Strain Library

Thailand

Thai

Also called Thai Landrace, Thailand, Thai Stick, Thai Sticks, Buddha Sticks

Cannabis appears in traditional Thai herbal formulas from at least the 17th century,. In the late 1960s and 1970s, with large US bases in Thailand during the Vietnam War, locally grown cannabis became famous abroad as “Thai sticks” or “Buddha sticks”, buds tied to short bamboo skewers that servicemen, surfers and smugglers carried to the United States, Australia and Europe. Reporting places the main growing area in Isan, the north-east. Cannabis was outlawed in 1934 and more harshly restricted in 1979, and the export trade faded in the 1980s. Industry lore links Thai seed to early California “Haze” lines and Dutch breeders, but this is unconfirmed. Thailand has since registered its own native cultivars, including Hang Kra Rog Phu Phan.

Region
Isan (north-eastern Thailand), around the Phu Phan Range
How sure we are
Well documented. The export era and Thai use are documented in books, journalism and Thai academic journals; the seed route into Western breeding is industry lore.
Keep in mind
Cannabis sold as “Thai” today is generally a modern cultivar or a descendant of Thai-derived lines, not the original 1960s-70s export material.

Timeline

  1. 17th century onward Cannabis appears in traditional Thai herbal formulas for at least 300 years, since the reign of King Narai of Ayutthaya. Source
  2. 1934 Thailand's Marijuana Act makes cannabis illegal, with relatively light penalties. Source
  3. Late 1960s-1970s With US bases in Thailand during the Vietnam War, Thai cannabis is exported as “Thai sticks”; the main growing area is placed in Isan. Source
  4. 1979 The Narcotics Act, passed under heavy US pressure, bans cannabis in any form and raises sentences. Source
  5. 2021 Thai health authorities hand four native cultivars, including Hang Kra Rog Phu Phan, to researchers ahead of official registration. Source

Sources

  1. Bangkok Post, “Catching the long end of the stick” (2016), on the book Thai Stick
  2. The Diplomat, “Thailand's Green Rush” (2019)
  3. The Diplomat, “Drugs, Surfing and Shiploads of Trouble” (2013)
  4. Atlas Obscura, cannabis in Thai food
  5. Laohavanich, “Political economy of cannabis in Thailand”, Chulalongkorn Medical Journal (2022)
  6. Kamoltham et al., genomic analysis of Thai cultivar Hang Kra Rog Phu Phan, Biodiversitas
  7. Pattaya Mail (TNA), Thai cannabis strains registered and studied (2021)
  8. Leafly, Haze family history (industry lore, hedged by the author)
  9. True Travel Substack, “The True History of Thai Stick” (author account, weak source; used only to corroborate Isan)

All landrace strainsThe cannabis timeline

Written from the sources above. Informational only, not medical advice.