View source for Ethnobotanical Aspects of Cannabis in Southeast Asia (1975)

{{Infobox Historical Source
|title_original    = Ethnobotanical Aspects of Cannabis in Southeast Asia
|title_english     = Ethnobotanical Aspects of Cannabis in Southeast Asia
|title_latin       =
|image             =
|image_caption     =
|author            = Marie Alexandrine Martin
|author_dates      = 1932–2013
|editor            = Vera Rubin
|language          = English
|composed          = 1973–1974
|published         = 1975
|publisher         = De Gruyter Mouton
|place             = Berlin / New York
|volumes           = 1 (chapter in edited volume)
|cannabis_volume   =
|cannabis_pages    = 63–76
|cannabis_chapter  = Part One: Ethnobotany and Diffusion
|cannabis_plates   = Plates 1–2 (between pp. 266–267)
|growing_regions   = [[Cambodia]], [[Thailand]], [[Laos]], [[Vietnam]]
|varieties         =
|preparations      = Smoked with tobacco (wrapped in paper, maize leaf, ''Combretum'' leaf, or banana leaf; or in bamboo water pipe); juice from boiled plant sprinkled on tobacco; culinary (soup, curry, fritters, condiment); medicinal (decoction, inhalation, alcoholic extract, cigarette); vermifuge (seeds/kernels)
|uses_documented   = Culinary, medicinal, recreational, work-enhancement, textile (Laos/Tonkin highlands only)
|taxonomic_significance = Last systematic ethnobotanical documentation of traditional Khmer cannabis culture before the Khmer Rouge period; records two pre-1996 prohibition statutes (1955, 1972) that were entirely unenforced; documents Laotian quality grading system; records cannabis substitutes including ''Mitragyna speciosa''
|digital_facsimile = https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110812060.63
|original_held_at  =
|translation       =
}}

'''"Ethnobotanical Aspects of Cannabis in Southeast Asia"''' is a chapter by '''Marie Alexandrine Martin''' (1932–2013), a French ethnobotanist and ethnologist at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), published in Vera Rubin (ed.), ''Cannabis and Culture'' (De Gruyter Mouton, 1975, pp. 63–76).<ref name="martin1975">Martin, Marie Alexandrine. "Ethnobotanical Aspects of Cannabis in Southeast Asia." In Vera Rubin (ed.), ''Cannabis and Culture''. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter Mouton, 1975, pp. 63–76. [https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110812060.63 DOI].</ref> Based on fieldwork conducted primarily in 1973, the chapter is the last systematic academic documentation of traditional cannabis cultivation, trade and use in [[Cambodia]] before the Khmer Rouge period (1975–1979) destroyed much of the country's traditional knowledge infrastructure.

Martin states that her field of study "is based essentially on Cambodia," with additional observations from [[Thailand]], [[Laos]] and [[Vietnam]], noting "great similarities among the different countries."<ref name="martin1975" /> The chapter covers every aspect of cannabis in the region: origin and introduction, terminology, cultivation and trade, psychoactive use, substitutes, frequency of use and dependency, medicinal applications, culinary use, textile use, and social attitudes.

== Author ==

Marie Alexandrine Martin was a botanist and ethnologist attached to the Centre de Recherche sur l'Extrême-Orient de Paris-Sorbonne (CREOPS), and later a Directeur de recherche at CNRS.<ref name="pangloss">Collection Pangloss, CNRS. "Corpus krom_khmer: Marie Alexandrine Martin." [https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/Krom_Khmer].</ref> Between 1965 and 1972, she conducted ethnobotanical and ethnolinguistic research in the Cardamom Mountains region among Khmer and Pear communities, as well as among Khmer populations in eastern Thailand.<ref name="pangloss" /> She lived in Cambodia for approximately ten years, remaining until 1975.

Her earlier monograph, ''Introduction à l'ethnobotanique du Cambodge'' (Éditions du CNRS, Paris, 1971), provides broader botanical context for the country's traditional plant use.<ref name="martin1971">Martin, Marie Alexandrine. ''Introduction à l'ethnobotanique du Cambodge''. Paris: Éditions du CNRS, 1971. 257 pp.</ref> She also published extensively on the Khmer Rouge period, including ''Cambodia: A Shattered Society'' (University of California Press, 1994), drawing on twenty-five years of research and fieldwork in the country.<ref name="martin1994">Martin, Marie Alexandrine. ''Cambodia: A Shattered Society''. Translated by Mark W. McLeod. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. 398 pp.</ref>

She acknowledges the assistance of Mlle Uraisi Varasarin and M. Pierre Marie Gagneux in carrying out the study.<ref name="martin1975" />

== Origin and introduction ==

Martin notes that while cannabis is known to grow wild in central Asia, the date of its introduction to Southeast Asia is unclear. She poses two possibilities: introduction in the thirteenth or fourteenth century by Arabian conquerors, or in the sixteenth century by the Spanish and Portuguese who established commercial activities in the region. The inhabitants themselves attribute the plant's introduction to the Indians. In Vietnam, one of the names of the species is ''gai ändö'' ("Indian grass-cloth plant"), and as Martin observes, "the Sanskrit name is widespread throughout the peninsula."<ref name="martin1975" />

== Terminology ==

In all four countries, the vernacular name is derived from the Sanskrit ''gañjā'':

* '''Thailand''': ''kancha'' or ''kanhcha'', with three named varieties — ''kanhcha thai'' (Thai), ''kanhcha thet'' (foreign), and ''kanhcha cin'' (Chinese). Martin notes that in the absence of plant samples, she cannot say what these names correspond to botanically.
* '''Cambodia''': ''kanhcha''
* '''Laos''': ''kan xa''
* '''Vietnam''': ''cần xa'' or ''gai ändö'' (also ''dai ändö''). The term ''cần xa'' had only become popular since the recent massive introduction of drugs; previously ''gai ändö'' or ''dai ändö'' were used.<ref name="martin1975" />

Vietnamese names for the seed and kernel show Chinese influence: ''dai ma tie'' or ''dai ma hot'' (seed), ''dai ma nhän'' (kernel) — where ''ma'' is a term encountered in several Chinese plant names including ''ta ma'' (cannabis), ''tchou ma'' (''Boehmeria''), and ''pi ma'' (''Ricinus'').<ref name="martin1975" />

=== Male and female plant terminology ===

Inhabitants across the region recognized male and female plants. In Cambodia, the distinction "crosscuts scientific reality": Khmer peasants distinguish by leaf size, so the slender male plant with smaller leaves is called ''kanhcha chmo'l'' (male) and the larger-leaved female plant ''kanhcha nhi'' (female). Martin notes that this actually conforms to the botanical reality, since the male cannabis plant does have smaller leaves.<ref name="martin1975" />

In Laos, an additional division was made within the female group. The botanical male was called ''kan xa phu'' or ''kan xa dok'' (flower) — probably because the male flowers are grouped in a visible broad panicle, while the more discrete female inflorescence requires closer examination. The botanical female was called ''kan xa me'', and was further divided into ''hua nok khao'' (owl head) and ''kali''.<ref name="martin1975" />

The term ''kali'' occurs in Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. In Thailand it denotes inflorescences; in Cambodia it denotes seed (explaining why its use is limited to female flowers). It appears in no Khmer or Sanskrit dictionaries. A footnote records that Vera Rubin identified ''kali'' as a word of Hindi origin meaning "bud" — which, Martin notes, argues in favour of introduction through India.<ref name="martin1975" />

The vocabulary for leaf and stem is shared across the region:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! !! Leaf !! Stem
|-
| Cambodia || ''slak'' || ''daam''
|-
| Thailand || ''bai'' || ''ton''
|-
| Laos || ''bai'' || ''ton''
|-
| Vietnam || ''la'' || ''thän''
|}

Martin emphasises that no special name exists for the prepared smoking material: "whether the entire plant is chopped up ready to smoke, mixed with tobacco, or put into the pipe, it is always ''kanhcha''." The natives smoke the raw plant simply chopped up, not as a resinous preparation. Only in Vietnam had a resin-based preparation (''cần xa'') been recently introduced, smoked mostly by foreigners; it was since this period that more severe controls had appeared in the country.<ref name="martin1975" />

== Cultivation and trade ==

=== Legal framework ===

Martin documents three layers of cannabis regulation in Cambodia, none of which resulted in enforcement:

Under the French Protectorate, Customs and Excises (''Douanes et Régies'') controlled the entire territory of French Indochina. After independence, two further statutes were enacted:

# '''Kram No. 10 NS, 30 May 1955''': A royal edict issued by King Suramarinth halting all growing of cannabis. This was only two years after Cambodian independence.
# '''Kret No. 481.72 PRK, 14 July 1972''': The Khmer Republic created a Bureau of Narcotics in Phnom Penh, which "emphasized the repression of opium traffic and updated complementary clauses relative to hemp." Martin notes that this bureau was "created last year," placing her writing in 1973.<ref name="martin1975" />

Despite all three regulatory layers, Martin immediately states that "retail sale of the plant is absolutely free in Cambodia and Laos." This observation establishes that the 1996 Law on Drug Management was not Cambodia's first cannabis prohibition, but its first ''enforced'' prohibition.

In Thailand, since the formation of a new government in December 1971, cannabis had not appeared openly and its use in popular medicine had been regulated: "it must always be used together with other plants in medical preparations and may not be the sole ingredient of any medication."<ref name="martin1975" />

=== Cultivation ===

Martin reports that cannabis had "apparently never been intensively cultivated" in Cambodia, and "neither the poppy nor 'grass' seems to have been smoked regularly by the inhabitants." While opium does not exist anywhere in Cambodia, small plots of cannabis could frequently be found around houses. The largest garden she observed contained about seventy plants. Although the species prefers rich and humid soil, it grew often in sandy dry soil with only water and chicken or cattle manure required from time to time.<ref name="martin1975" />

Female plants (''kanhcha nhi'') yielded seeds that were soaked in water for three days before planting in open ground. The best sowing time was the rainy season, with harvest during the dry season, though cultivation could begin at any time given sufficient water. The inflorescence developed after four or five months, at which point it was called ''lasng kali haay'' (''laang'', the verb "to climb," also used to mark the completion of an action; ''haay'', past tense particle).<ref name="martin1975" />

Along the river and closer to Vietnam, cultivation was of greater importance. In Laos, cultivation was "hardly more widespread" than in Cambodia, nor was it in Thailand, "except perhaps in the north and in a few central regions." In Vietnam, cannabis cultivation was important in Chau Doc (''Chaudec''), a Cambodian border region. However, cultivation did not achieve the significance of the opium fields of Laos.<ref name="martin1975" />

Martin notes a toponym suggesting past cultivation: thirteen kilometres downstream from Vientiane, on the banks of the Mekong, lay the village of '''Ban Het Kansa''' ("the village of the hemp-covered sand bank"), where there was "no longer any trace of this plant, which must have been cultivated here some time in the past" (citing Taillard 1971).<ref name="martin1975" />

=== Market prices ===

Nearly all the Cambodian harvest was bought from the grower at '''3,000 riel per kilogram''' for female plants by an intermediary, who resold them either on the open market at ten riel per package of seven or eight flowering tops, or to restaurateurs and individual buyers (both male and female plants). A footnote gives the exchange rate: officially in April 1973, 26 riel = 1 franc; at the parallel rate, 45 riel = 1 franc.<ref name="martin1975" />

In Laos, a package of smoking hemp (ten flowering stems) cost 90 kip, or 20 kip for the same number of stems without flowers (both male and female), used for making soup. The exchange rate given: 600 kip = 1 US dollar (official); 840 kip = 1 US dollar (parallel).<ref name="martin1975" />

These prices document a period when cannabis was a cheap, freely available commodity. For comparison, by 2021 farmgate prices in [[Kirivong]] had risen to 140,000–160,000 riel (US$35–40) per kilogram, and by 2026 wholesale prices in [[Kampot]] had reached US$500–600 per kilogram.{{Citation needed}}

== Psychoactive use ==

=== Smoking methods ===

Martin distinguishes Southeast Asian practice from other traditions: "Unlike the kif of Arab countries and the marihuana of others, which are preparations with resinous bases derived from the stem or the flowers of the plant, hemp in Southeast Asia is smoked with no prior treatment at all." The flowering female plant was primarily used, the bracts being known to produce euphoria because of the cannabinol they contain, but the entire plant was used after sun-drying: stem, leaves and inflorescence. The material was cut into small pieces and tobacco added; more rarely it was smoked alone.<ref name="martin1975" />

Cigarettes were wrapped in paper, maize leaf (''slak po:t''), leaves of ''Combretum quadrangulare'' (''slak sängkae''), or banana leaf (''slak ce:c''). More commonly, the mixture was placed in the bowl of a bamboo water pipe (''rut sey''). The chopping block was a slab of Cambodian strychnos wood (''slaeng''; ''phya mut lek'' in Thailand), as bits of this wood were believed to act as a cough remedy and to impart a pleasant bitter taste (''khhm''). Another Cambodian practice involved cooking down the hemp and sprinkling the tobacco with the juice from the boiled plant.<ref name="martin1975" />

The Khmers smoked only the female plants, believing that cigarettes made from the male plant caused an eye disease or rheum (''a:c phnek''). Moreover, the female plants were considered more effective as they contained more resin.<ref name="martin1975" />

=== Laotian quality grades ===

In Laos, several qualities of hemp were distinguished: first quality, harvested in winter when covered with dew (the strongest variety); second quality, harvested at other times; and third quality, plants not gathered at the proper time, with development possibly incomplete and euphoric power reduced. Martin notes that "this particular point concerning the qualities cannot be more precisely stated at this time." In certain regions of Laos, the dried leaves of the ''kan xa hua nok khao'' were used specifically for their euphoric quality. In Cambodia, the ''kanhcha nhi'' were sometimes smoked without the flowers, producing weaker effects.<ref name="martin1975" />

=== Substitutes ===

When cannabis was unavailable, substitutes were employed. In Thailand, ''lew'' (an indeterminate species) served as a replacement. Leaves of ''Mitragyna speciosa'', a bush growing profusely in Chiang Mai, were also smoked, though this produced secondary reactions. According to Burkill (1966), the effects of ''Mitragyna speciosa'' were "worse than those ascribed to hemp and are more like those caused by opium." Martin notes that the narcotic power of this species was known in ancient Siam and its use later spread to Malaysia. For medication, in the absence of ''kancha'', the entire ''Grangea darerasparana'' plant or ''phya mut'' was used. Users were reluctant to employ the root of ''Mitragyna'' as they said it made breathing difficult.<ref name="martin1975" />

In Cambodia, no true substitutes were available. In the absence of ''kanhcha'', people smoked a quality of tobacco called "strong" (''thnam khlang''), but this was only a short-term solution, "and it is rare that hemp is unavailable for long periods of time." In medications, cannabis could be replaced, but not necessarily, by ''Cananga latifolia'' (''chkae sraeng''), which also produced a reaction (''chual''), but not a serious one.<ref name="martin1975" />

=== Frequency of use and dependency ===

In Cambodia, it was essentially males who smoked ''kanhcha''. First attempts generally occurred around age fifteen. Young Cambodian girls rarely used the pipe and were not permitted to do so before age eighteen. The practice was, however, common among women of certain northeastern tribes — at least as Martin observed in a Bunong village.<ref name="martin1975" />

Most Khmers did not smoke regularly, "taking only a few puffs from time to time when the opportunity presents itself." However, some habitual users, "especially among strangers," lit their pipes several times a day. Martin notes that "one often meets former members of the French army who can no longer do without the 'benefits' of cannabis." For these users, consumption amounted to five or ten pipes three times a day. When deprived, reactions were immediate: anorexia, extreme nervousness, irritability, aggression. Return to daily use rapidly dissipated these symptoms.<ref name="martin1975" />

=== Remedies for intoxication ===

In Thailand, a user wishing to nullify the effects visited the medicine man for the root of ''ra:k ya: nang deng'' (Anacardiaceae?), used to cure all sorts of intoxication. Two types of cures were available: for temporary intoxication from occasional use, the root was rubbed on a stone until completely pulverized, mixed with rice water, and drunk all at once. For intoxication from prolonged use, the remedy had to be taken each time the desire to smoke arose, as a tea made of the root in limitless quantities, until hemp could be completely relinquished.<ref name="martin1975" />

In Cambodia, smokers preferred to consume large quantities of sugar or sweets, for which they felt a great need, or acidic foods. During the cure period, one showered frequently.<ref name="martin1975" />

=== Acute intoxication ===

Martin reports that, aside from habitual use which did not seem "at least in the first twenty years of life" to lead to "depravity," accidental ingestion of a large quantity could produce serious problems. The symptoms she observed included: repeated loss of consciousness (but complete lucidity between episodes), excessive nervousness, increased hilarity or anxiety depending on the subject, accentuation of the dominant individual character trait, increased heart rate, pupil dilation, and chest pains. Pupil dilation persisted for several days; chest difficulties and nervousness disappeared only after ten to twelve days.<ref name="martin1975" />

She also records that "the noxious effects of cannabis are sometimes exploited for criminal purposes." In one of the countries she visited, she was told that "the suppression of an individual was easily resolved by increasing the dosage of hemp in a medicinal preparation."<ref name="martin1975" />

== Medicinal use ==

Martin states that cannabis was universally recognized as an analgesic across the region, "comparable to the opium derivatives," and could be "added to any relaxant to reinforce its action." Sun-dried cooked leaves, in quantities of several grams per bowl of water, produced a decoction that combated migraines and stiffness and, taken before sleep and meals, relaxed the nerves. This beneficial action was recognized "both by the peasants and by the official pharmacopoeia of these countries," though Martin notes that popular medicine sometimes included magical elements.<ref name="martin1975" />

=== Cambodia ===

The entire male or female plant was used for numerous maladies, though female flowers were often added in small amounts to give the sick person a feeling of well-being. Specific applications included:

'''Appetite restoration''': A glass of decoction taken before the two principal meals of the day. Treatment generally lasted only one day, but could be continued longer. The identical result was achieved by smoking a mixture of male and female plants.<ref name="martin1975" />

'''Nasal polyps''' (''rtu h do:ng''): Cigarettes made of hemp and the stem of ''Cananga latifolia'' (Hook. f. and Thorns.) Finet and Gagnep (''chkae sraeng''), smoked daily.<ref name="martin1975" />

'''Digestion''' (''rumlidy mho:p'', "to dissolve food"): The fragrant bark of the ''tepiru'' (a myrtle from the dense Cambodian forests) and ''sambo lveng'' (a ''Cinnamomum'' species), boiled with hemp. A glass taken before each meal. Martin records the Cambodians' claim that "this medication has a stronger effect than injections, which are however considered the most effective remedy in western pharmacopoeia."<ref name="martin1975" />

'''Postpartum well-being''' (''srual khluan''): An infusion of the tops (''cong'') of both male and female plants, about ten per litre of water, brought well-being to the mother. Consumption was limited to one small glassful before each meal, "for fear of intoxication."<ref name="martin1975" />

'''Lactation''': Young mothers with insufficient milk took a concoction of hemp with ''Cinnamomum'' sp. (''sambo lveng'') and several tropical creepers: ''Tetracera loureiri'' Craib (''dang kwon''), ''Walsura villosa'' Wall. ex. Hiern (''sdok sdao''), and ''Illigera'' sp. (''vo: kro:c'').<ref name="martin1975" />

'''Postpartum stiffness''' (''chw: khluan'', ''chut ch'wg''): An alcoholic extract of hemp and the bark of ''Aegle marmelos'' (L.) Correa, ''Mitragyna'' sp. (''khtom''), ''Cinnamomum'' sp. (''sambo lveng''), ''Walsura villosa'', and myrtle (''tepiru'').<ref name="martin1975" />

'''Postpartum complications''' (''taah''), attributed to non-observance of nutritional taboos during pregnancy: The mother took, three times a day until well, an alcoholic extract or decoction of hemp with bark of ''Mitragyna'' sp., ''Aegle marmelos'' (''preah phnov''), ''Annona squamosa'' L. (''tiop khmae''), ''Psidium guajava'' L. (''trabaec''), and ''Antidesma ghaesembilla'' Gaertn (''dangkiop khdam'').<ref name="martin1975" />

'''Malaria''': One kilogram of male and female plants inhaled (''camha:y'') twice a day until the end of the crisis. Alternatively, the same amount boiled in water, taken in 2cc doses before each meal, though this was considered less effective.<ref name="martin1975" />

'''Biliousness''' (''thla: tuikpräma:t''): Cigarettes or pipes filled with hemp and tobacco.<ref name="martin1975" />

Martin notes that, unlike many other traditional treatments, patients taking cannabis remedies were not subject to nutritional taboos.<ref name="martin1975" />

=== Thailand ===

In Thailand, cannabis was used in medications to eliminate dizzy spells (''lom''). Sandalwood (''can thit'') and hemp, taken as tea, had a beneficial effect on the heart, liver and lungs. Used alone, cannabis was a remedy for cholera; in such cases, "water from the pipe that has been smoked is also drunk."<ref name="martin1975" />

'''Convulsions''': Hemp ground in honey with ''Ferula'' sp. (''ma ha: hing''), ''Garcinia hanburyi'' Hook. f. (''rong thong''), wild ''Dioscorea'' (''kloy''), fruit of ''Terminalia chebula'' Retz (''sa mo thai'') and ''Terminalia belerica'' Roxb. (''sa mo phi phek''), wild ''Piper'' (''sa khan''), ''Piper retrofractum'' Vahl (''di: phli:''), an araceous plant (''ka dat thang song''), ''Eugenia aromaticus'' H. Bn (''ka:n phlu:''), leaves of ''Vitex trifolia'' L. f. (''khon thi so:''), leaves of ''Caesalpinia'' sp. (''ivna''), ''Abroma augusta'' L. (''thiam dam''), ''Lawsonia inermis'' Roxb. (''thian kha:w''), ''Cinnamomum'' sp. (''op choy''), ''Piper nigrum'' L. (''prik thai''), unripened fruit of ''Aegle marmelos'' (''matum''), and heart of ''Aegiceras corniculatum'' Blanc. (''same'').<ref name="martin1975" />

'''Hemorrhoids and polyps of throat, intestines and sex organs''': An alcoholic extract of hemp with ''Artemisia vulgaris'' L. (''kot cu la: lampha:''), ''Myristica'' (?) (''can''), ''Piper nigrum'', ''Piper chaba'' Hunter, ''Zingiber officinale'' L., wild ''Piper'', ''Cinnamomum'' (woodland) (''sa mun la weng''), ''Cinnamomum'' sp. (''op chay''), ''Salacia flavescens'' (?) Kruz (''khop cha nang thang song''), and a chemical product, possibly arsenic (''sa:nnu'').<ref name="martin1975" />

'''Dysentery''': A two-element preparation. The first element consisted of fruit and flower of ''Myristica'' (?) (''can'') dried in a pan with bark of ''Eugenia aromaticus'' and tubers of ''Curcuma zedoaria'' (?) and ''phlai''. The second element (''kra sa:y'') was water derived from mashing hemp and ''din kinh'' (indeterminate); its significance was secondary. Both elements were mixed.<ref name="martin1975" />

Cannabis was also frequently used to stimulate the appetite of sick people and promote sleep, to relieve asthma (in cigarettes mixed with tobacco), and to counteract diarrhea and dysentery. During difficult childbirth, preparations made with hemp facilitated contractions. Martin adds the caution that "hemp must be taken wisely, especially to avoid the heavy doses that might induce tetanus."<ref name="martin1975" />

=== Vietnam ===

Martin states that "our information is scarce." Outside of its use as an analgesic, cannabis was used as a vermifuge to eliminate taenia. Traditional medicine, "largely inspired by Chinese medicine," made extensive use of cannabis, generally the seeds and preferably the kernels. The preparation (''sac thuoc'') was used to combat loss of memory and mental confusion, aging, psoriasis with dark spots (attributed to "unhealthy breezes"), to decongest the organism, eliminate blood wastes, cure dysmenorrhea, and produce well-being after childbirth.<ref name="martin1975" />

In obstetrics, if the presentation of the child was awkward, twenty-one kernels boiled in water were believed to correct the position. Paralysis due to ''phong'' (allergy, rheumatism, anaphylaxis) was treated by roasting the kernels, mashing them in baby's urine, extracting the juice, and drinking a small glassful three times a day. Pulverized kernels mixed with cooking water from rice arrested hair loss.<ref name="martin1975" />

=== Laos ===

Medicinal uses of hemp in Laos "seem few, perhaps because of all the opium derivatives available to the inhabitants." Cannabis was used to cure stomach ailments (''ciep thong'') and swollen stomach (''beng thong'' or ''nkung thong'') in both cattle and people; the sick person drank a preparation from male and female leaves. Sorcerers also used hemp to treat individuals affected by a ''phi'', ''phi kha'', or ''phi khom'': if the spirit responsible for the malady was believed to smoke, an offering was made of several leaves of ''kan xa'' to restore the patient's health.<ref name="martin1975" />

== Culinary use ==

Hemp soup was common throughout Southeast Asia. In Cambodia, ''sngao'' (especially ''sngao moan'', chicken soup) was flavoured with roasted ''kanhcha'' leaves, male or female. These were also added to other soups such as ''samla kako''. In Thailand, ''kaeng phet'' was prepared with ground ''kancha'' flowers. Chinese soup sold throughout the region incorporated hemp — the male or female stems in Laos — in order to encourage repeat customers; this was eventually replaced by green tea.<ref name="martin1975" />

In Cambodia specifically, the fresh leaves were used in diverse ways: as condiments (''kruiang'') for curry, or as vegetables (''banlae'') to accompany vermicelli soup (''inum banhcok''); they were also eaten as fritters (''anlwak'') with fish paste (''prahok''). Martin notes that "it is not only the intoxicating power of hemp but the pleasant flavor it imparts to food that makes it good to use in cooking."<ref name="martin1975" />

== Textile use ==

The fibres of the cannabis stem were scarcely used in the region, except by montagnard (highland) peoples. The practice was "completely unknown in Khmer country" and no samples of cannabis harvested in Cambodia existed in the herbarium of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. There were, however, specimens from Tonkin and Laos labelled as "textile plants."<ref name="martin1975" />

Crévost and Lemarié (1919–1921) described a variety cultivated at the beginning of the century on the high plateaus of Laos and Tonkin, from which skirts worn by the Meo (Hmong) and Nhung ethnic groups were made. According to these authors, the Meo, originating from China, had imported textile hemp north of the Annamite Chain in the seventeenth century.<ref name="martin1975" />

At the beginning of the French Protectorate, attempts at more extensive cultivation were made in the south; faced with mediocre results — plant growth reduced to 60 centimetres instead of several metres — production of hemp was halted beyond a southern limit in northern Indochina. By Martin's time, grass-cloth plants and jute were the primary textile plants in Southeast Asia.<ref name="martin1975" />

== Social attitudes ==

Martin documents a comprehensive picture of traditional attitudes toward cannabis, predominantly from Cambodia.

Cannabis was "not considered a dangerous product, as opposed to opium, which leads to depravity." For the Khmer people, smoking hemp was "an added pleasure to give oneself, and it is agreeable to smoke with friends." Solitary pipe smokers were rare; it was a group activity. After the evening meal (around 5:00 or 6:00), the head of the house laid out a straw mat and invited others "to accompany him in his search for euphoria." Martin stresses that "it is not a question of forgetting one's troubles or escaping from heavy obligations; smoking is to avoid being sad, to experience a feeling of well-being (''srual khluan'')."<ref name="martin1975" />

Users described the effects: "you are in a drunken mood (''sravwang'') as with morphine, you are happy, laughing, eating well, you have strength, and can remain in the water for several hours. For military people, consumption of ''kanhcha'' gives resistance to combat." As a result of these perceived properties, hemp was often used to accomplish difficult tasks. Daily smokers increased their dosage before going to work in the forest or to harvest jute; others smoked several pipes before the two principal meals while working. This was exclusively a male activity, and was also reported in Laos. Hemp was also used in Cambodia to combat cold during the cold season.<ref name="martin1975" />

Possession did not constitute an offence. "The normal reaction is rather to laugh and wish pleasure to the person who has it." The medicine men of Cambodia (''kru: thnam'') did not share the distrust of hemp found among some of their colleagues in neighbouring countries, being accustomed to using it and well acquainted with proper dosages.<ref name="martin1975" />

In Thailand, users described their experience: "after having used hemp, you want to eat sweets or drink a lot of water; you have red eyes and heavy eyelids; you see everything in a good light and feel very gay. This state doesn't last long if you eat while smoking."<ref name="martin1975" />

Martin concludes that distrust regarding hemp appeared across Southeast Asia only "among individuals having cultural and social attitudes patterned after those of the West." As for the peasants, they "experiment with everything that belongs to their universe, often have complete knowledge of all the elements that compose it, and how to use them in moderation. There is thus nothing surprising in the fact that they consider cannabis to be a plant that is socially beneficial."<ref name="martin1975" />

== Significance for landrace documentation ==

Martin's chapter is the foundational primary source for several areas of the [[Cambodia]] country page and related wiki content:

* '''Last pre-Khmer Rouge documentation''': The 1973 fieldwork captures traditional Khmer cannabis culture at the end of its unbroken continuity. The Khmer Rouge regime (1975–1979) destroyed much of Cambodia's traditional agricultural knowledge, making Martin's observations irreplaceable.
* '''Prohibition chronology''': The 1955 and 1972 statutes, documented in Martin's text, corrected a widespread factual error in the secondary literature. Multiple sources had stated that Cambodia's first cannabis prohibition was the 1996 Law on Drug Management. Martin's documentation of earlier, unenforced statutes reframes the 1996 law as the first ''enforced'' prohibition, a distinction with significant implications for understanding how US diplomatic pressure reshaped Cambodian drug policy.
* '''Baseline market data''': The 3,000 riel per kilogram farmgate price and the Laotian 90 kip/20 kip pricing provide the earliest documented price points for both countries, establishing the economic baseline against which modern enforcement-driven price inflation can be measured.
* '''Cultivation patterns''': The description of small household plots of up to 70 plants documents a form of cultivation that persisted largely unchanged until eradication campaigns began targeting [[Kirivong]] in the late 2010s. The contrast between Martin's domestic compound gardens and Kirivong's commercial hillside plantations illustrates how prohibition paradoxically drove cannabis from integrated household cultivation into large-scale, more vulnerable monoculture.
* '''Ethnobotanical detail''': The Khmer culinary terminology (''sngao'', ''kruiang'', ''anlwak'', ''prahok''), the Latin binomials for companion plants used in medicinal preparations, the Laotian quality grading system, the Thai multi-ingredient formulations, and the social context of communal evening smoking sessions constitute a level of ethnographic precision that no subsequent observer has matched for this region.
* '''Substitutes documentation''': The recording of ''Mitragyna speciosa'' as a Thai cannabis substitute, with the note that its effects were "worse than those ascribed to hemp and are more like those caused by opium," is an early reference to a plant that has since become internationally significant as kratom.

The chapter is positioned within ''Cannabis and Culture'' alongside other foundational ethnobotanical texts, including Du Toit's chapter on ''dagga'' in southern Africa, Li Hui-Lin's work on cannabis in eastern Asia, and Benet's treatment of early diffusion — all potential future [[Category:Historical Sources|Historical Sources]] pages.

== See also ==

* [[Cambodia]] — Country page
* [[Thailand]] — Country page
* [[Kirivong]] — Growing area where Martin's documented cultivation patterns persisted into the modern era
* ''[[Herbarium Amboinense]]'' — Historical Source page for Rumphius's 1741 botanical catalogue

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===

Martin cites three works:

* Burkill, I.H. (1966). ''A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula''. Two volumes. Kuala Lumpur: Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives.
* Crévost, C. and Lemarié, C. (1919–1921). ''Catalogue des produits de l'Indochine''. ''Bulletin Économique Indochine'', p. 116. Saigon.
* Taillard, C. (1971). ''Les berges de la Nam Ngum et du Mékong''. Commissariat Général au Plan. Vientiane, Laos.

== External links ==

* [https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110812060.63 "Ethnobotanical Aspects of Cannabis in Southeast Asia"] — De Gruyter (publisher page)
* [https://www.persee.fr/authority/207491 Marie Alexandrine Martin] — Persée author page (complete publication list)
* [https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/Krom_Khmer Collection Pangloss: Corpus krom_khmer] — CNRS archive of Martin's Cambodian field recordings

[[Category:Historical Sources]]

<div style="display:none;">
[[Has source author::Marie Alexandrine Martin]]
[[Has author dates::1932–2013]]
[[Has composition date::1973]]
[[Has publication date::1975]]
[[Has source language::English]]
[[Has publisher::De Gruyter Mouton]]
[[Has publication place::Berlin / New York]]
[[Has growing region documented::Cambodia]]
[[Has growing region documented::Thailand]]
[[Has growing region documented::Vietnam]]
[[Has growing region documented::Laos]]
[[Has source type::Book chapter]]
</div>