Nontheistic Thailand and alcoholism

Alcoholism in Thailand ranks 5th highest in world

CMM Reporters

The “Enjoyment, Safety, No Alcohol” campaign which ran during the recent Songkran festival in Chiang Mai had some difficulty getting its message across to a large proportion of the revellers, according to the manager of the campaign, Teera Watcharapranee. He reported that, although some success had been achieved, a significant obstruction had been caused by the perception in Thai society that a good time could not be had without drinking alcohol. The average drinker consumes approximately 13.59 litres of pure alcohol per year, the equivalent of 220 litres of, say, Chang beer. This trend results in a high level of road accidents, more than 50% of which are caused by drink-driving. Statistics from the years 2005-2007, according to the Global Road Safety Partnership, put the overall cost of these accidents as averaging 2.8% of Thailand’s gross domestic product, and 60% more than the total government expenditure on health. Road deaths per annum during that period are recorded as being at least 12,000, but, because of possible under-reportage, may have been as high as 20,000.^[4]