It was a real barn burner yesterday in Thailand’s cannery row, where a couple dozen people were getting lit on go-juice, at least until the cops showed up.
More than 20 people were found slurping kratom juice cut with cough syrup at a residence in southwest metro Bangkok, Col. Thongchai Natechawat of Samut Sakhon Police said Wednesday. Three-hundred bottles and three large kettles of juice, along with at least 5 kilograms of kratom leaves, were seized.
The juice den was serving a mixed clientele of Thai and migrant laborers in the Mahachai district of Samut Sakhon, which is home to large concentrations of migrant workers, many from Myanmar.
Police arrested a man only identified as Ta, a Myanmar national who rented about 10 rooms, mostly to migrant workers.
Acting on a tip, police arrived Tuesday afternoon to find a room in the back locked, despite hearing voices within. Upon cutting the lock, they discovered 22 people partying inside.
Officers seized all the materials as evidence.
Col. Thongchai had a message for the public:
“Please tell people not to use drugs and be alerted of drugs in all kinds, it’s not only meth nowadays,” he said by phone Wednesday.
Police said the juice den had been operating over a year. Customers were allowed into a back room in groups of 10 to 12 at a time. Each paid THB50 (US$1.60) before being locked inside with Pepsi bottles filled with boiled kratom juice cut with cough syrup, putting a stupefying sizzurp twist on top of that kratom buzz.
Kratom is a traditional medicine that combines opioid-like properties and all the fun of a stimulant effect. Though it is strictly controlled as a Class 5 narcotic, its use for medicinal purposes was decriminalized late last year along with cannabis.
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