A Buddhist temple in central Thailand has been defrocked after all of its holy men failed drug tests, they tested positive for methamphetamine. Four monks, including an abbot, at a temple in Phetchabun province's Bung Sam Phan district, were reportedly transferred to a medical facility for drug rehabilitation.
District administrator Boonlert Thintapthai was quoted in reports while stating that the temple has now become devoid of monks, and that more monks are to be dispatched to the divine premises so as locals don't face any inconvenience in regard to their worship and religious procedures.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Thailand is a major transit country for the stated drug that enters the country via Laos from Myanmar's volatile Shan state.
Reportedly, in January 2022, a Buddhist monk was arrested on charges of using and selling methamphetamine pills in a village in the Chaiyaphum region of northeastern Thailand.
