A Thai Temple Is Left Empty Because All Its Monks Tested Positive for Meth

Monks and meth are two words you don’t typically see in one sentence, but on this occasion, the irony is heavy. An entire Thai Buddhist monastery in the province of Phetchabun was emptied after all of its monks tested positive for meth. 

Meth or methamphetamine is a form of crystalline hydrochloride and is a powerful and addictive stimulant easily accessible and affordable in countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Meth is colloquially known by its other names such as shabu, ice, glass, chalk, crank, or chicken feed. It is the most widespread recreational drug in the Philippines. 

The entire monastery is using meth.

Following a tragic incident in the same province of Phetchabun that saw the massacre of 38 people by a suspect, a former police officer who had been dismissed for drug abuse, more stringent drug monitoring measures were put in place in the province, which led to the discovery of a whole monastery using the addictive substance. 

Sungyut Namburi, the village chief at Bung Sam Phan subdistrict, told the Washington Post: 

“As a community leader, I was frightened because I never thought the monks would be addicted to drugs… I never thought that drugs would spread to temples.”

All four monks, including the abbot at the village’s Buddhist temple, tested positive for meth. According to the Post, the monks’ behaviors were tell-tale signs of drug addiciton, particularly of meth addiction:

So it was much to Sungyut’s surprise that all four monks in one small temple tested positive for methamphetamine use when he and the sheriff paid a visit to the monastery Friday. At another small temple, two monks tested positive, he said. But the writing was on the wall: The monks’ personality and behavior gave them away as drug users, Sungyut said. Some villagers had tipped him off, telling him to check on temples in the community. Even the abbot — the head of the monastery, who had served as a monk for 10 years — was found to be using drugs. “When I inspected the abbot’s shelter, I was stunned because it was a mess,” Sungyut said. After the drug tests came back positive, he said, the monks confessed to using drugs. Some of them admitted to being longtime addicts.

For now, the temple is empty. 

But Sungyut is looking for a “good monk” to fill in for the meth monks. A couple of monks from neighboring communities have already gathered at the village temple to replace the misbehaving monks.