Phuket : Kiwi Teen done for Valium

Phuket Gazette is reporting the following

A teenager from New Zealander is stranded in Phuket after being arrested for possession of diazepam pills without a prescription.

A high-ranking source in the Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) admitted his department permitted pharmacies to sell the drugs, but only in "small" amounts.

“It is illegal to possess prescription drugs without a prescription, but in Phuket we’re not so strict as this is a tourist place,” he said. “We grant permission to pharmacies to sell the drugs, but they need to report to the PPHO first.”

Phuket: Valium bust strands Kiwi teen in Phuket

That article seems quite evasive about the quantity she had. There is a big difference between buying a few for personal use and possessing or moving large quantities.

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Originally Posted by BobR

That article seems quite evasive about the quantity she had. There is a big difference between buying a few for personal use and possessing or moving large quantities.

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From the link:

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he was caught by Kathu Police in possession of a package of diazepam, better known under the trade name ‘Valium’.

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Fuckin' hell. Must be quiet for the boys in brown to have to stoop this low...

"A package" can be anything from a single blister pack (10 pills for personal use) to a whole bag of blister packs or bottles (100's for sales or distribution). It's either deliberate vagueness or poor writing.

The times that I've bought it at a pharmacy in Thailand (I really dislike flying), it was no questions asked, couple hundred baht for a ten-pill blister pack.

You would think the amount would be stated, as having a dozen or two to take back to new Zealand is far different than taking a thousand or so - although you would wonder how they could make "the crime" stick, given "the high ranking source" has admitted that anybody can buy it over the counter.

By the sounds of it they are detaining the kid anyway, and won't let him leave the country. I thought they brought in measures recently which allowed people to leave the country while small crimes like this were processed?

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Originally Posted by killerbees

The times that I've bought it at a pharmacy in Thailand (I really dislike flying), it was no questions asked, couple hundred baht for a ten-pill blister pack.

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I always try and get a couple of Zanex for the long flights and it has been easy in the past but the last time I was treated like a junkie. Maybe they are cracking down.

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Originally Posted by killerbees

The times that I've bought it at a pharmacy in Thailand (I really dislike flying), it was no questions asked, couple hundred baht for a ten-pill blister pack.

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I buy them for the same reason; it's not so much that I dislike flying (I fly small airplanes) it's just that the 15 hour flights in economy are pure hell and sleeping through that is almost as good as a business class upgrade.

Exactly. One of them main reasons I dislike flying is the discomfort factor. I generally fly cattle class. It doesn't leave me with much wiggle room. I'd much rather sleep through the whole experience. Unfortunately, I can't seem to sleep on planes or buses. I don't know if it's the fact that there are a lot of people around, or that I'm in a chair. I've tried actual sleeping pills but they don't work, just make me groggy and miserable. Xanex or Valium, on the other hand, put me right to sleep for hours at a time. They also conveniently help with my flight anxiety. Only ever take them when traveling though I know some people do eat them like candy.

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Originally Posted by malako

although you would wonder how they could make "the crime" stick

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They can do anything they want really, especially to someone like a tourist with no contacts or backup in Thailand.

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Originally Posted by Beadle

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Originally Posted by malako

although you would wonder how they could make "the crime" stick

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They can do anything they want really, especially to someone like a tourist with no contacts or backup in Thailand.

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They would have no problem making the crime "stick" and neither would any of our Western Countries, and tourist or lack of "backup" has nothing to do with it. If the law forbids possession without a prescription, the fact that "everyone else is doing it" or "a lot of stores sell them over the counter" is completely worthless as a defense and nothing more than an inadmissible opinion if you said it in a courtroom. Fairness and justice have nothing to do with each other, particularly when silly drug laws are concerned.

Yep. The sleeping tablets (especially) are hard to get over the counter these days. They are / were apparently an increasingly-common method of suicide amongst Thais.

What is this "without a prescription" shit.
I have been to a lot of pharmacies here and bought Valium and Xanex and also use Lorazapam every nite anymore.
I went in and asked a druggist about some Valium, he handed me a card of 10-50 mg. I said I didn't need that heavy, so he gave me a card of 5 mg. I took one that night and it made me mean as catshit, so next night I too 1/2 and same thing so I threw em in the trash.
I have taken Xanex twice, it seems OK. but Ativan (US Lorazapam) 1 mg is what i take on a dr advise and I sleep like a baby,, and only prescript you will ever see here is the slip the Dr. gives you to go to the cashier and get what he asks for and pay your bill, no such thing as a prescription as far as I know.

Who has seen a meds bottle with your name on the label with your Dr. name,,dosing directions and a prescript number and date, and a refill date??
I sure as hell have never seen one.

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Originally Posted by BobR

"A package" can be anything from a single blister pack (10 pills for personal use) to a whole bag of blister packs or bottles (100's for sales or distribution). It's either deliberate vagueness or poor writing.

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BS BobR - it was 10 and we all know it. If it was 100's the BIB would have it laid out with pics and finger pointing going on. The truth of the matter is that the thieving bastids aka the Thai police are suffering in the pocketbook from a next to nothing high tourist season. They can't support all their mia nois, illegal lotteries, and other illegal activities with tourism lower than its been in a couple decades.

Valium is lightweight stuff, must have been a fair few I reckon, unless she was dishing them out to friends needing some help after a night on yaa baa etc or was caught up in one of them night club raids.

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Originally Posted by kmart

Yep. The sleeping tablets (especially) are hard to get over the counter these days.

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Got Valium in the first pharmacy I tried yesterday, 50 for 200thb.

I used to pay 5bht fir the 5ml yellow ones and 10bht for the blue 10ml ones. Could usually buy them by the dozen - not in cards, they had gigantic plastic jars of them.

I think the reason they are now considered suspicious is because yaba users use Valium to come down - and everyone knows, you should NEVER mix uppers and downers..:cmn:

Jesus, I had a hell of a time getting anything for the long haul flights I regularly do :(

A zanex dropped after dinner gets me 6 odd hours sleep. Just great. I slept 8 hours once. Coiuldn't believe it!

I remember detoxing off the booze a few years ago in Bangkok. The pharmacies wouldn't give me any valium or Xanax. I then went to a private hospital that said 'no good to take this'.

End result, I went back on the bottle. Great help that was!

what if they were mixing Valium with coca cola? don't they get a buzz out of that?

Kiwi teen in Phuket court tomorrow

PHUKET: A 17-year-old New Zealander arrested in Patong for possession of diazepam pills remains stranded in Phuket, where local police admit they are not seeking to arrest the seller of the drugs.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a police source told the Gazette his team asked the teenager where he bought the pills, but the youth declined to answer.

“He had the right to say nothing when asked a question he didn’t want to answer,” the source said. “But he accepted the charges against him.”

“Normally, if we know where a suspect bought Valium we check the shop,” he said. “If they don’t have a license to sell the drug or they’ve sold it without a prescription, we arrest them as well.”

The young Kiwi, due to appear in Juvenile Court tomorrow, cannot be named under Thai law. He has confessed to the charges against him.

In the early hours of December 7, he got on the back of a motorcycle taxi with nine diazepam pills, more commonly known as Valium, stashed in his pocket.

When Kathu Police officers saw the pair riding over a section of sidewalk on the Patong beach road, they stopped and searched the pair and arrested the young Kiwi.

More than five weeks after he was originally due to fly home, he remains in Phuket on bail.

“We’re trying to hurry up the process for him because we understand that he has to go back to school,” the source said.

Recently released statistics from the Phuket Provincial Police show this was the only arrest for diazepam possession in Phuket in 2009.

Over the same period, police seized 253 pills and 8 grams of alprazolam (trade name Xanax), arresting 18 people.

While such drugs are difficult to obtain without a prescription in most parts of Thailand, they remain readily available in tourist centers such as Patong.

High-ranking sources in the Phuket Provincial Health Office said shops registered with their office to sell category four drugs are allowed to do so on a discretionary basis and in small amounts – typically 10 pills or fewer.

Such shops must have a license and most have a Thai-language sign indicating that such prescription medications are available there over the counter.

Other big sellers in such shops include erectile dysfunction drugs like sildenafil citrate (Viagra) and tadalafil (Cialis).

Drug arrests in Thailand carry stiff penalties for adults, but the Juvenile Court system is based more on rehabilitation than punishment. First time offenders are seldom incarcerated for small seizures unless they are associated with violent crimes.

Phuket Gazette
D Waites and
K Pornmongkhonwat

What a fucking joke. Locked up and held prisoner for 9 valiums!
Meanwhile every second taxi driver and bar girl are visibly out of their trees on yaba...

Thailand - you are a disgrace!!

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PHUKET: A 17-year-old New Zealander arrested in Patong for possession of diazepam pills remains stranded in Phuket, where local police admit they are not seeking to arrest the seller of the drugs.

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so why are they still holding this kid prisoner?

Trying to sqeeze as much money from her mummy and daddy as you can??

The real criminals here are the thai police..

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Originally Posted by meow

End result, I went back on the bottle. Great help that was!

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Should have went to AA and explained your problem, there usually someone around that can get er done, even if no more that some old member that remembers how it used to be done before doctors would even look at us alkies,, he could have brought you down without you dying.

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Originally Posted by dirtydog

he got on the back of a motorcycle taxi with nine diazepam pills, more commonly known as Valium, stashed in his pocket.

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He had them STASHED because it they were legal they would have just been in his pocket.

I want to see a prescriptuion if anyone has or has ever had one,, I am told by a Dr. to go to a Pharma and but certain medications, I have never had a prescription as such given to me in Thailand.

Does NZ have an Embassy or consulate here??
And if so why do they not take that kid home, post on their site that Kiwi should not come to Thailand for vacations or any thing other than very important business meetings and then not to leave their hotel under any circumstances.
That might open these slanty eyed asshole vision a little once they find out that it might cost them a buck in graft money..

Phuket Gazette Readers Poll: Don’t enforce drugs law
Monday, February 8, 2010

PHUKET: Most Phuket Gazette readers think current Thai laws regarding the sale of prescription drugs like diazepam (Valium) should not be enforced, according to the results of our latest poll.

More than half of the respondents to the last survey thought over-the-counter sales of such drugs should either be legalized or tolerated, as they are now.

The poll followed the arrest in Patong late last year of a 17-year-old tourist for possessing nine diazepam pills without a prescription.

After receiving a small fine at Phuket Juvenile Court, the teenager is now reportedly back home in Australia.

Less than half (48.6%) of readers agreed with the statement, ‘The law should be more strictly enforced. Drugs like Valium require a prescription for a reason.’

Just over a third of readers (37.2%) agreed that strict enforcement of the law is impossible, so the Public Health Ministry should legalize over-the-counter sales of diazepam and other Category IV drugs.

While roughly a quarter of Thais and tourists were in agreement here, 46% of Phuket’s expat residents were.

Finally, just 14.2% of readers believed the status quo should be maintained because the availability of these drugs draws tourists to Thailand. This option was significantly more popular with Thai nationals and tourists than expats. Around one quarter of Thais and tourists were in agreement here, while just 7% of expats were.

phuketgazette.net

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Originally Posted by Mid

the availability of these drugs draws tourists to Thailand

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Some weird people out there.

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Originally Posted by blackgang

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Originally Posted by dirtydog

he got on the back of a motorcycle taxi with nine diazepam pills, more commonly known as Valium, stashed in his pocket.

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He had them STASHED because it they were legal they would have just been in his pocket.

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They were just in his pocket...I think there word stashed was used to add some sensationalism.

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Originally Posted by dirtydog

Some weird people out there.

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True though. I can say from experience many Brits are now coming to Thailand, stocking up on these drugs before going home. Steroids as well. I know a guy that makes a living out of selling 'roids and Vali's and he comes to Thailand and fills his case every two weeks.

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Originally Posted by dirtydog

More than five weeks after he was originally due to fly home, he remains in Phuket on bail.

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Originally Posted by Mid

After receiving a small fine at Phuket Juvenile Court, the teenager is now reportedly back home in Australia.

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holy crap,

stupid asses.

why could they not process him in a day or two ?

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Originally Posted by FarangRed

what if they were mixing Valium with coca cola? don't they get a buzz out of that?

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The coke was takan out years ago .

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Originally Posted by Beadle

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Originally Posted by dirtydog

Some weird people out there.

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True though. I can say from experience many Brits are now coming to Thailand, stocking up on these drugs before going home. Steroids as well. I know a guy that makes a living out of selling 'roids and Vali's and he comes to Thailand and fills his case every two weeks.

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I would think the immigration would look close at some one coming here every 2 weeks.

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Originally Posted by Beadle

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Originally Posted by dirtydog

Some weird people out there.

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True though. I can say from experience many Brits are now coming to Thailand, stocking up on these drugs before going home. Steroids as well. I know a guy that makes a living out of selling 'roids and Vali's and he comes to Thailand and fills his case every two weeks.

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Must be a laugh when his case goes through x-ray at the airport.

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Originally Posted by dirtydog

A 17-year-old New Zealander arrested in Patong for possession of diazepam pills remains stranded in Phuket

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Originally Posted by Mid

After receiving a small fine at Phuket Juvenile Court, the teenager is now reportedly back home in Australia.

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Hope CentreLink do the right thing by this poor lad and cover the dole cheques he missed while he was stranded on bail on the beach in Thailand for 6 weeks.

Thailand is often hollier than thou.

Couple of years ago,I flew back to London from Bangkok. My bag contained 2,000 Ranitidine tablets(only on perscription in the Uk,at that time)
,2 kg of rambutans and 6 packets of freeze dried spicy noodles.
Customs pulled me over at heathrow and opened my bag. They asked me what the pills were for,and I explained,they were for indegestion and they let me keep them. They told me it was illegal to bring fresh fruit in,but since I only had a couple of kilo`s,they`d let me keep them. They confiscated the noodles! I still,to this day,cant understand why???

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Originally Posted by ch1ldofthemoon

Couple of years ago,I flew back to London from Bangkok. My bag contained 2,000 Ranitidine tablets(only on perscription in the Uk,at that time)
,2 kg of rambutans and 6 packets of freeze dried spicy noodles.
Customs pulled me over at heathrow and opened my bag. They asked me what the pills were for,and I explained,they were for indegestion and they let me keep them. They told me it was illegal to bring fresh fruit in,but since I only had a couple of kilo`s,they`d let me keep them. They confiscated the noodles! I still,to this day,cant understand why???

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i would of thought they let you keep the noodles and not the fruit.

when i went to malaysia for the 1st time, a chinese friend of mine gave me a little present which i kept in my hand luggage. it want till i got home and unpacked everything, i found the package was dried smoked chinese meat. you know, the pile of crap sold on street corners in chinatown. i was livid. i could of got stung for that. surely the x-ray machine can see through grease proof paper

good job it was`nt a packet of dried herbal cannabis.......:england: