Section 49: Order banning liquor or drugs after sentence
Statutory text (Thai original)
ในกรณีที่ศาลพิพากษาลงโทษจำคุก หรือพิพากษาว่ามีความผิดแต่รอการกำหนดโทษ หรือรอการลงโทษบุคคลใด ถ้าศาลเห็นว่าบุคคลนั้นได้กระทำความผิดเกี่ยวเนื่องกับการเสพย์สุราเป็นอาจิณ หรือการเป็นผู้ติดยาเสพย์ติดให้โทษ ศาลจะกำหนดในคำพิพากษาว่า บุคคลนั้นจะต้องไม่เสพย์สุรา ยาเสพย์ติดให้โทษอย่างหนึ่งอย่างใด หรือทั้งสองอย่าง ภายในระยะเวลาไม่เกินสองปีนับแต่วันพ้นโทษ หรือวันปล่อยตัวเพราะรอการกำหนดโทษ หรือรอการลงโทษก็ได้ ในกรณีที่บุคคลดังกล่าวในวรรคแรกไม่ปฏิบัติตามที่ศาลกำหนด ศาลจะสั่งให้ส่งไปคุมตัวไว้ในสถานพยาบาลเป็นเวลาไม่เกินสองปีก็ได้
English translation
Where the court passes a sentence of imprisonment, or adjudges a person guilty but suspends the determination of the punishment or suspends its execution, if the court is of the opinion that that person committed the offence in connection with habitual consumption of liquor or with being addicted to a narcotic drug, the court may specify in the judgment that that person must not consume liquor, or a narcotic drug, or both, for a period not exceeding two years from the day of release from punishment, or from the day of discharge by reason of the suspension of the determination of the punishment or of its execution.
If the person referred to in paragraph one does not comply with what the court has specified, the court may order that person to be sent for custody in a medical facility for a period not exceeding two years.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 49 is a measure of safety rather than a punishment, and it can be attached to a judgment in three situations: where the court passes a sentence of imprisonment, where it adjudges the person guilty but suspends the determination of the punishment, and where it suspends the execution of the punishment. The gateway is a link between the offending and the substance: the court must be of the opinion that the person committed the offence in connection with habitual consumption of liquor or with being addicted to a narcotic drug. The prohibition may cover liquor, a narcotic drug, or both, and it runs for a period not exceeding two years counted from the day of release from punishment, or from the day of discharge where the punishment was suspended, so it does not run during imprisonment. Paragraph two supplies the sanction for breach: the court may order the person to be sent for custody in a medical facility for a period not exceeding two years, a treatment-oriented measure in the same family as Section 48.
Why this matters in practice
The measure outlasts the sentence, because the two years run from release and not from the judgment, and a breach can result in up to two years in a medical facility, which is a real deprivation of liberty imposed without a fresh offence. It is available only where the offending is genuinely connected with habitual drinking or with addiction, so that connection is the point to contest at sentencing. Anyone sentenced in a drink-related or drug-related case should know before release exactly what was ordered and when the period starts; see our overview of Thailand drug laws and penalties.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 888/2548 (2005)
A safety-measure condition barring a person from involvement with narcotics after release must be imposed within the limits the law allows; an order that misapplies that measure is a question of public order the Supreme Court may correct even without an appeal on the point.
In a methamphetamine case the trial court ordered the defendants barred from any involvement with narcotics for two years from release. The Supreme Court held that this had not been imposed correctly and, as a question of public order, corrected it even though no party had appealed that point.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 23 Supreme Court decisions (1993 to 2015)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 888/2548 (2005)
- Decision 8593/2544 (2001)
- Decision 6879/2541 (1998)
- Decision 3346/2541 (1998)
- Decision 114/2538 (1995)
- Decision 5078/2537 (1994)
- Decision 874/2537 (1994)
- Decision 45/2537 (1994)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
- Section 78 19
- Section 91 13
- Section 83 9
- Section 33 9
- Section 90 8
- Section 157 3
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
When can a court ban an offender from alcohol or drugs?
Under Section 49, where the court is of the opinion that the person committed the offence in connection with habitual consumption of liquor or with being addicted to a narcotic drug. The court may then specify the prohibition in the judgment for a period not exceeding two years.
When does the two-year period start?
From the day of release from punishment, or from the day of discharge where the court suspended the determination or the execution of the punishment. It does not run while the person is in prison.
What happens if the person breaks the no-drug or no-alcohol condition?
Under Section 49 the court may order the person to be sent for custody in a medical facility for a period not exceeding two years.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 49 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 49. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-49/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 49 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-49/ -
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The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.