Foreigners in Thailand are advised to exercise the utmost caution if attempting to buy or consume cannabis, locally known as ganja. The police force is notoriously corrupt, and horror stories of planted drugs, exorbitant bribes and harsh prison sentences abound. The death penalty is also fairly common for serious narcotics offences in Thailand, and numerous foreign nationals have been sentenced thus, although many such sentences are transmuted to life in prison or even repatriation (usually after intervention by the individual’s legal and diplomatic representatives).