drugs.

This had forced him to move several times, but his son always found her, making his life a living hell.

See: Mother confesses to ordering murder of drug-addicted son in Thailand

As Thailand grapples with this crisis, the struggles of these families are a stark reminder that behind every statistic of the country's drug epidemic lies a deeply human story of despair, love, and the long shadow of addiction.

See also:

Labubu doll inspires Thailand's tourism authority and drug traffickers

Nigerian drug trafficker loses his magical powers in Thailand

Thai woman arrested for drugging and robbing foreign tourist

Thailand's new mantra against drug trafficking: reduce, rehabilitate

Tourist drugged and raped on Koh Tao island in Thailand

Thailand to burn record 340 tonnes of drugs

Source: Khaosod English