OPINION

Fitting Tina tribute

Re: "The remarkable lady from Nutbush", (PostScript, May 28).

Thank you, Roger Crutchley, for your homage to Tina Turner. I encountered Tina's song in the famous Tiffany show in Pattaya at the beginning of this century.

Every year after that, I have visited Tiffany. Tina's Proud Mary song livened up the crowd every time the talented dancers of Tiffany staged it. The show has a mesmerising power.

I am sure Tiffany will soon have a full show dedicated to the memory of the great Tina. Tina's shows clearly contrasted with what you mentioned in your piece "Different strokes for different folks" some weeks ago. Eurovision looks more like an electronic sound and light show with very little quality or appeal in its songs and dance.

Re: "Flaws in weed policy" & "Take the medical path", (BP, May 30).

While I would probably not have voted for Pita Limjaroenrat, he is inheriting a cannabis policy that clearly won't work and makes Thailand look poor on the international stage.

I would suggest that should Mr Pita become prime minister, he considers converting some of the weed entrepreneurs to pharmacists who prescribe only to patients with a medical certificate and a script from a licensed Thai physician.

And that the remaining dispensaries/pharmacies are overseen by a senior Thai doctor who reports to a national reporting system.

Another idea is that government financial support and vocational retraining should be considered for retailers and manufacturers of cannabis products.

Some no doubt do not suit the purely "medical benefit environment" for which decriminalisation was intended.

To conclude, while Mr Pita may not yet have concise answers, many people feel that Thailand's current cannabis policy has rarely served the country.

It speaks well of Mr Pita, as well as the MFP, that they are starting to realise that mistakes might have been made.

While I feel badly for some establishments which may go out of business, many cannabis producers in the USA are now suffering the same fate as society learns to separate those with medical needs from "deadheads" in the school zone.

Re: "Beware the boss", (PostBag, May 15) & "30% not a majority", (PostBag, May 25).

In both of his published letters, Yingwai Suchaovanich acts as if he has the best interests at heart for the country when he says the MFP did not want a majority of seats in the last general election, and so they have to wait their turn and respect the will of the 250 people in the senate to finally get a majority.

I wish to point out to Khun Yingwai that actually, the Move Forward Party clearly won the election and would already be in power in most other countries.

When he talks about wishing to avoid the Hong Kong-style democracy riots of 2019-20 and branding them "illegal", or the consequences of recognising Taiwanese independence and allowing more American military bases in Thailand, he is basically showing where his true interests lie at heart: in not offending China.

The bottom line is that Thais, who voted in record numbers during the last election, deserve to have a person who they voted for democratically, not somebody who is satisfactory to the communist regime of another country.

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