THAI VILLAGE SCARES ADDICTS STRAIGHT

The Associated Press BAN PANG LAO, Thailand -- This rice-farming village in
the hills of northern Thailand was being destroyed by drugs. Children stole
from family rice stores to buy methamphetamine -- the drug of choice for
most Thai addicts -- and outsiders drove into town all night long to buy
the little orange pills from a few dozen villagers who had taken up drug
dealing full- time.

Then, backed up by angry residents and relatives, the village elders
threatened the area drug dealers and users with a terrifying fate for a
Thai: If they died, no one would attend their funerals, and no monk would
say prayers for their souls.

The dealers and users soon cleaned up their act, and no one suffered ostracism.

"The thing villagers fear most is dying and not having anyone help with
their cremation," said Sumalee Wanarat, a former teacher who now works with
Ban Pang Lao's anti-drug program.

Thai Buddhists believe that their soul will be consigned to hell if funeral
rites are not performed properly.

A well-attended funeral -- usually an elaborate affair of relatives and
musicians -- is one of the main requirements of a proper Buddhist cremation.

"We set up village rules and told them that if they were involved with
drugs, we would cut them off from the community completely," said Sumalee.

"We have to depend on ourselves because we suffer the consequences, not the
outsiders," Sumalee said.