Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the alcohol ban here in Thailand under review. For those who are unaware, from 2 to 5 p.m. here in Thailand there is a ban on sale of alcohol. Let me get into it. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Thai PM orders review of 2-5 pm alcohol sale ban. Quoting directly: "Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has ordered a review of the ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages from 2pm to 5pm following calls by business groups for eased regulation to support tourism." Quoting further: "Government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub said the Prime Minister ordered a review of the 53-year-old rule" - 53-year-old rule - "to make it consistent with the current situation. The ban is not covered in the Alcohol Beverage Control Act." - That's worth stating again: "The ban is not covered in the Alcohol Beverage Control Act." So this wasn't promulgated through Parliament. Quoting further: "It was announced in a decree by the coup regime of Thanom Kittikachorn in 1972 to deal with officials drinking during work hours and has never been rescinded." 

Well what a brilliant idea that was. I'm sure having too many drunk bureaucrats was an issue at some point. So maybe it was a good idea in his time; I shouldn't really speak out. I don't know why they came up with it. But a lot has changed since 1972, and I think we're in a different place. Now again, I can understand certain rules and regulations regarding alcohol sales, I mean especially coming from the West, we're kind of used to all of those things. 

But long story short, this is pretty darned ridiculous that this is kind of still going on. I can actually see a decent argument for maybe not having booze on sale when kids are getting out of school or something maybe, but in theory the age restriction should deal with that, so I don't know why that is the case. But again, the underlying reason that they give here for this again, I don't think the policy reasoning is still valid. So to my mind it makes a lot of sense to me, maybe it's probably time to seriously reconsider the alcohol sale ban here in the Kingdom of Thailand.