Thailand abandons plan to enforce no alcohol hours in the afternoon

Well that didn't take very long now did it? The announcement was made by the government a few weeks ago that a law that prohibited the consumption of alcohol between 2-5 pm every day was going to start being enforced in the Kingdom. This law has existed on the books since the 70's but it was rarely enforced outside of large chain stores such as 7-11 and other international stores.

Even then the rule only applied to the purchase of alcohol, it did not apply to the consumption of it. This was also an opportunity for mom and pop shops to sell things during those hours because for reasons I never understood the no sale law didn't seem to apply to them even though they were often strategically placed nearby stores like 7-11. This was technically illegal but since it was poor small shop owners that were the ones doing it, the police just turned a blind eye to it and I kind of appreciated that even though it is illegal.

Nobody really knows WHY this law was ever put on the books and while I am sure there originally was some justification in the past, most people simply make something up about kids and school or drink driving kids to and from school but I don't think that is the real reason. It was probably just an idea someone had and whatever, it ended up being a law. There are a lot of dumb laws in my home country that are still on the books such as one where it is illegal in Alabama to carry ice cream in your pockets on Sunday.

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Thailand only recently decided to extend this alcohol ban not just to sellers at major international chain stores but also to restaurants, cafes, hotels, bars and everywhere else. It was stated in the press release that both an establishment and the person doing the drinking could be prosecuted if anyone was drinking at all between 2-5pm.

This obviously created an uproar in that already struggling tourism industry that immediately lobbied the government to have a bit of mercy and listen to reason that fining tourists for simply having a beer in the afternoon while on vacation, could have a very negative impact on the tourism industry. Thailand lost the number 1 spot for tourism in South East Asia this year for the first time since anyone was tracking these numbers, and the tourism and hotel industry basically was pleading with the government to not do this because their industry has already suffered a lot in recent years.

Well, someone in the government listened and the lawmakers rescinded the new law that would ban alcohol consumption between 2-5pm. Not only that, but they also removed the ban on sales between 2-5pm as well. Now all stores, including international chains can sell alcohol in the afternoon. This is being done on what is being called a "pilot program" for 6 months and applies to all businesses, not just tourism-oriented ones.

The new times to purchase alcohol in retail outlets are 11am to midnight, every day.

This is a move in the right direction if you ask me because I have never heard of any country that has such bizarre practices as this. Sure, there are countries that have more restrictive alcohol laws and even countries where the sale of alcohol is outright forbidden, but I'm not aware of any country that has a strange block of 3 hours in the afternoon where it is banned yet it is allowed on both sides of it.

This is a rare moment of sensibility in the Thai government and I hope that this will be a grand success and perhaps the people who approved this will also take a look at immigration because yet ANOTHER restriction has been introduced as far as that is concerned. I will detail that at another time though.

The Thailand government is also taking a look at extending drinking hours for nightclubs and bars to 1am, 2am, or even as late as 4am. While I can agree that this would make a lot of money for the people involved and perhaps help tourism, I think the increased amount of blackout drunk people this will create will be more trouble than it is worth.

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Plus, there are already after-hours clubs that exist all over the country that pay off the police in order to be open at those hours. Here in Chiang Mai, which is considered to be one of the most strict places as far as law-enforcement is concerned because of a military base also occupying the city, there are still many after-hours clubs and the police are extremely aware of their existence.

I think that extending the drinking hours to the middle of the night would once again merely encourage the wrong sort of behavior, but instead of it being restricted a few parts of every town, it would now be everywhere.

But at least for now I am very happy that the government is showing signs of intelligence as far as rescinding this stupid law is concerned. It isn't very often that the Thai government, or any government for that matter, actually does something smart.