Cannabis News
Stay updated on the latest cannabis news and industry breakthroughs in Thailand and globally with The Thaiger. Dive into a comprehensive collection of articles, research, and analysis, focusing on various aspects of cannabis, its legalisation, medicinal properties, and its impact on society. Discover everything about the rapidly evolving world of cannabis!
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Police open fire as drug suspect rams Phuket Town blockade
PHUKET: Police officers opened fire on a suspected drug dealer after he rammed his Honda Jazz into a police patrol pickup blocking his escape in Phuket Town early yesterday evening. Police were following the Honda Jazz of 28-year-old Thaweepong Kerdpol, a suspected drug dealer, after they received a tip-off that he was in the Chalong area. Mr Thaweepong stopped for…
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Phuket Books: Madness in Miami
PHUKET: After a career of nearly 20 years as a demented humor columnist for the Miami Herald, Dave Barry has turned to writing comic novels. Insane City (CP Putnam’s Sons, New York, 2013, 341pp) is his third. He dedicates it to “the people of this truly insane city of Miami, for making this book easy. Without you, this book wouldn’t…
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British national’s extended holiday goes to pot at Phuket “dope hotel’
PHUKET: Phuket Immigration officers today arrested a British man for drug possession and for overstaying his visa by more than two* years. The arrest was made at the same resort, off Taina Road in Karon, where a Swedish man was arrested on drug charges last Thursday (story here). “At 11:30am, we received a report from our undercover officers to investigate…
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Phuket monks defrocked after being caught with drugs
PHUKET: Four monks and a lay worker at the well-known Wat Kajornrungsan on Ranong Road in Phuket Town were arrested Tuesday night after a tip-off led police to catch them with drugs.“We went to Wat Kajornrungsan after local residents reported to us that they suspected some monks were using drugs,” Phuket City Police Deputy Superintendent Prawit Engchuan told the Phuket…
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Driver with drugs in black plate taxi trunk gets attempted bribery charges to boot
PHUKET: A Phuket bound “black plate” taxi was caught doing double-duty yesterday as it hauled 45 kilograms of kratom leaves back from Surat Thani after dropping a group of Russian tourists off in a resort in Nakorn Sri Thammarat. The drug-running duo in the car have been charged with the intent to sell a category five drug and for bribery…
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Phuket Books: So it is with San Miguel
PHUKET: Anything by T Corahessan Boyle is worth reading. His first two novels – Water Music, about two African expeditions up the Niger by 18th century Scottish explorer Mungo Park, and Budding Prospects, about modern day marijuana growers in northern California – rank among the two funniest novels ever written in English – are wildly exuberant dances of demonic prose.…
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National defense volunteer nabbed with marijuana at Phuket checkpoint
PHUKET: Thalang Police arrested a national defense volunteer with two bags of marijuana at a checkpoint in Thalang on Saturday. When police saw a white Toyota Vios attempting to avoid the checkpoint at Baan Yamu at 8:30pm, they stopped the car, driven by Supakij Benjamas, 29, and searched it. “We found two bags of marijuana and tobacco in a peanut…
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Police snap up “kratom’ grower in northern Phuket
PHUKET: Police in the northern Phuket area of Thalang yesterday raided and shut down a tropical fruit orchard that was also being used as a kratom-growing operation. The orchard owner, named by police as Nathee Tianthong,50, had five kratom trees growing on his property – in his house police found 400 grams of harvested leaves. All five trees were cut…
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Phuket safety police blitz nets 8 drug, 3 gun arrests in first week
PHUKET: The first seven days of the month-long police safety boost (story here) in Phuket has yielded eight arrests on gun and drug charges in road checkpoint stops alone. Maj Gen Kittisan Detsunthonwat, Deputy Commander of Provincial Police Region 8, announced yesterday that so far his officers had seized over 300 grams of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine), 2,031 pills of…
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Phuket Media Watch: Hindu pilgrims stream to mythical river in their millions for Maha Kumbh Mela
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Millions take to the Ganges at largest Hindu festival Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Upwards of a million elated Hindu holy men and pilgrims took a bracing plunge in India’s sacred Ganges river to wash away lifetimes of sins today, in a raucous start to an…
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Phuket Books: The Cambodian book of the dead
PHUKET: A veteran journalist on the Asian beat, Tom Vater certainly knows Cambodia. In the crime novel The Cambodian Book of the Dead (Crime Wave Press, Hong Kong, 2012, 287pp), his descriptions of Phnom Penh, Kep and Siem Reap are spot on. The hero is Maier (no first name) who grew up in East Germany under the communist government, where…
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Nepal’s former crown prince shipped to Bangkok: Phuket Police
PHUKET: Nepal’s former crown prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev was transferred to Bangkok on December 4 to face charges at Thonglor Police Station, the Phuket Gazette was told. A senior officer involved in the case, who asked not to be named, told the Gazette that Mr Shah was transferred to Bangkok at 10pm on Tuesday. “He was sent to…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Drug addiction – Yassine’s cautionary tale
PHUKET: Morocco over the years has been romanticized by Hollywood and through the prose of numerous authors. It’s a place that conjures up images of bazaars, palaces and bustling market squares. But the vision of Morocco from those looking in, is a lot different to the one Yassine Darkaoui endured while looking out from the Northern city of Tangiers. Yassine…
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Phuket Halloween kratom party a bust
PHUKET: Police arrested a Phuket hotel staff member with five kilograms of kratom leaves, allegedly being prepared for a “kratom party” on the island. On the eve of Halloween, Thanit Praditnipol, 21, was picked up by a sortie of officers led by Muang Chief Administrative Officer Thammarong Chuayaksorn as Mr Thanit stepped off a bus arriving from Trang province at…
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Phuket Books: A question of savages
PHUKET: I picked up Don Winslow’s Savages (Simon & Schuster, New York, 2010, 358pp) with a good deal of eagerness, having just finished the much-lauded prequel The Kings of Cool, which impressed me with its zany energy, veering between screenplay, poetic stanzas and wise-guy syncopated prose, deeply empathic with the surfer/grass dealer ethos of Laguna Beach, California. Winslow is a…
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Dealer busted after kratom smuggled into Phuket as ‘fresh vegetables’
PHUKET: Phuket Police acting on a tip-off yesterday arrested a dealer and seized 54kg of kratom leaves from an address in Cherng Talay. Col Jirasak Siemsak received the tip-off at about 5pm and quickly put together an investigation team under the command of Maj Pongnarin Suthin. On arrival at a house on Soi Pasak 4, off the Baan Don-Cherng Talay…
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Phuket Police bust heroin dealers in Cherng Talay
PHUKET: Police in Phuket yesterday arrested a heroin dealer from Narathiwat, in Thailand’s troubled Deep South, seizing more than 80 grams of the drug as well as a stash of dried marijuana from one of his agents.The arrest was announced at a press conference led by Cherng Talay Police Superintendent Jirasak Siangsak yesterday morning. Col Jirasak presented to the press…
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Phuket Gazette: Book and film review
PHUKET: Oliver Stone’s new movie is Savages, a thriller about the drug trade in Laguna Beach, California. Starring a roll call of Hollywood A-listers – Blake Lively, Salma Hayek, Benicio Del Toro, John Travolta – the film is based on a crime novel by Don Winslow. A former Private Investigator in real life, Winslow has written 15 novels and is…
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Thailand News: Verdict delay in war weapon case
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Verdict on eight Thais in war weapon case “could take two weeks” Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: The trial of eight Thais, arrested in Myanmar on charges of possessing war weapons, was scheduled to end today, but it could take two weeks before the court…
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Thailand News: Group to appeal; Myanmar decision expected; Forest fires
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Rayong people to appeal against court verdict on land documents Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Local residents from Rayong’s Mae Ramphueng area will be appealing to the Supreme Administrative Court against the lower court’s decision to drop their complaint over the land rights documents held…
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Phuket police take chainsaws to drug problem
PHUKET: Chainsaw-wielding police took a cut out of the drug-supply in Phuket on yesterday, bringing down several enormous kratom trees on Luang Poh Road. Despite kratom trees being native to Southeast Asia, their leaves have been considered a controlled substance, in the same category as cannabis, since promulgation of the Kratom Act in 1943. The law made planting the tree…
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Phuket takes drug war to the coffee shop
PHUKET: In a marked departure from the usual line in tackling drugs on the island, Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada yesterday took time out to sit down with local village leaders and discuss the drug problem over a cup of coffee. Joined by Col Jirasak Siemsak of Cherng Talay Police Station and Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) Vice President…
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Police crack Phang Nga drug network linked to “kingpin prisoner’
PHUKET: Acting on a tip-off police raided two separate addresses in Phang Nga yesterday resulting in the arrest of six men and the recovery of drugs, weapons, cash and other valuables. The gang was reportedly controlled by an inmate at Nakhon Sri Thammar at Provincial Prison who ordered drugs to be delivered to one of the suspects netted in the…
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Phuket Gazette: Central America most violent; U.S. Coast Guard crash; Hackers arrested
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UN describes Central America as world’s most violent area, and the U.S. the biggest drug market PHUKET (News Wires): The United Nations (UN) on Tuesday described Central America as one of the most violent areas in the world as drug-related violence continues to rise, signaling the…
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Former monk arrested for drugs in Phuket
PHUKET: A former monk was one of six suspects arrested in drug raids in Kathu, Phuket earlier this week. Following a tip-off that a man living in a hut had been selling drugs to local youths, a Thung Thong Police drug suppression unit on Sunday raided the dwelling, located in a rubber plantation near Bang Wad Reservoir in Kathu. They…
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Phuket Police armed standoff ends on a high
PHUKET: A two-hour standoff between Phuket police and an armed man ended without bloodshed last night after officers finally persuaded him to stand down. Police arrived at a home along a soi opposite Chalong Temple at about 6pm after Sawai Thongyod called them, saying her 26-year-old son was armed, acting dangerously and she feared for her safety. Her son, Sukan…
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Phuket police arrest one in Burmese dope bust
PHUKET: Phuket police arrested a man for selling drugs in Rawai on Saturday, seizing his stash of marijuana and multiple bundles of kratom leaves in the process. Acting on a tip-off, Lt Col Charan Bangprasert of the Chalong Police dispatched a team to a construction site in Rawai, where the suspect was reportedly supplying drugs to Burmese workers. The suspect,…
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Phuket Police need help from tourists: investigator
PHUKET: Foreign tourists who are victims of crime in Phuket all too often leave the country before police can investigate their claims, allowing perpetrators to continue roaming the streets in search of new victims, a Patong Police investigator has said. “I want foreign tourists who are victims of crimes in Phuket to cooperate with us when we investigate their cases,…
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Japanese refugee in Phuket pot bust
PHUKET: A Japanese man fleeing the flood waters in Bangkok was caught with about 24 grams of marijuana this morning as he entered Phuket by car. Police stopped a white Honda Jazz at about 9:30am at Tah Chat Chai checkpoint for a routine inspection. In the car were three Japanese men, including Haruyuki Masuoka, 27. Police found four plastic bags…
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Ex-cop caught smuggling 4.5kg of marijuana into Phuket
PHUKET: Police at Tah Chat Chai checkpoint – the northern tip of the island – yesterday arrested a retired policeman trying to smuggle 4.5 kilograms of marijuana into Phuket.Also arrested was a man who says he was just getting a ride from Ranong to Phuket with the former officer.Police stopped Natthawut Nuengklang, 61, at 2pm to conduct a standard inspection…
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