this world on bbc2 thursday nite 9pm- bangkok hilton

Former Member

from the title you can guess theres a documentry on this prison oin thailand which is notorius for overcrowing and having 99yr sentences for drug smugglers... opinions please?





any opinions?


personally i say drug smugglers should be punished heavily

and just for luke - is this how youd like your prisons if you were pm?

Former Member

Re: this world on bbc2 thursday nite 9pm- bangkok hilton

Originally posted by wheresmyplacebo








personally i say drug smugglers should be punished heavily

yes ...those who bring in untold millions ...the suits with big fuck off houses in sububia ...send their children to public school and stuff ...the rest of us you can leave alone.

Former Member

lol good posts

im all for decriminalisation, but these are people normally working for organised crime, and well im sure super giant sentences put a lot of people off aiding organised crime


anywayif it was legal, the big companies would profit, probably tabacco ones for cannabis, and well i dont know who id prefer

Former Member

ah good its just i remember your comments about prisons being too comfy, i jsut wondered if this is more like how they should treat them

personally IMO thats what should happen to mass murderers and serial rapists and kiddy fiddlers

Former Member

What ever any one has done they deserve to be treated in the same way as anyone else. Human rights are NOT selective.

Onto drugs smuggling, the people who get caught are the mugs, they are the bottom of the food chain, they are easily replaced.

The drugs industry has changed a lot over the last 10-15 years. Its no longer people bringing in small shipments.

Many groups the world over have forged links and it is now a very proffesional, very ruthless, very effective business organisation.

The trade is worth a conservative $200 billion a year.

Tough sentancing does not work, Thailand has the death penalty for drug dealers, yet they have a massive heroin and methamphetamine problem. The US has massively high sentances yet they have a destructive drug problem. China executes 100's of 'dealers' yet they have an exploding heroin problem.

Harm reduction methods are the only ones proven to work effectively at reducing both the use of drugs and their harm.

Former Member

targetting dealers, and using harm reduction is best way forward in my opinion, i dont mind the dealer being executed etc, well simply cause they ruin lives, but the users should every bit of help possible

Former Member

How about those who don't need and don't want help?

How about the countless millions of cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine users who take the drugs for occasional, recreational use for much of their adult lives and who have no particularly bad adverse effects (no worse than drinking or smoking fags anyway)?

Former Member

You cant have one without the other though can you, and most dealers in heroin and crack sell because they have a habit of their own.

Targeting dealers in such a tough way yet de facto allowing use will lead to dealers becoming even nastier.

If you make the conditions of sale harder then only the hardest survive. And in the drug market that means more guns, more killings, more violence.

Former Member

Originally posted by Aladdin
How about those who don't need and don't want help?

How about the countless millions of cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine users who take the drugs for occasional, recreational use for much of their adult lives and who have no particularly bad adverse effects (no worse than drinking or smoking fags anyway)?

Personally I would be very uncomfortable lumping cocaine in there with cannabis as drugs which do little harm.

The dangers of cocaine are grossly under estimated by most of its users.

Former Member

I'd imagine occasional cocaine use (even a gramm at the weekend every week) is less harmful than 20 fags a day or a few pints in the evening.

It all depends on moderation, like with everything. I've seen and heard of far more lives being ruined by alcohol and cigerettes than cocaine.

Former Member

Its not strictly that occasional use is dangerous to MOST people who use cocaine, but that is VERY far from sayings its safe.

Its the effect on the heart which is most damaging, I heard recently that they recon that 10% of males presenting themselves to A&E because of heart problems is because of cocaine.

If used by people who have ANY increased risk of heart attacks or strokes its stupidly dangerous.

That and unlike MDMA and cannabis its socialy harmful as well as harmful to the individual. Users are often violent and agressive.

And of course it can be horribly addictive.

Former Member

Do you really have any idea what the prisions are like in Thailand?

All humans regardless of what they have done deserve to be treated with respect and decency. When we treat our prisoners badly we degrade our selves and we errode human rights.

Former Member

Originally posted by Aladdin
I'd imagine occasional cocaine use (even a gramm at the weekend every week) is less harmful than 20 fags a day or a few pints in the evening.

a couple of pints in the evening every so often has no bad side effects what so ever, other than dodgy breath possibly

if people wanted to chew coca leaves fine, but the effects of snorting cocaine are completly random even if it was pure, and causes random heart movement etc

and it is awfully addicitive and does turn people very hyper which can lead to extreme violence

and then theres meth-amphetamine which well is technically more addictive than heroin or morphine is

Former Member

I wouldnt make rash generalisations like that.

Different drugs are addictive in different ways to different people.

There are many who would never want to try meth again after the first hit, while some will be addicts from the word go.

Some people just prefer stimulants and others want the warm protective blanket of the opiates/barbs/benzos.

One isnt really more or less addictive than the other. I would say that herion, crack and methamphetamine are of similar power in terms of addiction.

Former Member

Did anyone watch it then? I didnt, I was out, was it any good?

Former Member

I watched this programme, and thought it was superb – a really interesting insight into life in a Thai prison. After seeing conditions there, it can’t be denied that UK prisons are in much better condition, and in comparison, it could reinforce the idea of prisons here being like ‘holiday camps.’ Food wasn’t laid on for prisoners; they had to cook it themselves. I found the clanking of the leg chains really haunting. The monk seemed so wise, especially saying about how drug dealers ruin many more lives than a murderer does; a murderer kills one person, and of course their family will be affected, but drug dealers cause people to commit crimes to fund their habit, which brings shame on the family and themselves.

Looking at the comments viewers emailed to the BBC, some really infuriated me, with such a pitying tone for the ‘poor Westerners.’
comments
For example: “Great programme BBC. Upsetting to see British prisoners treated so appallingly. They have committed their crimes but in both cases the situation facing the two men was one of uncertainty and turmoil. I know this is no excuse for the crimes they have committed, but surely they do not deserve to suffer the horrendous conditions of Bangkwang.” Upsetting to see British prisoners treated badly? What about everyone else, including Thais and Nigerians? The two British men did deserve their punishment, because they were both caught smuggling drugs, and both admitted their guilt. It’s right that they spend their time in a Thai jail and not sent back to Britain, since they were caught in Thailand, when they should have respected the country’s rules on drug smuggling.

This programme would be beneficial if it were shown in schools, as a deterrent for young people not to get involved in drug trafficking, since the consequences are rightly so severe.

Former Member

It’s no secret that Thailand has severe penalties for drug smuggling. I have limited sympathy given that it’s pretty well known how severe the penalties are. I didn’t think the prison conditions were that bad and I wouldn’t say the Thais were particularly barbaric. Look to Arab countries if you want to see really sick treatment of prisoners and dreadful human rights; for instance in some Arab countries women can be stoned to death, people can have their hands chopped off for relatively minor crimes and many Arab prisons will no doubt make Bangkwang in Thailand look like a 5* Hilton.

I would totally support the Thai system were drug dealers given say 5 to 10 years, more serious ones perhaps 15 to 20. However, to sentence somebody to 99 years in jail to me seems over the top. I don’t think it serves any purpose, a 5 year sentence will teach them a lesson and no doubt dissuade them from ever repeating anything so stupid.

Former Member

But these people are the bottom of the heap.

Busting mules with make NO impact what so ever on the availability or profitability of drugs. There are always 1000's more mules out there.

Former Member

but the reason no dealers are in there, is cause they execute them

Former Member

Not all of them, only the ones who dont have connections.

The drug market corrupts to the very top of most governments in the Near and Far East.