Another Thai Crackdown Promised

Clever types will be able to remember all the way back to a fortnight ago, when police in Pattaya cracked down on a handful of market stalls. This week Police Lt. Gen. Achayon Kraithong spoke on behalf of the Royal Thai Police to announce “intensified measures”, promising a brand new crackdown on the sale of vapes. 

Then, as is the way, the cascade of announcements continued as National Police Chief Pol. Gen. Kitrat Phanphet ordered all police units to focus on youths in order to enforce the current ban. 

This new crackdown will also see the police also target storage locations (cupboards and drawers, at a guess), border regions, airports and religious sites, according to Lt. Gen. Achayon.

Finally, he warned police officers not to get tangled up with vape distribution networks and promised that corrupt cops would face disciplinary action and prosecution.

The following day (Feb 26) the crackdown began as the police launched a raid on a single shop and discovered a couple of trays of vapes. Officers from Banglamung Police Station celebrated seizing 171 devices and pods.

Shop owner Mr. Charan was escorted to the station with the seized items, charged with “concealing, distributing, aiding in the sale, or possessing goods that have not been taxed, are restricted or prohibited, or have been illegally imported without proper customs clearance.”

A nation probably breathed a sigh of relief as this top crime was foiled.

The impressive crackdown was conducted as a regional news website relayed: “A good scientist suggests that users of electric cigarettes can reduce smoking.”

The Siamese quoted Dr Sarah Jackson saying: “From our study, we found that the behaviour of e-cigarette users can gradually change to reduce smoking while using e-cigarettes instead, which is a good thing because e-cigarette users will gradually be less harmed by cigarette smoke, but the most important thing is that people must stop smoking completely in order to fully benefit from health care.”

Will Thai officials listen to the positive message that vaping helps smokers quit and improves health? Unlikely. The situation remains that while vaping is banned, the state-owned tobacco industry thrives and cigarettes are legal for sale. In fact, despite this close association with tobacco production, Thailand was even recognised by the World Health Organization “for its significant progress in implementing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control”.

Looks like there’ll be plenty more crackdowns to come.

References: 

• นักวิทยาศาสตร์เมืองผู้ดีชี้ผู้ใช้บุหรี่ไฟฟ้าสามารถลดการสูบบุหรี่ได้ - https://www.thesiamese.net/2025/02/cig-elec-202502.html?m=1&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2LZUpArIh4ABYWtEDVJHg9Z3qy4fvZAT1znmiYhkxBNU66RsLs1HWbdxE_aem_d1uWbH4a4PqSqy_w2Xu-Zg

Photo Credit:

• Banner policeman photo by Yuriy Kovalev on Unsplash, arrest photo courtesy of Banglamung Police Station

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

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Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.