Posted on 11/30/2022 10:51:46 AM PST by Red Badger
A Buddhist temple in central Thailand has been left without monks after all of its holy men failed drug tests and were defrocked, a local official said Tuesday.
Four monks, including an abbot, at a temple in Phetchabun province's Bung Sam Phan district tested positive for methamphetamine on Monday, district official Boonlert Thintapthai told AFP.
The monks have been sent to a health clinic to undergo drug rehabilitation, the official said.
"The temple is now empty of monks and nearby villagers are concerned they cannot do any merit-making," he said. Merit-making involves worshippers donating food to monks as a good deed.
Boonlert said more monks will be sent to the temple to allow villagers to practice their religious obligations.
Thailand is a major transit country for methamphetamine flooding in from Myanmar's troubled Shan state via Laos, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
On the street, meth pills, called Yaba, sell for less than 20 baht (around $0.50).
"Meth and particularly Yaba can be easily found in every corner of [Thailand] — supply is up everywhere, and at this point a tablet is cheaper than a beer," UNODC's Jeremy Douglas told Thai Inquirer.
Authorities across Southeast Asia and around the globe have made record meth seizures in recent months.
Last month, Hong Kong reportedly made its biggest ever seizure of meth, finding 1.8 metric tons of liquid meth hidden in cartons of coconut water en route for Australia.
In August, authorities found 2 tons of meth hidden in marble tiles shipped from the Middle East to Sydney in what police describe as the largest-ever seizure of the illicit drug in Australia.
Also in August, Mexican soldiers seized almost 1.5 tons of meth and 328 pounds of apparent powdered fentanyl at a checkpoint in the northern state of Sonora.
In July, more than 5,000 pounds of meth was found in a record-breaking seizure in Southern California.
In fact a good 90% of illegal drugs can be grown easily.
Especially if you live in a nice warm climate.
Maybe they have watched too much Breaking Bad. :)
Yeah, but the food is to die for.
“The temple is now empty of monks and nearby villagers are concerned they cannot do any merit-making,” he said. Merit-making involves worshippers donating food to monks as a good deed.
= = =
So some merit-makers bring meth for their good deed?
Sounds cheaper than food.
maybe get the rotational speed of this thing fast enough for liftoff?
LOL
“Every” monk made me think forty or fifty.
“All four monks in small monastery” would be accurate, and not sensational.
LOL
To paraphrase Harriet Tubman, anyone who would provide you with methamphetamine would sell you into slavery and send you to hell.
Meth Express Prayers...................When it absoluetly, positively has to be there in 30 seconds or less............
LOL!!! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW???
Monkpox strikes again.
Can you blame them?
***sell for less than 20 baht (around $0.50)***
When I was in Thailand back in 1969, a baht was worth 5 cents.
I am so sorry for you, your son and your grandchildren.
You may want to look into this book, “The Realm of Hungry Ghosts” by Gabor Mate. I’m not fully convinced by it, but it’s a powerful perspective and analysis of why addiction happens.
It was a terrible tragedy, but we have all done everything possible to care for the children and whatever we can to help them cope. The youngest child spent a year living with my wife and me. We arranged for therapy, private school--everything--and I think it was really good for her. We have taken them all over the world and given them an abundance of love. They're coming to spend Christmas with us--which thrills me. We have talked about their mother, never hiding anything, and I'm cautiously optimistic about how the children will fare. You never stop worrying about your children and grandchildren, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
I appreciate your kind wishes and the suggestion. Thanks!
Merry Christmas!
Thanks!
I have found that the loveliest, nicest, and best of people--and the most intelligent--post here on FR.
That’s great.
Let me know if /and how it is helpful. I’m trying to make sense of it, you know, having a complicated family and all... :)
(Asking for a friend)
And, yes, God bless Jim Rob and the Freeper community he created.
Now there’s a headline you don’t see every day!
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