Thailand: Drugs, Tourists and Prison Time

Desperate to revive tourism after the crippling impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand has relaxed its drug laws. But will doing so worsen the complex drug problems the nation already faces? Subscribe to Journeyman here: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=journeymanpictures Pre-pandemic, 20 per cent of Thailand s GDP stemmed from tourism - but when COVID-19 swept the globe, the industry came to a standstill. In the wake of the pandemic, Thailand has relaxed its infamously strict drug laws in a bid to rejuvenate the tourism industry - with cannabis legalised in June. Legal expert Nathan Feeney has seen countless tourists arrested for drug offenses over the years: This is the plot of a lot of movies - you come to Thailand, get involved in drugs, you get arrested, and life s over. Now we ve got cafes open in public legally selling marijuana . Yet this drastic change to the law coincides with Thailand being flooded with record quantities of drugs from Myanmar, particularly the infamous methamphetamine Yaba . They want to sell drugs in order to buy weapons to fight Myanmar s military junta , explains one drug officer. But for social worker Toon, the government s policy towards drugs is wrong-headed, and ignores the needs of local communities: The government policy on drug issues every year focuses only on suppression. But what about the community? For more information, visit https://www.journeyman.tv/film/8347 Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/journeymanpictures Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JourneymanNews https://twitter.com/JourneymanVOD Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/journeymanpictures Visit our subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/JourneymanPictures/ SBS Australia – Ref. 8347