Cambodia
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| Cambodia | |
|---|---|
| កម្ពុជា (Kampuchea) | |
| Flag | 
|
| Capital | Phnom Penh |
| Continent | Asia |
| Gene Pool | Southeast Asian |
| Cannabis Status | |
| Legal Status | Illegal |
| Status Since | 1996 |
| Enforcement | Active eradication campaigns |
| Documentation | |
| Growing Regions | 1 |
| Growing Areas | 0 |
| Accessions | 1 |
Cambodia (កម្ពុជា, Kampuchea) has one of the most extensively documented cannabis histories in Southeast Asia, spanning from traditional culinary and medicinal use to large-scale commercial export and ultimately, externally driven prohibition. The Khmer term for cannabis is គញ្ជា (gaan-chah).
Cannabis was openly cultivated along the Mekong floodplains and in the southwestern coastal mountains for generations, integrated into Traditional Khmer Medicine and everyday cuisine, particularly as a flavouring in soups and stir-fries. Open market trade persisted in Phnom Penh through the mid-1990s, with cannabis sold alongside traditional herbs and medicines for as little as US$4 per kilogram.[1] By 1997, an international anti-drug workshop in Japan identified Cambodia as the second-largest source of seized marijuana in Europe, behind only Colombia.[2]
Criminalisation came in December 1996 under heavy pressure from the United States, which had added Cambodia to its list of major drug transit countries earlier that year, citing heroin trafficking rather than cannabis production as the formal justification.[3] Today, cannabis cultivation is concentrated in the mountains of Kirivong district in Takeo province, where annual eradication campaigns destroy tens of thousands of plants, yet multi-generational cultivation persists.[4]
Legal Status
Cannabis was effectively legal or unenforced in Cambodia until the mid-1990s. A 1995 police anti-drug chief acknowledged that existing UNTAC-era law was "unclear on whether possession or growing of marijuana are also offenses."[1]
In February 1996, US President Bill Clinton formally added Cambodia to the American list of major illicit drug producing and drug transit countries under Section 490(h) of the Foreign Assistance Act. The letter focused almost exclusively on heroin transit — citing a 71 kg heroin seizure in a speedboat in Koh Kong province — and did not mention cannabis production despite Cambodia's significant export trade.[3] Cambodia was dependent on foreign aid for approximately 40% of its national budget, making it highly vulnerable to US policy pressure.[2]
In December 1996, the Cambodian parliament passed the Law on Drug Management, criminalising the cultivation, manufacture, and trafficking of narcotic plants. Sources within and outside the government confirmed heavy American pressure; the law was "rammed through parliament much faster than usual, ahead of other laws which many Cambodians felt had a higher priority." A lawyer quoted in the Phnom Penh Post asked, "do they think we're all stupid?"[2]
Under Article 38 of the subsequent Law on Drug Control, anyone who intentionally cultivates narcotic plants faces imprisonment of six months to two years and a fine of 1–4 million riel (US$245–975). If the offence is committed for distribution, production, or trade, the penalty increases to two to five years imprisonment with fines of 4–10 million riel (US$975–2,435).[5]
Despite the legal framework, enforcement has historically been selective and inconsistent. Cannabis is technically classified alongside heroin and methamphetamines,[6] but in practice "authorities often make exceptions for traditional or personal use."[6] Small-scale growers are routinely educated and released after signing pledges not to reoffend, while large-scale commercial operations face prosecution — though arrests remain rare even in major eradication operations.
In 2023–2024, Prime Minister Hun Manet explicitly rejected foreign proposals for medical cannabis investment, stating: "As long as I remain PM, marijuana investment law will not be implemented."
Cultivation History
Traditional Use
Cannabis has been part of Cambodian life for generations, integrated into cuisine, traditional medicine and elderly smoking customs rather than treated as a recreational drug.
A Khmer journalist explained in 1998 that "marijuana grows very easily on the fields by the river. The farmers can just scatter the seeds and let it grow; they don't need to take care of it. Old men smoke it, and young people see it as an 'old man's habit.' Also, some people have the custom of eating it in chicken soup in the morning."[2] In Phnom Penh's markets, cannabis was sold at traditional medicine stalls alongside animal skins, herbs, barks, and other remedies — part of the established pharmacopoeia rather than a distinct drug trade.[2]
Culinary use was widespread. Market vendors reported that "even cooks in restaurants come to buy it to add to their noodle soup,"[1] and cannabis-flavoured dishes remained a feature of Cambodian food culture well into the prohibition era through the "happy pizza" phenomenon in tourist-oriented restaurants.
Post-Khmer Rouge Reconstruction (1980–1991)
The earliest documented evidence of large-scale cannabis cultivation comes from the post-Khmer Rouge period. An academic Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment of Koh Kong and Kampot provinces documented cannabis at two coastal communities:[7]
- At Koh Kapik commune on the Thai border, cannabis was "widely grown from 1980 to 1985" before a 1990s crackdown.
- At Koh Sralao, mountain forest was cut from 1980 to 1990 specifically to plant "Indian Hemp (Cannabis indica)" — a practice driven by conflict refugees from other provinces who "moved to Koh Sralao motivated by personal safety" during ongoing civil war.
Cannabis cultivation and timber selling at Koh Sralao ended in 1991 when a ban was introduced and the Ministry of Environment declared the area protected.[7] This represents the only academic botanical identification in the Cambodian record, classifying the cultivated plant as Cannabis indica.
The Thai Investment Era (1992–2002)
As Cambodia opened to foreign engagement through the UNTAC period (1992–1993), commercial cannabis cultivation expanded dramatically, fuelled by Thai capital.
In 1996, Phnom Penh anti-drug officer Heng Po identified the investment pattern on camera for Associated Press Television: "They grow it because Thai businessmen came here and gave them money to do it. Especially in Kandal, Koh Kong, and Kampot provinces. They give them money and irrigation machines."[8] The APTV footage documented open cannabis fields on "New Island" just outside Phnom Penh on the Mekong River, with irrigation pipes running through banana-intercropped plots. A farmer named Chhe Sambatt, who had been growing for three years, told the camera: "A few years ago no one ever came. It's only this year that they started, so usually I have nothing to fear."[8]
Koh Kong province became the epicentre of commercial production. A 2002 Reuters report described the province as Cambodia's "Wild West" and "a production zone for some of Asia's finest quality marijuana, grown in staggering quantities."[9] Drug lords provided farmers with "tools, seeds and fertilizer to grow cannabis in big jungle plantations" and bought the crop back at harvest.[9] The province had been virtually isolated since the Khmer Rouge cut its roads in the 1970s, accessible only by boat until a bridge to Thailand's Trat province opened in April 2002.
A two-tier quality system existed: poorly cured bulk cannabis ("hay") sold domestically for as little as US$2–4 per kilogram, while superior export-grade product was channelled through the port cities of Sihanoukville and Koh Kong to international markets.[2] In 1999, national enforcement under Police Director General Hok Lundy yielded the destruction of 25 marijuana plantations and 1,200 kg of processed cannabis in Koh Kong province alone, alongside over 4 tonnes confiscated in Sihanoukville.[10]
A 2002 Cambodia Daily investigation confirmed the scale: "Worldwide busts have fingered Cambodia's massive cannabis exports, but heroin hauls are much less common."[11]
Geographic Shift to Kirivong (2000s–present)
As enforcement pressure and new road infrastructure reduced Koh Kong's viability as a production zone in the early 2000s, the centre of gravity for cannabis cultivation shifted southeast to Kirivong district in Takeo province, near the Vietnamese border.
Main article: Kirivong Green Triangle
The Bayong Kor mountain range spans four communes in Kirivong district — Preah Bat Choan Chum, Prey Ampok, Som, and Kiri Chung Koh — and is described in police reports as "ideal for growing marijuana and smuggling to Vietnam."[12] Kirivong district police chief Yuk Sarath confirmed in 2017 that "villagers in this commune have grown such plants in their own field for family use, and also for illegal sale to Vietnam and Phnom Penh."[13]
Takeo provincial police chief Chheang Phannara stated in December 2021 that growing marijuana in Preah Bat Choan Chum commune "is not a new practice and it has been going on for many generations," attributing its persistence to the local authorities' "lack of will to implement the law."[4] Commune police chief In Vuth provided the clearest documentation of the local economy: dried marijuana leaves sell for 140,000–160,000 riel (US$35–40) per kilogram to Vietnamese traders who come to the commune to buy directly.[4]
The scale of Kirivong cultivation is significant. In the first half of 2017 alone, district police destroyed 134,886 marijuana plants and confiscated 272 kg of dried marijuana.[13] A single operation on 1 February 2020 destroyed 180,367 plants across 24 locations. Between 2019 and mid-2021, police documented 97 operations, burned crops at 443 locations, destroyed 282 water reservoirs, and confiscated 80.5 kg of dried marijuana across a total cultivated area of 60.97 hectares.[12]
Cultivation is characterised by dispersed small plots on remote mountain slopes, concealed through intercropping with cassava, cashew, sesame, and forest trees. Sophisticated irrigation systems including wells, ponds, and piped water supply the plots. Growers typically flee before police arrive — cultivators "live in the forest" during the growing season — and replant elsewhere after each raid in what officials describe as a persistent "whack-a-mole" pattern.[14]
Dispersed Cultivation Elsewhere
While Kirivong dominates modern enforcement statistics, cannabis cultivation has been documented across multiple provinces, often characterised by distinct local patterns.
In Battambang province, small-scale cultivation in lowland agricultural areas follows an "educate and release" enforcement pattern, with growers citing personal, medicinal, or family use. A 36-year-old man arrested in 2015 with 236 plants said he "grew the plants to use himself and to help treat someone in his family."[15]
The Cardamom Mountains corridor spanning Pursat, Kampong Speu, and Kampot harbours remote cultivation in deep mountain forests. In 2015, 7,637 plants were found hidden among sesame crops across rented land in Pursat's Phnom Kravanh district; the farmer had brought the plants from Kandal province.[16]
A notable pattern of cultivation expertise export has been documented: in 2021, a man from Takeo province established a 7,000-plant operation on Bunong indigenous land in Mondulkiri province, deceiving local landowners who "saw plants they had never seen before" into growing cannabis among their vegetables.[17] Similarly, the 2015 Pursat operation involved plants sourced from Kandal province.[16] These cases suggest established growing zones serve as sources of agricultural knowledge that radiate outward as local enforcement pressure increases.
International Context
Cambodia's cannabis prohibition is inseparable from the geopolitics of American drug policy. President Clinton's February 1996 letter adding Cambodia to the US drug country list focused on heroin transit — not cannabis — yet the resulting diplomatic pressure drove the December 1996 criminalisation of a traditional crop that had no measurable impact on the United States.[3]
The irony was noted by a 2002 Cambodia Daily investigation, which observed that "worldwide busts have fingered Cambodia's massive cannabis exports" while heroin hauls remained rare and largely unsubstantiated — the opposite of the Clinton letter's framing.[11] The US government knew of narcotics-related corruption "in government and business circles,"[3] yet pressured the same corrupt government to enforce prohibition, creating a system where powerful traffickers were protected while small farmers bore the enforcement burden.
A 2015 seizure of 1,400 kg of dried marijuana in Phnom Penh revealed that the cannabis "was not planted in Cambodia; it is imported from Laos,"[18] demonstrating that Cambodia functions as both a producer and a transit/processing point for regional cannabis trade. Industrial drying and packing machines were seized alongside the marijuana, indicating sophisticated processing infrastructure.
Demographics & Culture
The Generational Divide
Cannabis use in Cambodia has historically been stratified by generation. A 2004 academic study of drug use in three villages on the outskirts of Battambang town found that among 30 young drug users surveyed (ages 15–25), every single one used amphetamines (yaba) as their primary drug — not one used cannabis.[19] Young Cambodians viewed cannabis as an "old man's habit" and gravitated instead toward amphetamine-type stimulants associated with modernity and Thai media culture.[2][19]
This pattern persists in the modern enforcement record. Officials in Kirivong consistently report that local growers "do not use locally" and that production is entirely for export.[4] Deputy provincial governor Khan Sokha stated in 2021 that "people in Kirivong district have never used marijuana."
Economic Drivers
Cannabis cultivation in Cambodia is driven by rural poverty and the absence of viable alternatives. The crop requires minimal inputs — traditional Mekong corridor cultivation involved simply scattering seeds and allowing the plants to grow unattended[2] — while prohibition-era mountain cultivation demands more sophisticated infrastructure including irrigation wells, ponds, and water tanks.
| Year | Price | Type | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | US$2/kg | Farmgate (Mekong corridor) | APTV[8] |
| 1995 | US$4/kg | Market retail (Phnom Penh) | PPPost[1] |
| 1998 | US$20/kg | Market retail (Phnom Penh) | Gilboa[2] |
| 2021 | US$35–40/kg | Dried leaves (Kirivong, sold to Vietnamese traders) | PPPost[4] |
The tenfold increase in farmgate price from the pre-prohibition era to the modern enforcement period illustrates the economic incentive structure created by criminalisation. As commune police chief In Vuth noted, "most people in the commune have grown marijuana on their plantations in the village because of the high market price it fetches."[4]
Supply Chain
The modern Kirivong supply chain operates through direct Vietnamese purchasing:
- Mountain cultivation by villagers, often hired by brokers ("rich people behind the operations")
- Drying and processing (15 kg dried + 35 kg fresh marijuana seized in a single 2020 storage bust)
- Sale to Vietnamese traders who travel to the commune to buy directly at US$35–40/kg[4]
- Cross-border transport to Vietnam, with secondary domestic distribution to Sihanoukville
Trafficking is conducted by motorbike runners carrying loads of approximately 13 kg per trip. One arrested trafficker in 2018 was on her third trip transporting marijuana toward the Vietnamese border.
Enforcement & Threats
Active Campaigns
Cambodia conducts annual eradication campaigns primarily targeting Kirivong district, with operations typically intensifying in the early months of each year coinciding with the dry-season growing cycle. The National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD), established in 1995, coordinates national drug control efforts.
| Year | Plants Destroyed | Dried Marijuana Seized | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 275,815 (national) | 113 kg | National[13] |
| 2018 | ~100,000+ (Kirivong only, by August) | 74.51 kg (national) | Kirivong + national |
| 2019–mid-2021 | — | 80.5 kg confiscated | 97 operations, 443 locations, 282 reservoirs (Kirivong cumulative)[12] |
| 2021 | — | 6 tonnes (Kirivong) | 174 locations, 107 reservoirs |
| 2022 | 60,000+ (national) | 14+ tonnes (national) | NACD identified Kirivong as #1 producing area |
The NACD distinguishes between scales of cultivation: "People with a few plants will be educated and released; large-scale for retail will face prosecution."
Enforcement Challenges
Enforcement in the Bayong Kor mountains is constrained by remote, rugged terrain requiring treks of 5 km or more. Commune police chief In Savuth described the tracking methods: "We looked for signs in the forest, footprints and traces of people walking on the rocks."[12] Cultivators typically flee before police arrive, and villagers refuse to identify plot owners. Undercover agents sometimes pose as honey hunters or wildlife foragers to locate farms.
A persistent "whack-a-mole" dynamic characterises enforcement: "When we crack down on marijuana plants in the west, growers secretly plant them in the east because this area is on the Cambodian-Vietnamese border. They are opportunists, but we will continue our clampdowns."[14]
Recent News
- News:2025-02-17/Enforcement/military-police-destroy-7-755-cannabis-plants-in-keng-raing-valley-kampong-speu (Has event date: 17 February 2025, Has admin subdivision 1: Kampong Speu, Has event category: Enforcement)
- News:2025-02-03/Enforcement/authorities-burn-3-365-marijuana-plants-in-raid-on-bayang-kor-mountain-cambodia (Has event date: 3 February 2025, Has admin subdivision 1: Takeo, Has event category: Enforcement)
- News:2024-07-24/Enforcement/two-farmers-detained-over-767-marijuana-plants-in-sesan-district-stung-treng (Has event date: 24 July 2024, Has admin subdivision 1: Stung Treng, Has event category: Enforcement)
- News:2024-03-29/Enforcement/400-marijuana-plants-seized-on-cashew-plantation-in-battambang-province (Has event date: 29 March 2024, Has admin subdivision 1: Battambang, Has event category: Enforcement)
- News:2023-03-07/Policy/cracking-down-on-marijuana-plantations-a-tough-task-for-authorities-in-takeo (Has event date: 7 March 2023, Has admin subdivision 1: Takeo, Has event category: Policy)
- News:2023-02-10/Policy/kampong-speu-governor-rejected-malaysian-investors-marijuana-plantation-proposal (Has event date: 10 February 2023, Has event category: Policy)
- News:2023-01-10/Policy/takeos-kirivong-district-cited-as-cambodias-top-marijuana-cultivation-area (Has event date: 10 January 2023, Has admin subdivision 1: Takeo, Has event category: Policy)
- News:2022-06-23/Enforcement/10-marijuana-plantations-destroyed-in-ta-o-commune-kirivong-takeo (Has event date: 23 June 2022, Has admin subdivision 1: Takeo, Has event category: Enforcement)
- News:2021-12-27/Policy/new-takeo-police-chief-vows-to-eliminate-all-marijuana-plantations (Has event date: 27 December 2021, Has admin subdivision 1: Takeo, Has event category: Policy)
- News:2021-12-06/Enforcement/takeo-police-chief-orders-crackdown-on-kirivong-marijuana-cultivation-blames-local-authorities-lack-of-will (Has event date: 6 December 2021, Has admin subdivision 1: Takeo, Has event category: Enforcement)
Documented Regions
Growing Regions
No growing regions documented yet.
Growing Areas
No growing areas documented yet.
Provinces with Documented Cultivation
| Province | Period | Character | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Takeo (Kirivong) | 2017–present | Industrial-scale "Green Triangle"; multi-generational; Vietnamese export | 30+ articles |
| Koh Kong | 1980–2002 | Historical "Wild West"; Thai investment; "Asia's finest quality" | Academic VCA, Reuters, AP |
| Battambang | 2015–2019 | Small-scale lowland; educate-and-release; medicinal/personal use | 6 articles |
| Pursat | 2015 | Cardamom Mountains + Phnom Kravanh; sesame intercropping | 2 articles |
| Kampong Speu | 2015–2025 | Phnom Sruoch + Aural district (Cardamom range) | 3 articles |
| Kampot | 2000–2014 | Elephant Mountains; Chros O'Krouch | 2 articles |
| Mondulkiri | 2021 | Takeo expertise exported to Bunong indigenous land | 1 article |
| Oddar Meanchey | 2021 | Anlong Veng; mango intercropping; heavy equipment | 1 article |
| Siem Reap | 2017 | Varin district; small-scale | 1 article |
| Pailin | 2017 | Personal use; communal smoking tradition | 1 article |
| Stung Treng | 2024 | Northeastern; NoDrug app tip-off; actual prosecution | 1 article |
| Kandal | 1996–1999 | Thai-invested; source of plants exported to other provinces | References |
| Phnom Penh | 1995–2015 | Open market trade (1990s); Laos import processing (2015) | 2 articles |
| Sihanoukville | 1999 | 4+ tonnes confiscated; trafficking/export hub | Reference |
| Banteay Meanchey | 2015 | Personal possession; compassionate release | Reference |
Conservation Status
Cambodia's traditional cannabis landraces face severe and ongoing threats from multiple vectors:
- Eradication campaigns — Annual destruction of tens of thousands of plants and associated infrastructure eliminates cultivated populations and disrupts seed saving
- Genetic contamination — No documentation of modern hybrid introduction, but commercial pressure may favour higher-yielding imported genetics over traditional varieties
- Cultural disruption — The criminalisation of a multi-generational agricultural practice severs the transmission of traditional cultivation knowledge
- Habitat loss — Shifting cultivation patterns under enforcement pressure fragment populations into increasingly remote and marginal sites
The traditional riverine cultivation described in the 1990s — where farmers "scattered the seeds and let it grow" along the Mekong[2] — appears to have been entirely eliminated. Modern cultivation is confined to hidden mountain plots with artificial irrigation, representing a fundamental change in the plant's growing environment and the selection pressures acting on it.
No systematic botanical collection or characterisation of Cambodian cannabis landraces has been conducted. The single academic botanical identification in the record classifies the Koh Kong cultivar as Cannabis indica.[7]
Conservation status: Endangered — Active eradication, no known preservation efforts, traditional cultivation knowledge under threat.
See Also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Template:Cite news
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 Template:Cite web
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Template:Cite web
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Template:Cite news
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Template:Cite web
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Template:Cite AV media
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Template:Cite news
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Template:Cite news
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Template:Cite news
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Template:Cite web