A Buddhist temple has run out of monks: they all tested positive for the drug

A Thai temple inhabited by four monks was left empty afterwards all the religious test positive for the drug and were sent to a detoxification center, police sources in Efe said on Tuesday.

In a routine operation, police officers went to the Sap Kaset Nok temple in Bueng Sam Phan town in central Petchabun province and carried out drug tests on the temple abbot and three monks, which were found to be all positive.

According to local media reports, the four monks were removed from the temple on Monday failed the urine tests that the police gave them. Officials did not say what brought the temple to their attention by police, the BBC reports.

A police spokesman said the provincial governor had ordered the clerics expelled from monasticism to be sent to a detoxification center, although no charges had been filed against them.

The measure has meant that the temple, located in a rural area, remains empty, while the religious authorities send other police officers to monitor it.

Thailand and methamphetamines

Thailand has a serious drug problem, mainly due to the methamphetaminesituation that worsened after the coup d’état in nearby Burma (Myanmar), where most of the drug traffic comes from.

Bueng police spokesman Sam Phan said they raid schools, temples and communities to locate drug addicts and help them rehabilitate.

In recent years, methamphetamine has become a major problem in Thailand, with seizures of the drug reaching an all-time high in 2021, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The country is a major transit point for methamphetamine. The drug arrives in the country from Myanmar, the world’s largest producer of methamphetamines, via Laos.

The pills are then sold on the street for around 50 baht ($1.40).

Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha last month ordered a drug crackdown after a former police officer fired for possession of methamphetamines killed 37 people in a shooting at an asylum.

90 percent of Thais profess Buddhism and in the country there are about 30,000 temples and 300,000 monks, according to data from the authorities.

Unlike the priesthood in Christian Churches, Buddhists can be ordained for short periods of time, although there are also those who become monks for life.

Controversy has arisen in Thailand in recent years among some monks for failing to abide by monastic rules of austerity and living in luxury and even being involved in sex or drug scandals.