NIGHTSPOTS MUST CHECK CUSTOMER AGES OR FACE FINE

Nightspots must confirm customers' ages by checking ID cards under
new regulations to come out this month, or be fined 10,000-50,000
baht.

The move is part of a government campaign against drug use among young people.

Interior Minister Purachai Piemsomboon yesterday said the new
regulations, to be enforced after cabinet endorsement, would make
entertainment places off-limits to people under 20.

Teenagers often hold "drug parties" in bars, pubs and discotheques.

Mr Purachai said the regulations would also authorise narcotics
officers to search guesthouses and condominiums, and order a 15-day
closure of such places if drug activities were found. Their owners
would be fined 10,000-50,000 baht. Criminal Court chief justice
Sombat Deo-isres, meanwhile, said the court had received 5,862 drug
cases from January to May and the number was expected to rise to
14,000 by the year's end.

Most of the cases involved methamphetamines, followed by heroin and
marijuana, Mr Sombat said.

The court had so far this year sentenced 19 drug convicts to death
and 31 others to life imprisonment, he said. Last year, 50 drug
convicts were sentenced to death.

Mr Sombat said the court was worried about overcrowded prisons and
wanted help from the private sector. About 12,000 people in jail were
still on trial and considered innocent, and should not be kept in
prison environment, he said. Mr Sombat invited owners of vacant
buildings to rent them to people awaiting court verdicts.