Strain Library

Vietnam

Vietnamese

Also called Vietnam, Vietnam Black, Vietnamese Black

Cannabis, called cần sa, has long grown in Vietnam, but evidence for a distinct “Vietnamese landrace” is thin. Most of the record dates from the American war years, when locally grown cannabis was plentiful and servicemen nicknamed it by place: “Pleiku Pink”, “Bleu de Hue” and “Cambodian Red”. The government of the Republic of Vietnam condemned cultivation in 1968, and from 1969 US-backed teams tried to eradicate fields, including from the air in the Mekong Delta. Popular accounts say returning veterans carried seeds home, though no documented strain lineage traces back to them. “Vietnam Black” is a seed-bank name; its backstory, said to combine a southern Vietnamese line with one from nearer China, has no cited source. Cannabis remains illegal in Vietnam.

Region
Central Highlands and southern Vietnam (indicative; Mekong Delta also a documented growing area)
How sure we are
Mixed. War-era availability and eradication are documented, but no source establishes a distinct Vietnamese landrace and “Vietnam Black” rests on a seed-bank listing.
Keep in mind
Samples sold as “Vietnam” or “Vietnam Black” are generally modern seed-bank selections whose link to any historical Vietnamese population is unverified.

Timeline

  1. Before 1969 US servicemen arriving in Vietnam find cannabis plentiful and little else in the way of illicit drugs. Source
  2. 1960s-early 1970s Servicemen give local cannabis place-based nicknames such as “Pleiku Pink” and “Bleu de Hue”. Source
  3. 1968 The Republic of Vietnam government publicly condemns cannabis use and trafficking and tells local chiefs to prevent cultivation. Source
  4. 1969 USAID's Office of Public Safety begins eradicating cannabis fields, including aerial work in the Mekong Delta. Source
  5. Seed-bank era (undated) “Vietnam Black” is listed from a private donor reproduction, with only an unsourced “said to be” origin. Source

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, Cannabis in Vietnam
  2. Kuzmarov, “Escaping the Horrors of War: Drugs and GI Resistance in Vietnam” (2008 conference talk)
  3. Encyclopedia.com, “Vietnam: Drug Use In”
  4. Seedfinder, Vietnam Black (seed-bank listing; industry lore)
  5. Leafly, how Vietnam veterans expanded America's cannabis strains (veteran recollection; industry lore)

All landrace strainsThe cannabis timeline

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