The StopDrink Network is a network of peoples’ organizations that formed and organized itself around the middle of 2003. It began with an informal meeting of a small group of important leaders on 12 June 2003, with Prof. Dr. Udomsilp Srisaengnam and Dr. Suphakorn Buasai as the leaders. The meeting was held to consult each other on the issue of lobbying for regulations to control alcohol consumption, especially regulations to forbid advertising. Those present at the meeting also consulted on methods by which ThaiHealth should work with the Ministry of Public Health. ThaiHealth’s Board of Directors agreed that ThaiHealth should do more work on the issues of alcohol and tobacco control.

This consultation resulted in a proposal for a mechanism to campaign together, in particular in the period leading up to the beginning of Buddhist Lent in July 2003. A second meeting for a small work team was set for 19 June 2003 to organize invitations for partners and allies and to prepare statistics and information. A larger meeting was held on 21 June 2003, where all parties were in broad agreement to pursue the Buddhist Lent campaign. The main concepts of the campaign were formulated, as well as media presentations for the campaign, the use of the slogan - “Vow to Stop Drinking for Lent”, the creation of a logo, and the movement of the campaign out into the field via partner organizations. In order to see progress in the right direction, a Committee to Administer the Campaign and a Committee to Implement the Campaign were formed.

Moving forward on these varied fronts to build a social trend was done through television spots, press releases, meetings with the Prime Minister, and the Ministry of Public Health taking this policy on board. A large fair was organized to be held before the beginning of Buddhist Lent at Buddha Monthon on 12 July 2003. From there, the different partners, such as Wat Thammakai, the 41 campuses of the Rajabhat Institute, the International Association of Buddhists, Sathira Dhammasathan, Wang Noi Moral Development Center, Alliance of Runners for Fitness Clubs in Thailand, Asoke Network, the Federation of Thai Industries, the Network of Development Monks, Moh Anamai and the Armed Forces undertook further work, cooperatively pooling knowledge and working together under the same goals in a way that had not been seen before.

However, coordination between the different partners, especially in supporting the media campaign, needed a managing agency. This task was entrusted to the “Friends Helping Friends Foundation”, as the media coordinating center, and to be the agency that would receive vows, as well as be a center for dispensing advice over the telephone.

The evaluation of this project at the end of Buddhist Lent was done through an opinion poll by ABAC Polls and found that 84.7% of the population had seen campaign public relations material and 94.5% agreed with the campaign. Out of a sample group of drinkers, 55.9% gave up drinking in 2003. These results were considered satisfactory.

The evaluation of this project at the end of Buddhist Lent was done through an opinion poll by ABAC Polls and found that 84.7% of the population had seen campaign public relations material and 94.5% agreed with the campaign. Out of a sample group of drinkers, 55.9% gave up drinking in 2003. These results were considered satisfactory.

After this, the work team scheduled campaigns on a continual basis by organizing alcohol-free “kathin” offering collection activities as a campaign in the last part of Lent. The work team also organized a meeting of the StopDrink Assembly in October 2003. The assembly invited all stakeholders to form the StopDrink Network together. Following this, Thai Health officially established the StopDrink Network Board of Directors, with representatives from partner organizations as the Board members, and Prof. Dr. Udomsilp Srisaengnam as the Chair. The Board of Directors and the Network partners joined in carrying out activities for New Year 2004 and for the 2004 Songkran Festival.

Around that time, ThaiHealth foresaw the need to have an agency to manage the Network systematically, to have an office, full-time staff and support for campaign activities and the movement of the network’s partners. ThaiHealth therefore proposed that Songkran Phakchokedee, who had been one of the leaders in the campaign movement from the start, should establish an office for the StopDrink Network in April 2004. Meanwhile, the Network used a space in the Fah-Apai Building in the Santi-Asoke as its office, with financial support from ThaiHealth to establish its own office and to support the Network’s partners until the Network moved into its new office, where it currently remains.

ThaiHealth has supported the project of establishing an office for the StopDrink Network in its status as an organization that supplements the work of ThaiHealth as an organizing, coordinating, and strategizing agency. ThaiHealth provided a budget of 11,334,500 baht to carry out the work of the Network and a budget of 60 million baht to support the Network’s partners for the period of April 2004 – April 2005. This work was implemented under 5 strategies:

1. Reduce the number of new drinkers (new drinkers means youth under the age of 18)
2. Build a model organization as an alcohol-free zone.
3. Build a new public consciousness, popular values and culture (for example, you can have fun, you can be cool, you can celebrate without relying on alcohol).
4. Promote each partner to work in their own skill area all over the country.
5. Work to coordinate strategies with the legal provisions and academic Subcommittees of the National Committee for Alcohol Consumption Control.