"Hey Mike, check the fuckin' T-shirt the plain-clothes is wearing over there".
Mike and I were, as usual, sitting at the bar in Nathon, Koh Samui, Thailand.
Well, not so much as usual, of late; we'd both been pushing heavy workloads but now were winding it off on a Friday night.
Event #129: Restless Minds
 G21 DAY ONE: TODAY: PHIL MARTIN says "Thank You," to the late SHARI LEWIS.
 G21 ASIA: Alumnus KIM CARTER returns to report on the Full Moon parties of Koh Phangan, Thailand, and the drug ships of Hong Kong.
 FAX NIKITA is back on deck with more of The Weird!
 QUEER PLANET: PHIL MARTIN decides to visit summer camp and gets the surprise of a lifetime. "CAMP HOMO NO MO."
 ON DRUGS: ADAM J. SMITH on kids in Florida who have a new game: "Drug Dealer." "The Pompano Beach Twelve."
 POWERSBOOKS: BOB POWERS on the reissue of two titles by ALBERT SCHWEITZER, JOHN P. NEWPORT's tome on the New Age movement, and JOHN LOUGHERY on Gay History.
 RADIO ACTIVE: RADIO RAHEEM says "WHERE ARE THE SISTAHS?"
G21 DAY ONE: THOMAS HART explains this "Slow Week for Dish." [Excuses, excuses. --- Ed.]
 K.O.'s CALLS: K.O. on the Mo Vaughn Saga.
AND in a SPECIAL G21 SPORTS EXTRA: ADAM J.SMITH & KRIS OLSON take off the gloves in a Beantown versus The Big Apple bout. Marv Albert takes it on the chin. G21 DAY ONE: ROD AMIS on the The Evidence of Our Own Eyes.
 POWERSSOUND: BOB POWERS "sings" the praises of Sonny Rollins' new CD "Global Warming; looks at the Arbor Records Sampler; GOSSIPS about:
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The police had, apparently, found it amusing to create their very own T-shirts for their regular drug raids at the Full Moon Parties on Koh Phangaan, a neighboring island.
The parties began back in the late 80's with the arrival of back-packers and hippy travellers to the islands in the south of The Gulf of Thailand. The beaches on Koh Phangaan are simply stunning. White sand, palm trees, crystal clear waters : a real stereotypical postcard scene. Lovely place.
So came the back-packers, the young budget-minded travellers who simply love to party. The islands offered a step back from the modern world, a lost Paradise found again.
From Goa in India and Katmandu in the Himalaya, from the Kashmir hills and the River Ganjes they came over to Samui and out to Phangaan. Every month, on the full moon, they gather on Haad Rin beach and dance and howl at the moon; often with the assistance of copious quantities of drugs.
I remember travelling here back in the 80's. Many restaurants had very interesting dishes on their menus. Dishes such as "Ganja Grill", "Real Hash Brownies", "Majik Mushroom Milkshake" and "Green Ganja Salad".
Halucinogenic mushrooms, amphetamines, marijuana, and opiates were readily available. You could buy a bag of dope in the market. Ready rolled in Marlboro packs. Dried magic mushrooms. Sticky blocks of raw, black opium. Imported Hashish from Nepal. Rough and raw local Ya Maaj (speed).
So, off they'd go. Bag of dope, some mushrooms, get a few beers up at the bar and hit the beach, listen to Techno and dance the night away in the company of friends and like-minds.
It was heaven for them. Party-up, rock'n'roll, all night long dancing, tranced out, zombied. Cheap drugs, good food, cheap and cold beers, great Techno on the beach with lights and mats to sit on: heaven, paradise.
The island has it's own website. Check it out, mates!
"Some years ago, a group of tourists and the owner of Paradise Bungalow found that the most beautiful moon was in Koh Phangan.
"They arranged a party along the crescent-shaped beach of Haad Rin to celebrate the Full Moon night.
"From then on, people from all over the world came to join the celebration. And now there are 7,000-10,000 people at the party each month.
"The party begins at dusk, when the round yellow moon makes its appearance over the white sand beach. In twilight, small tables are lined up on the beach and thousands of lamps are lit.
"As the evening progresses the beach explodes into a dancing frenzy as different m.c.'s take their turn on the decks. There is something for everyone here, trance, techno, drum and bass, commercial dance and reggae, no-one is disappointed.
"Jugglers and fire-eaters entertain the crowds as the night goes on and with the brilliant impromptu fireworks display, the party atmosphere is complete.
The website then proceeds to give us some timely and true enough information and warnings about DAHRUGS!
"Keep away from DRUGS, no matter what anyone says. Someone might try to sell them to you but remember DRUGS are ILLEGAL in Thailand and VERY STRONG PENALTIES..."
Used to be that the drug "problem" was no issue at all. Sure a few wankers drowned themselves probalby because they were so stoned they forgot they were in the water and started trying to breath under there. They drown anyway, now and then, with or without the drugs.
The police used not to attend the parties at all. Then due to pressure from the US DEA and other "international protection agencies" the police began to establish a presence at the parties. At first it was very, very discreet --- the object being to bust people, not simply discourage drug use. Discreet, undercover, disguised.
Getting busted used to be a great way to loose all your money and goods and possibly spend several nights in a rathole to boot. But you could buy your way out as a rule.
Now we have the "honest cops." (Lucky, aren't we?) They are the ones at the party wearing the "Full Moon Party Time : POLICE" T-shirts. You can't miss them. They appear to be uncorruptable. But every officer has his price, don't you all worry about that.
Now when you get busted you really get busted. You get to spend several MONTHS in a rathole and, yes, you still get to loose ALL your money and goods as well. Great work, isn't it?
Haven't the drug agencies been doing such a fine job?
From information recently gleaned from one of my most reliable contacts : you can still pay your way out of trouble but when in the past this may have cost you tens of thousands of baht, now it will cost you hundreds and hundreds of thousands of baht, if you can get hold of the cash quick enough. If you got busted by the "right officers". If you were very lucky.
Off the coast of the island, not far from the parties, fishing boats with payloads of heroin, bound for Hong Kong, sail pass. Protected. Known to the "authorities". Owned by "respectable" men and women.
But it is ---obviously --- very, very important to bust poor, ignorant hippies for smoking dope. And processing the charges, the paperwork, and then locking them up a while : all at the expense of the very poor Thai taxpayers.
Oh DEA, you do such a wonderful job in the international arena, don't you?
The parties are still fun. They still dance all night long and many still take lots of drugs; albeit more discretely than before. The police prance about in their very cool new T-shirts.
If you come to Koh Samui you should go out to Koh Phangaan at least once to watch the police doing their dangerous "stalk-the-hippy" routine. Or what-the-hell-ever they call it.
Meanwhile, the drug boats sail by, bound for Hong Kong and the children of the world are exposed to another several tons of heroin. Wonderful.