Northern Thailand
More actions
| Northern Thailand | |
|---|---|
| ActiveCannabis last recorded here in 2010 | |
| |
| Sunset over the ranges of Doi Suthep–Pui National Park, Chiang Mai | |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 18.740000, 99.480000 |
| Country | Thailand |
| Provinces/States | Chiang Mai Province,Chiang Rai Province,Lampang Province,Lamphun Province,Mae Hong Son Province,Nan Province,Phayao Province,Phrae Province,Uttaradit Province |
| Area | 96,200 km² |
| Growing history | |
| Dated accessions | 1933–2010 |
| Dated news reports | 2007 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Northern Thailand is a cannabis growing region in Thailand, bordering Myanmar and Laos. It takes in the provinces of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang, Lamphun, Mae Hong Son, Nan, Phayao, Phrae and Uttaradit. Central Thailand lies to the south, Western Thailand to the south-west and Northeastern Thailand to the south-east.
Cannabis was grown in the region's hills for fibre by Hmong households by 1933, and for smoking by 1988.[1][2] Hmong households in Chiang Mai were growing hemp for cloth in 2018 and 2023.[3] In November 2019 a community enterprise in Lampang was licensed to grow cannabis.[4]
Geography
Cultivated plants have been collected in the hills of Chiang Mai and the provinces next to it. Two were gathered in the Mae Sa watershed of Chiang Mai in 1977, at 600 m and 1,000 m.[5][6] Others come from near Siriphum waterfall in Doi Inthanon National Park at 1,800 m in 1984,[7] from the south-west side of Doi Suthep at 850 m in 1988,[2] and from the upper Gu Gan valley near Pah Dang, a Red Lahu village in Geut Chang subdistrict, at 1,125 m in 1997.[8] The 1933 sheet is from Doi Langka, at about 1,100 m by aneroid.[1] A sheet from Nan, collected in 2010 at 1,267 m, is marked "Cultivated."[9]
A ministerial regulation on hemp, approved by the Cabinet on 6 September 2016, opened 15 districts in six provinces to the crop; for the first three years only government bodies could apply for a licence. Eleven of the districts lie in this region: Mae Wang, Mae Rim, Samoeng and Mae Chaem in Chiang Mai; Thoeng, Wiang Pa Pao and Mae Sai in Chiang Rai; Na Muen, Santisuk and Song Khwae in Nan; and Mueang Mae Hong Son.[10] A hemp germplasm collection made by Kasetsart University includes accessions from Samoeng and from the Khun Yuam, Sop Moei, Mae Sariang, Mueang and Pang Mapha districts of Mae Hong Son.[11]
Cultivation history
Hemp for cloth
The 1933 sheet from Doi Langka reads "Cultivated by Mêo people for weaving", using an older name for the Hmong.[1] Tipparat and colleagues (2014) call hemp growing "a very long tradition among the hill tribes living in Northern Thailand".[12] At Ban Mae Sa Noi in Chiang Mai a Hmong villager told a reporter in 2018 that each household must have a hemp garment for its dead to wear at the funeral, and so every household had to plant hemp.[10] In 2023 the Daomong hemp-cloth community enterprise of Ban Mae Sa Noi, in Pong Yaeng subdistrict of Mae Rim, grew hemp on more than 3 rai (about half a hectare).[3] At Ban Mae Sa Mai, also in Mae Rim, a group making hemp goods in 2019 had seed from the Royal Project. The village head said that in the past the Hmong had grown the plant themselves.[13]
Hmong in the Doi Yao and Doi Pha Mon hills near Phu Chi Fa, in Thoeng District of Chiang Rai, once wove hemp cloth. In February 2020 a weaving course at Ban Phaya Lao U used hemp grown in a royal-initiative project area there, tended by soldiers and villagers, at a time when the plant was still controlled and ordinary villagers could not grow it.[14] At Doi Pui, a Hmong village in Chiang Mai declared a Royal Project village in 1969, cloth-making includes planting and harvesting hemp. In June 2020 fewer than one in ten of the 82 craftswomen surveyed there carried out the whole process.[15] In 2021 and 2022 Chiang Mai had 22 hemp-growing community enterprises, with 215 members in 12 districts.[16]
Cannabis for smoking
The ethnobotanist Marie Alexandrine Martin wrote in 1975 that cultivation in Thailand was no more widespread than in Cambodia, "except perhaps in the north and in a few central regions".[17]: 67
From 1977 to 1997 collectors found cannabis grown in fields and gardens. In 1977 a plant in the Mae Sa watershed was labelled plante cultivée, a cultivated plant, of which only the leaves were taken,[5] and another, at 1,000 m, was growing among hill rice.[6] In 1984 a collector on Doi Inthanon noted an "Exotic herb in Maeo plantation".[7] The Doi Suthep plant of 1988 was "cultivated for smoking the leaves, narcotic",[2] and a plant collected in 1993 grew in a home garden in a settlement area.[18] In 1996 a plant from Maesa Mai village in Mae Rim was collected under the local name kancha, with the note "Cultivated for narcotic use."[19] Near Pah Dang the following year the plants stood in an open field, "planted among corn".[8]
Research plantings
The Highland Research and Development Institute has researched hemp since 2006.[10] In 2007 Tipparat and colleagues studied fibre landraces collected from local farms, and from June to December 2009 they planted a trial field, authorised by the Thai Food and Drug Administration, at the Pang Da Royal Agricultural Station in Samoeng, a highland growing area of the Royal Project Foundation at 720 m: 750 plants from eight seed stocks of five local cultivars. Of the seed stocks, DP had been grown as a landrace at Doi Pui, at 1,685 m, and others at the Ang Khang Royal Agricultural Station (1,400 m), the Mae Sa Mai station (900 m) and the Pang Ung station (1,240 m).[12] In 2018 the institute's hemp plots could be seen at Pang Da.[10] In 2019 the integrated hemp research project covered 171 rai (about 27 hectares) in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.[13]
Licensed growing since 2019
The Phet Lanna organic farming enterprise at Mae Suk, in Chae Hom District of Lampang, received licences to hold and to grow cannabis on 21 November 2019, for 4 rai, 1 ngan and 95 square wah of land.[4] In January 2021 it grew 800 plants in a closed greenhouse and 1,200 in an organic field.[20] Maejo University, working with the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, planted 12,000 plants of a Thai strain in an indoor greenhouse in September 2019 and harvested the first flowers on 15 January 2020.[21] A community enterprise at Ban Thung Phaem in Mae Sariang, Mae Hong Son, was also on the 2020 list of licensed growers.[4] In 2021 it grew four lines, called Phetchaburi, Tanaosri, Hang Krarok Dai Daeng and Hang Krarok Isan.[22] In Chiang Rai the first licensed commercial hemp field, 5 rai at Dong Mada in Mae Lao District, opened on 18 September 2021.[23]
Enforcement
In a case shown in a Thai PBS documentary of 2017, Hmong on the Doi Yao range in Chiang Rai were arrested for growing cannabis, and their field was pulled up and burned. The accused said the plant was a local Hmong crop.[24] In the months after medical cannabis was legalised in 2019, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board found people growing cannabis without permission in 11 provinces, among them Nan, Phrae and Chiang Mai.[25]
Growing Areas
Accessions
| Accession ID | Name | Growing area | Province | Collected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boulanger 1262 (1977) | Boulanger 1262 herbarium specimen, Mae Sa (1977) | Mae Rim | Chiang Mai Province | |
| Boulanger 1520 (1977) | Boulanger 1520 herbarium specimen, Mae Sa (1977) | Mae Rim | Chiang Mai Province | |
| Garrett 851 (1933) | Garrett 851 herbarium specimen, Doi Langka (1933) | Doi Langka | Lampang Province | |
| Garrett 852 (1933) | Garrett 852 herbarium specimen, Doi Langka (1933) | Doi Langka | Lampang Province | |
| Maxwell 88-1359 (1988) | Maxwell 88-1359 herbarium gathering, Doi Suthep (1988) | Chiang Mai Province | ||
| Maxwell 93-943 (1993) | Maxwell 93-943 herbarium specimen, Ban Bah Gluay (1993) | Chom Thong | Chiang Mai Province | |
| Maxwell 97-797 (1997) | Maxwell 97-797 herbarium gathering, Mae Taeng (1997) | Mae Taeng | Chiang Mai Province | |
| Maxwell 97-798 (1997) | Maxwell 97-798 herbarium specimen, Pah Dang (1997) | Mae Taeng | Chiang Mai Province | |
| Nanakorn 7031 (1996) | Nanakorn 7031 herbarium specimen, Mae Sa Mai (1996) | Mae Rim | Chiang Mai Province | |
| Norsaengsri 1105 (2000) | Norsaengsri 1105 herbarium specimen, Chiang Mai (2000) | Chiang Mai Province | ||
| Phengklai T-49897 (1984) | Phengklai T-49897 herbarium specimen, Doi Inthanon (1984) | Chom Thong | Chiang Mai Province | |
| Pongamornkul 578 (2000) | Pongamornkul 578 herbarium specimen, Chiang Mai (2000) | Chiang Mai Province | ||
| Pongamornkul 579 (2000) | Pongamornkul 579 herbarium specimen, Chiang Mai (2000) | Chiang Mai Province | ||
| RSC-THA-UNK-0120080001 | Highland Thai General Population 2008 | |||
| Srithi 404 (2010) | Srithi 404 herbarium specimen, Nan (2010) | Nan Province | ||
| VIB-THA-CHM-0100000001 | Chiang Mai General Population | Chiang Mai |
Recent news
| Article | Date | Growing area | Category | Plants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| News:2007-10-15/Eradication/mae-sariang-police-cut-down-about-20-cannabis-plants-grown-among-upland-rice-at-ban-huai-haeng-mae-hong-son | Eradication | 20 |
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Digitised sheet SN 009247". Forest Herbarium collections. Forest Herbarium, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Occurrence 6408925513: Cannabis sativa L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "ผลักดัน "ผ้าใยกัญชง" ม้ง สู่ตลาดสากล" [Pushing Hmong hemp cloth into the international market]. Thai PBS News (in ไทย). 19 February 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 ""กัญชา" ปลูกถูกกฎหมาย ก้าวสู่ปีที่2" [Legal cannabis growing enters its second year]. Thansettakij (in ไทย). 9 November 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Digitised sheet BR0000023200074: Cannabis sativa L." Meise IIIF image service. Meise Botanic Garden. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Digitised sheet BR0000023200081: Cannabis sativa L." Meise IIIF image service. Meise Botanic Garden. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Digitised sheet SN 116705". Forest Herbarium collections. Forest Herbarium, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Occurrence 6408927556: Cannabis sativa L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ "Cannabis sativa L., QBG 65143". QBG Herbarium Database. Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden Herbarium. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 จตุพร พ่วงทอง (26 January 2018). "ป.ป.ส.พาตะลุยแปลง "กัญชง" – ชมวิถีชุมชนม้ง ชีวิตยึดโยง ใยกัญชง ตั้งแต่เกิด-จนตาย" [The narcotics board tours the hemp plots: a Hmong community bound to hemp fibre from birth to death]. Matichon (in ไทย). Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ Aksonsit, Kanjanabhorn; Samipak, Sompid; Chaisan, Tanapon; Pluempanupat, Wanchai; Juntawong, Piyada (2025). "Genetic Diversity of Hemp Germplasm in Northern Thailand". Applied Science and Engineering Progress. 18 (4) 7841. doi:10.14416/j.asep.2025.07.003.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Tipparat, Prapatsorn; Kunkaew, Weerapun; Julsrigival, Suthat; Pinmanee, Sarita; Natakankitkul, Surapol (2014). "Classification of Cannabis Plants Grown in Northern Thailand using Physico-Chemical Properties". Journal of Natural Sciences Research. 4 (4): 46–54.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "จ่อผลักดัน "กัญชง" สู่ตลาดการบริโภค" [Moves to bring hemp to the consumer market]. Thai PBS News (in ไทย). 30 July 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ "ชาวม้งภูชี้ฟ้าสืบสานพระราชดำริ ทำผลิตภัณฑ์การทอ "ผ้าใยกัญชง"" [Phu Chi Fa Hmong carry on the royal initiative, weaving hemp-fibre cloth]. Thairath (in ไทย). 10 February 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ Denes, Alexandra; Boonyasurat, Woralun (2023). "Supporting ethnic craftswomen in Chiang Mai through digital media: acknowledging the possibilities and challenges". International Journal of Intangible Heritage. 18. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ Charoennawakul, Duangkhae; Fongmul, Saisakul; Wongsiri, Siriwat; Vetchasitniraphai, Napharat (2025). "ความต้องการการส่งเสริมปลูกกัญชงอินทรีย์ของสมาชิกวิสาหกิจชุมชนในจังหวัดเชียงใหม่" [The needs of community enterprise members on cultivating extension of organic hemp in Chiang Mai Province]. Maejo Journal of Agricultural Production (in ไทย). 7 (1): 32–43.
- ↑ Martin, Marie Alexandrine (1975). "Ethnobotanical Aspects of Cannabis in Southeast Asia". In Rubin, Vera (ed.). Cannabis and Culture. The Hague: Mouton. pp. 63–76. doi:10.1515/9783110812060.63.
- ↑ "Occurrence 2513889025: Cannabis sativa L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ "Digitised sheet SN 262497". Forest Herbarium collections. Forest Herbarium, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ "แหล่งท่องเที่ยวสายเขียว!"ประพัฒน์"เสนอไอเดียเปิดไร่กัญชาวิสาหกิจฯเพชรลานนา ให้ความรู้คนเที่ยว" [A green tourist site: Praphat proposes opening the Phet Lanna enterprise's cannabis farm to visitors]. MGR Online (in ไทย). 18 January 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ "เก็บดอกกัญชาสายพันธุ์ไทย ปลูกกลางแจ้ง "ต้นแบบ"ให้ประชาชนใช้ทางการแพทย์ ระดับครัวเรือน ถ้าแก้กม.เปิดทางแล้ว" [Thai-strain cannabis flowers harvested, outdoor planting as a model for household medical use once the law allows]. Thai Post (in ไทย). 15 January 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ กองบรรณาธิการ (15 April 2021). "ตามรอยวิสาหกิจไร่กัญชา ก้าวกันไปถึงไหนแล้ว" [Following the cannabis-farm enterprises: how far have they come?]. Thairath (in ไทย). Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ "ปลูกกัญชงเชียงรายตั้งเป้าปีแรก 1.6 พันไร่เพิ่มเป็นแสนไร่ใน 5 ปี" [Chiang Rai hemp planting aims for 1,600 rai in its first year and 100,000 rai in five years]. Naewna (in ไทย). 18 September 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ "แพะ เดอะซีรีส์ - กัญชง กัญชา" [Scapegoat, the series: hemp and cannabis]. Thai PBS (in ไทย). 16 November 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ "Public warned against growing cannabis without official permission". Pattaya Mail. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
