Drugs in Laos? How Stupid Can You Get?
Image: HKmPUA
While looking through the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree travel message boards the other day, I came across this posting on Vang Vieng, Laos:
I have just returned from Laos and want to warn travellers about the police in Vang Viang. We were there for 2 days. Vang Viang has a real party atmosphere and the impression that is given is that the police turn a blind eye to drug taking and drugs being sold i.e on menus – mushy shakes, happy pizza. We were arrested by 3 intimidating and threatening police officers for smoking a cigarette with a very small amount of cannabis in it. We had nothing else on us. They took us to the police station. They forced us to write and sign a “confession”. Most of the page was written in Laos which, obviously, we could not read.
When we questioned anything they would say that they would take us to the jail. They made us get our passports from our guesthouse and then told us that we had 2 options. Option 1 = go to jail for one and a half years, option two = pay them $600 per person to “make the problem go away”. They would keep our passports until we paid.
Whilst we were in the police station we saw around 10 other people who the same thing had happened to.
The point of this post is not about whether it is right, wrong or stupid to take drugs in Laos. The point is that these police are arresting and blackmailing tourists for very large amounts of money. The money is going into their pockets. They are not targetting the people selling drugs. It is all about the money, not preventing drugs being taken in Vang Vieng.
Are you effing kidding me?
That was the attitude of most of the respondents, as you can see here.
Seriously, how stupid can you be to do drugs in Southeast Asia? Haven’t you seen Brokedown Palace?
And you have the nerve to go online and whine about the mean, mean police and the very, very small amount of cannabis in your cigarette?
Buddy, you got caught smoking a joint and you thought nothing would happen because it was Laos, and it was such a chill place, mano. Admit it. But thanks to incredible — incredible! — luck, you just avoided a year and a half in prison. I wouldn’t be complaining if I were you.
I do plan on visiting Vang Vieng on my eventual trip to Southeast Asia. And in that backpacker town, I plan on going tubing, trekking to waterfalls, and dancing to Lady Gaga at various Aussie-filled riverside bars. With no happy shakes in sight.
Seriously, how stupid can you get?
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At age 26, I quit my job to travel the world alone. I spent six fantastic months in Southeast Asia and turned my travel blog into a full-time business. Today, I travel full-time, going anywhere that sounds wacky or beautiful or interesting. My goal is to show YOU how you can travel the world on your own -- easily, safely, and adventurously. 
I have to disagree. This is not a story about drugs in Laos. It is a story about open and accepted public corruption to fleece tourists. These travelers were not out looking for thai stick or opium dens. SE Asia has a terrible situation where “dealers” and “police” collude to fleece young European/Aussie tourists (and I guess their parents if the bribe is $600!) of their money.
P.S. how could “police” have known there was cannabis mixed with the Marlboro? The laotian who sold them the cigarette told the cops one minute after the sale.
P.P.S. Thanks for “Brokedown Palace” reminder. Headed to BKK, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai and doing a little Netflix Thai Film Festival.
I hear you, I totally hear you.
But first — do not say THEIR PARENTS!! One of my biggest pet peeves is when people assume that people who take around-the-world trips are rich kids bankrolled by their parents! SO not true. Most of us, myself included, spend years living far below our means and sacking away every spare penny so we can afford long-term budget travel — and wouldn’t dream of asking our parents for money. (Most yearlong budget RTW trips cost in the neighborhood of $20,000; some can be quite cheaper.)
And I agree…police corruption is a huge, huge problem in Laos. But if you’re going to do drugs in a country that has notoriously harsh punishments for drug possession, you should be prepared for the consequences. These guys got off SO easy, and yet they’re whining about it.
Let me know when you’re going…I’m thinking of going to Thailand this Christmas!
I’m leaving on Christmas Day. NYE in Chiang Mai, then Rai, Siem Reap and Phnom Pehn. Wanted to squeeze in Laos, but no way with just 2 weeks. Next time Saigon, DaLat, Laos and that Vietnamese beach you posted in “Wanderlust”.
I was NOT saying their parents bankroll the trip. I was just saying if your get hit with a $600 bribe, you probably don’t have that many immediate resources to cover it, making a call to the parents a high probability.
PS. If you take the Christmas Day Cathay Pacific with the Vancouver stop (for airport yoga) we’ll look forward to buying you a drink.
Oh, good. Sorry about that!!
Absolutely.
And I love the sound of airport yoga! Where can I get in on that?! I’ll keep you posted!
Went to Tangier years ago. Was warned about being sold hash. A young boy, age 10 or so, very American looking approached us with a softball of hashish for $5. I declined, but knew the cops were watching us. He would have taken $5 from us for the hash and $5 from t he cops for turning us in. Then the cops get their money too. I was warned and heeded that warning. It happens every day!
I almost told that exact story in this post! I’ve always remembered it.
If tales about drugs interest you, why not get them from reliable sources rather than relying on gossip, urban myth and Hollywood movies?
… do you remember the story of Beth in Spain and the guy who’s friend across the street “likes girls with pretty eyes”?
I have to agree that no matter who is paying the eventual bill taking drugs anywhere in South East Asia is a pretty bad idea. Expected the police to treat a “very small amount of cannabis” in the same way they would at home is naive, as is expecting them not to look at this is a great way to take a lot of money from you!
Hmmm. I completely agree on both counts – ie of police blackmail being very bad, but also of the stupidity of doing drugs – even just a tiny bit of weed – in southeast Asia. Like you say, Kate, they were very lucky to have been blackmailed rather than locked up…or worse. It’s stupid, and its irresponsible. Laos has a history of drug problems, and the last thing it needs is backpackers coming along and encouraging it – regardless of the fact that it was weed and not opium, it’s just a bad idea.
The trouble with Vang Vieng is that it’s developed a reputation for its party scene, its drugs, its drink etc. Backpackers go there just to go tubing and get drunk/high. And there will always be people, in any country in the world, who are going to use a situation like that to make money, so it’s hardly surprising. I was in Laos for over a month and I never had any run ins with the police. But then, I didn’t do any drugs so….it’s not like it was completely undeserved that this happened to these guys. Vang Vieng is not very indicative of the rest of Laos, thank goodness….let’s just hope it stays like that, because it’s a really special place.
You don’t do any drugs? You mean you don’t drink alcohol, or tea, or coffee – or cigarettes, or aspirin etc.? Come on, this is the 21st century. Spare us the Victorian platitudes!
Why not reserve your contempt for the drug laws we are subject to, instead of singling out the victims of these laws for your scorn?
Do you realise how Vang Vieng works?
The owners of the cafes where ganja, opium, mushrooms etc. are sold all pay their bribes to the administrative head of the Vang Vieng area. As such, nobody will ever be busted by the police while taking drugs while at the bar or cafes where they buy them. Anybody who does get arrested has left themselves vulnerable by smoking on the street or somewhere else in public. Simple as that.
Yes, this is a crap situation to put it mildly. But it is a situation created by international drug law. And it will remain this way as long as the US can keep it like this. And ignorant posts like on the net pouring scorn on the victims of those laws – in this case backpacker brats, but still victims nevertheless – are all part and parcel of making it easier for these cruel, misguided laws to stay in place…
I find it staggering to read Kate’s blog pouring scorn on people for getting busted, and not on the legal system that allows police to get away with what is nothing more than theft… it’s beneath contempt…
So true. Same thing in Thailand. At the full moon party, there are undercover cops who are just waiting for the kill. And special shakes all over the place.
Just say NO.
I’d be interested to hear if anyone has first-hand experience with being busted for happy-shakes or other goodies consumed in restaurants. As far as I observed in Vang Vieng when I was there in 2007, the police agree to look the other way when it comes to happy menus in restaurants and it’s only when someone is foolish enough to mess with drugs outside the confines of the restaurants that trouble starts. Makes perfect sense in a town where corruption is so entrenched and everyone’s out to profit off the vulnerability of naive backpackers.
I spent a night in the police station there myself. Didn’t get busted for anything, but a couple of friends did and I went along for moral support (and ultimately to help them bribe their way out). Only cost them $300 between the two of ‘em, and we met some guys the next day who got off with $200, so negotiating well makes a difference. Obviously the most important moral here though is that it’s an incredibly bad idea to mess with drugs in SE Asia.
I agree with you 100% Kate. If you do drugs in any of these countries, you deserve whatever punishment you get. Not only if you do drugs in SE Asian countries, but ANY country. Isn’t it time to grow up!?
Wow Ryan – does that apply to the 500,000 plus non-violent drugs offenders locked up in jails in the US?
Did you know that 54% of those prisoners are black?
Did you know that more white people do drugs in the US than blacks?
Isn’t it time to grow up?
Isn’t it time you realised that the War on Drugs is a war on black people, a war to roll back the gains of the civil rights movement, and to wage war on liberty and freedom of choice.
Educate yourself. Start by reading ‘The New Jim Crow’ by Michelle Alexander… on the NY Times bestseller list for several weeks now.
and does that apply in countries that regularly execute people caught smuggling drugs – like Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand
if you knew that the people were mostly poorly educated vulnerable and malnourished people from the countryside, would you still champion their murder on the net?
Spot on! Gotta be prepared to cop the consequences if you do decide to be stupid.
I had exactly the same thing happen to me about 10 hours ago and i wasn’t even smoking, i happened to be walking back from a bar behind some people who were smoking and yet i got treated exactly the same. This isnt about whether you were or werent doing drugs, its about being a tourist and therefore a $sign in alot of these places. Also, these guys are thugs – they manhandle you and intimidate you and dnt answer any of your questions. I wasn;t even allowed to got to the toilet.
So anyway, even if you are careful or discreet or dont even partke in any drug taking, it can still happen
I did alot of drugs in Laos, Smoked Jaba, Injected and smoked heroin, smoked ganja and opium. even the mushroom shakes in Vang Vien in daytime. Nothing happend and no one i heard of got busted. I think if you have a positive outlook instead of a paranoid vibe then the police wont get so curious ?
Anyways what happens in a motel room cant be seen by the police. relax and have fun, the country is still perfect for that !
If your only basis for your opinion is Brokedown Palace, you need to stop posting ridiculous things like this on the internet.
I have been in laos for 2 months and spent a month and a half in Vang Vieng.
Here is the reality:
1. There are VERY FEW Australians in Vang Vieng. 80% of people here are English, 5% Canadian and 15% from other countries. I have met about 15 Australians and over 200 English people… sorry to burst your bubble.
2. If you smoke in a restaurant with a happy menu, FOR THE MOST PART you have nothing to worry about. It’s when you smoke on the streets or non-discretely that you can run into trouble.
3. If you pay off a cop to make the problenm go away, you are not lucky. This is standard routine. $600.00 is a big fine but the point is that every cop has a price and you will not go to jail if you are willing to pay it.
4. Brokedown Palace was set in Thailand, not Laos and they weren’t charged with possesion or even trafficking. They were charged with smugglin narcotics across the border. This is a much more serious crime.
5. I have been here for a month and a half and NONE of the bars play Lady Gaga… sorry to burst your bubble.
Be smart, but have fun. This city is built on tourism because of the mushrooms, pot, opium and MASS amount of alcohol they sell. The cops don’t give a fuck about drug use. They do, however want tourists money which is why they “arrest” you. Trust me, those cops don’t want you to go to jail either, they just want your money.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop posting uninformed articles like this on the internet. Come to Vang Vieng and see how it is and until then, stop posting about Laos like you know how it is here. You don’t.
Thank you.
Thank YOU Kyle and Harry ^^.
I was almost put off going there because of these goodie goods.
Salt Sugar Caffeine Tobacco and Alcohol are drugs too. Tobacco kills half a million Americans EVERY YEAR, Hemp kills no-one.
My point is that Hemp is illegal around the world because of economics. It’s a plant. Not brewed chemicals like heroin, tobacco, alcohol etc.
As for people getting arrested and blackmailed, well that is hard luck, maybe stupidity and part of being scammed.
I’m going there in a couple of years and I’m going to buy the handfuls of the shit. Out of the city, smoke all day, every day.
Yes – wouldn’t it be nice if Lao people were able to sell Fair Trade cannabis?
The majority of the problems in Vang Vieng – drowning etc. – are caused by alcohol abuse… a legal drug, but a drug nevertheless.
From having a look around this blog, I wouldn’t expect any informed or enlightened comments by Adventurous Kate on the drug situation in Lao PDR.
I was in Vang Vieng for 10 days in 2009. Didn’t see a police officer once.
I was there for 15 days in 2011, and I say quite a few, but they had to be pointed out to me — they’re primarily plainclothes officers.
Was in Vang Vieng last week. And how dissapointed I left! After experiencing the bogan-redneck party style in Kuta a month ago, thought that VV would be the ‘real deal’, a chilled village near the river with people looking for drugs, good music and some river tubing. As it once was. How wrong or idealistic..
Reality is that nowadays is the same shit that in Kuta, replace the cement clubs for bamboo huts and the sunburnt in bintang shirts for sunburned in beerlao or “i tubed in vv” shirts.Only drunk morons with buckets, no ganja or opium ‘atmospere’ as it once had and made that place famous.
If you’re looking for the chilled village feel, go to Lonely Beach on Koh Chang. Its the opposite of Kuta and any big spots in Thailand. Cheap living, great beach, and your favorite special items sold at the restaurant/bars.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! no doobies?? I’m heading there in December and that’s all i want to do. Smoke doobies and tube.
how devo.
I can’t believe I haven’t seen that movie! It actually looks really good I need to see it.
Anyway…I think anyone stupid enough to do drugs in SE Asia then you can’t complain when you get caught. Personally, I have an irrational fear that I’ll go there, be drunk and stupid, and somehow end up in jail for the rest of my life lol.
I guess you just have to be smart I mean with everything in the media and all these kids getting caught and sent away, I don’t know why anyone would risk it.
I’ve lived in Thailand for 15 years. Been to Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia, just about everywhere in SE Asia. Never, ever had a problem with cops busting me. I’ve done drugs in all the countries but Burma. In Cambodia I bought an ounce of grass for $3, smoked some, left some in the hotel, and came back home. In Laos I done shrooms and opiium. If you simply go to someone who’s offering drugs, then you are asking for trouble. Your chances of getting thrown in jail in Laos are slim to none but worst case scenario you might have to be a couple hundred US. People have used drugs from the beginning of time and not all laws are good or deserved. Personally I think I should be able to do what I want without anyone (especially someone on a website who’s never even been here) telling me what an idiot I am for choosing to smoke some opium. I don’t need to be policed for morality.
Joe, I’ve spent over a month in Laos in the past year, as well as travel all over Southeast Asia, and I concur with what I wrote here before visiting.
The clincher was seeing a Western guy with a broken arm in Vang Vieng after he was caught by cops with weed and was told to pay $1000 instead of the “standard” caught-with-drugs fee of $500. He refused to pay the extra. They broke his arm.
Keep doing this if it makes you happy. Don’t expect smooth sailing in Asia forever.
It does make me happy and yes, I will continue to do so. I rarely smoke pot and opium but if I do, I’m not going to be carrying it around, following the instructions of a tuk-tuk or moto driver, or skipping merrily along with the first guy who asks me if I want anything. If you’re hard up/desperate to use, you’re going to get caught. In my 15+ years in SE Asia I’ve been to Cambodia 50+ times and Laos 25 or so. I make it a point to travel and see Asia. If it feels wrong, I don’t do it. But claiming that all the police are corrupt or asking for bribes is extreme. Go to Arizona or Texas or somewhere harsh on drugs in the US. If you get busted it’s going to cost you alot more than a few hundred bucks. I respect your desire to refrain from smoking pot or opium Kate but at 51, I’m going to keep doing things the way I have (successfully I might add) for 15+ years. Now trafficking drugs across the border is stupid; smoking a joint in the privacy of your own hotel is a different matter.
Dear Kate,
You wrote: “I do plan on visiting Vang Vieng on my eventual trip to Southeast Asia.”
I see from you comments that you have now actually been to Laos. Now that you have visited, do you realise how misguided and mistaken your comments are?
I live in Lao PDR and have and can read and speak the Lao language. I know the country and the people very well.
The situation you have described is an example of the endemic corruption in the country, and of young backpackers being exploited by the police as a source of bribe money.
I hope you have since taken the time to educate yourself about the realities of life in this country as from what you wrote above I, like a lot of readers, will only assume that Laos is a place you don’t understand and know next to nothing about.
Regards,
Angus
The only problem I have with your post and many of the comments here is that you guys make it look like as if smoking weed is the worst thing in the world… like seriously???? You must have grown up in a very cushy world where you are from.
And isn’t Brokedown Palace about people smuggling drugs, not actually being caught smoking weed?
There are definitely some naive and stupid people out there who are just asking to be busted by the police. But they exist anywhere. And well, the police around the world in many countries play out corruption with tourists in many different ways, not just when it comes to drugs.
I’ve smoked a fair bit of weed around the world and in SEA and no, I don’t think I’m as stupid as you portray it here. But thanks for making a highly general judgement.
Enough, people. It is her blog, and she’s allowed to broadcast whatever thoughts she feels like on it. You want the laws changed? Be cordial about it, and talk about the opinions rather than the people who have the opinions.