The interior and education ministries have been praised for their efforts to curb drinking at parties for officials who are due to retire at the end of this month.
The policy has been in place for seven years now. It was introduced at the request of the StopDrink Network Office, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, the Office of the Basic Education Commission and a network of teachers crusading for an alcohol-free society.
Suttipong Juljarern, the Interior Ministry permanent secretary, reiterated the policy in a directive issued on Aug 28 to provincial governors and heads of agencies under the ministry’s supervision. Suthin Kaewpana, deputy permanent secretary at the Education Ministry, issued a similar instruction on Aug 29.
“Many officials will retire at the end of this month and parties are being thrown,” said Theera Watcharapranee, director of the StopDrink Network Office.
“The campaigns should set a good example for other agencies to follow. The network would also like to invite agencies organising alcohol-free parties to send pictures and captions to our Facebook page so we can use them as material.”
Mr Theera said that around 16 million Thais are alcohol drinkers, of which 46.4% were men. Notably, the number of male drinkers has been declining while the number of female drinkers has been increasing.
Alcohol consumers aged 15-19 are also on the decline, though many who start young tend to become regular consumers, said Mr Theera.
This shows that even though the country has very strict laws against alcoholic beverage advertising, producers are targeting women and young people via online marketing, he said.