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Missus just told me that rival gangs had a knife fight at the public school and that a famous singer was caught in between, got sliced up, and is now dead. Some of the scum were from the village. Drugs have permeated even the backwater countryside.

CEO news.. can you find this story translate and post?

Don't know which public school you are referring to, or anything about a famous singer, but there was this story in the news recently.
newsworthy/fatal-siem-reap-gang-fight-s ... 33732.html

Drugs have been a problem in the countryside for many years. Part of the problem is that the under-educated parents don't recognize that there could be a problem with little Rithy smoking meth or drinking rice wine. Simply because they don't know what it is or what it does. Rural meth heads have been in the news for many years too, burning down their parents house, attacking their parents or best friend with a machete, etc.

Cambodia makes 60% of its own meth, so drugs are an all pervading thing. It's about wealth gaps, really. If you have large-scale disenfranchisement and a significant gap in the distribution of wealth you will always have violence and instability. cf Brazil, South Africa, Angola, Chile, Argentina etc etc. Unless there are polices for the more equal distribution of wealth then life will get cheaper, not more respected.

Ya, I mean back in the 1970’s when there were policies for the equal distribution of wealth in Cambodia there were no drugs, gangs, and the poor had a more valued place in society.

Johno35 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2019 5:13 am Ya, I mean back in the 1970’s when there were policies for the equal distribution of wealth in Cambodia there were no drugs, gangs, and the poor had a more valued place in society.

Ya, in some people's minds there is only black and white.

The police in the smaller places, wont take on the drug gangs.

Sometimes something is done when they have assistance from somewhere else.

cptrelentless wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2019 3:54 am Cambodia makes 60% of its own meth, so drugs are an all pervading thing. It's about wealth gaps, really. If you have large-scale disenfranchisement and a significant gap in the distribution of wealth you will always have violence and instability. cf Brazil, South Africa, Angola, Chile, Argentina etc etc. Unless there are polices for the more equal distribution of wealth then life will get cheaper, not more respected.

Where are you getting that 60% figure from? I can only remember one meth lab ever being found here, and as far as I know nearly all of it comes from China/ Myanmar.
As for the OP, as others have said, drugs in rural areas are nothing new.

Yeah New Kid, UT raises some valid points, not the least of which is your failure to name the province. The bucolic splendor of rural Cambodia is frequently subject to exageration. Recently in Tbong Khum we have had a
similar outbreak; I really don't want to repeat your story.unintentially.

I cant find the article referring the incident.

On the subject of drugs - well.....

Humans have been experimenting and taking drugs since forever.

My crystal ball says they will continue to do so.

No amount of education, suppression, wars will ever change that.

Part and Parcel of the Human Condition.

In Bumfuck Thailand, it is the same. What is a 17-year-old to do? Go to bed at 8 pm like everyone else? White whiskey and meth are the only two escapes. Braindead with no foreseeable future the rural poor teenager has few good options to choose from. Get high, get your girlfriend pregnant and pray to Buddha that someday you can run away to the big city and get a shitty construction job.

As to things being different in the 70's, yes, war and genocide definitely put a crimp on thug life.