Part 1 covered where cannabis comes from and its early history in China, on the Central Asian steppe and in India. This part covers Thailand, Japan and Korea. It then explains how the international drug treaties led to bans across Asia, and what has changed since 2018.
The same labels apply as in Part 1. âDocumentedâ means a dated text, law or report exists. âReportedâ means the claim rests on one mention in a summary source that was not checked here. âDebatedâ means specialists disagree, and âlegendâ means nothing checkable supports the claim. If cannabis is illegal where you live, read this as history only.
This is Part 2. Part 1: Cannabis in Asia: Origins, Fibre and Medicine in China, the Steppe and India (Part 1 of 2)
1. Thailand: Kitchen, Folk Remedy, Criminal Law
In Southeast Asia, cannabis was used in the past as a cooking ingredient and kitchen seasoning. Sources also record traditional use to ease pain during childbirth, and as a muscle relaxant for manual workers.
Food writers often say cannabis leaves were a standard ingredient in boat noodle broth and some curries. The food-history source for this could not be consulted, so the claim is reported, not verified. For more on the topic, see cooking with cannabis in Thai cuisine.
Thailand then banned possession, cultivation, sale and use under the Cannabis Act B.E. 2477. B.E. stands for Buddhist Era, the Thai calendar. At that time the Thai year began on 1 April, so B.E. 2477 ran from April 1934 to March 1935. English-language sources date the act to either 1934 or 1935. Its exact date in the Royal Gazette was not confirmed here.
The Narcotics Act B.E. 2522 (1979) made the ban stronger. A plant used as a seasoning and a folk remedy had become a banned substance by law, and the 1979 act kept it that way.
What you can do: if older relatives remember cannabis in cooking or folk medicine, ask them three things. Which dish or remedy was it? Which part of the plant was used? Which decade was it? Post the answers under this topic. This is the evidence that written sources lack.
2. Japan: Hemp as a Sacred Material
Prehistory, ritual and everyday cloth
Cannabis has deep roots in Japanese culture. People grew it in the Jomon period, Japanâs prehistoric era of hunter-gatherers. By the Yayoi period, the era that followed, hemp cloth appears at the Yoshinogari site on the island of Kyushu. The Yamato court, Japanâs early ruling court, was taxing hemp by 645.
In Japan, hemp fibre is linked with purity in a way that has no close parallel elsewhere in Asia. Shinto priests have used it for ritual cleansing and to drive out evil spirits, and they still do. Hemp also appears in:
- shimenawa, the sacred ropes hung at shrines;
- noren, the cloth curtains hung in doorways;
- the rope belt worn by a yokozuna, the highest rank of sumo wrestler;
- the imperial regalia and the ceremony in which a new emperor takes the throne;
- talismans from the Ise Grand Shrine, a major Shinto shrine.
In daily life, hemp supplied rope, bowstrings, fishing nets and traditional paper. Ordinary people wore hemp, and the wealthy wore silk.
The break after the war
Japan passed its Cannabis Control Law (Taima Torishimari Ho) in July 1948, while the country was occupied after the Second World War. The law banned import, export, cultivation, sale, purchase and research involving cannabis buds and leaves.
Some historians have suggested that American petrochemical companies wanted to limit Japanese hemp fibre. In this account, the aim was to open the market for polyester and nylon. The source for this idea explicitly calls it speculation.
Licensed industrial farms were allowed to continue, but their number fell sharply. There were about 25,000 in 1950 and 37 by 2016. Roughly 90% of those were in Tochigi Prefecture.
In December 2023, the House of Councillors, the upper house of Japanâs parliament, passed new legislation. It legalised medicinal cannabis, made non-medical use a crime and introduced licences for growers.
What you can do: if you share the petrochemical story online, label it âhistoriansâ speculationâ. Then other members know it is not an established fact.
3. Korea: Cloth, Mourning and Strict Law
The textile tradition
Cannabis was an important crop in ancient Korea, and hemp fabric there is dated as early as 3000 BCE. Sambe, an ivory-coloured hemp cloth, is the best-known product of that tradition. It was traditionally used for funeral clothing, both for the dead and for mourners.
Hemp was grown in provinces across Korea as late as the 1930s. By the late 1950s it covered about 9,000 hectares. Licensed growing continues around Andong in Gyeongbuk (North Gyeongsang Province), which has been a special regulation zone for industrial hemp since 2020.
From a partial ban to a full ban
A Narcotics Act of 1957 listed âIndian marijuanaâ with opium and cocaine. However, it banned only the plant grown in India, so Korean hemp growing continued.
In the 1960s, cannabis use spread outward from United States army bases. In 1976, President Park Chung-hee introduced the Cannabis Control Act, a full ban. It followed a crackdown in the winter of 1975, when more than fifty well-known entertainers were arrested. Among them was the rock musician Shin Jung-hyeon.
South Korea is still one of the strictest countries in the region. Recreational offences carry up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won. The authorities have repeatedly warned citizens that Korean criminal law applies to them abroad, even where cannabis is legal locally.
Translatorâs note: this warning applies in Thailand too. If your farm, shop or clinic hosts Korean visitors or employs Korean nationals, make sure they know that Thai rules do not protect them under Korean law. A guest who uses cannabis here can still be prosecuted at home. See also the topic on cannabis rules for visitors to Thailand.
What you can do: if you receive groups from Korea, add one line about Korean law to your visitor briefing. It protects your guests, and it protects your reputation.
4. The Wave of Bans, and How It Worked
The dates
The bans came in this order: Thailand in B.E. 2477 (1934â35), Japan in 1948, Korea and Nepal in 1976, India in 1985. These were not separate national movements that happened by chance. Each was the local result of an international system of drug control.
The 1961 treaty
The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 is the main United Nations treaty on narcotic drugs. It replaced earlier treaties, including the 1912 Hague opium convention and the Geneva conventions of 1925 and 1931. Thailandâs B.E. 2477 act came before the 1961 treaty, while those earlier treaties were in force.
The treaty sorts drugs into lists called schedules. It put cannabis and cannabis resin in Schedule I, which requires strict control. It also put them in Schedule IV, a list for substances judged especially open to abuse and with no medical benefit to outweigh the harm.
That listing stood until 2 December 2020. On that date, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the UN body that decides the schedules, adopted Decision 63/17. The decision removed cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule IV, following recommendations made by the World Health Organization in 2019.
Two articles that mattered for Asia
Article 28 requires governments to control cannabis growing for medical and scientific purposes. However, it says the treaty does not apply to growing only for industrial purposes, meaning fibre and seed, or for horticulture. That is why hemp stayed legal in Japan, Korea and China during the decades of prohibition.
Article 49 allowed countries to keep traditional practices, such as cannabis use, for a limited time only. They had to end them by fixed deadlines after the treaty came into force. Tradition was given an end date, not a permanent place.
The treatyâs definition of cannabis also leaves out the leaves. This gap is how bhang culture survived in India. Indiaâs 1985 law copied the same exclusion.
Translatorâs note: the Article 28 exemption is part of an international treaty. It does not replace Thai national law. If you plan to grow hemp in Thailand, check the current Thai rules before you plant. For what can legally leave Thailand as hemp, see this topic.
How the system worked, step by step
- Agree on what the problem is. States with very different interests had to agree on a definition. The drafting record shows a split. Industrial states that manufactured drugs, including the United States, pushed for strict control of raw plant material. Producing states with long cultural use, including India, Turkey, Pakistan and Burma (now Myanmar), wanted weaker controls and compensation for the cost of compliance.
- Ratify. When a country ratified the treaty, it took on a duty to pass matching national laws.
- Apply pressure country by country. Pressure between individual governments closed the remaining gaps. Sources say directly that India banned charas in 1985 under pressure from the United States. They also say Nepal cancelled all cannabis licences in 1973 under pressure from the United States and other countries, then banned cannabis by law in 1976.
- Direct control. Japanâs 1948 law came while the country was under occupation, a more direct form of the same process.
What you can do: when someone online says one country âforcedâ a ban, check which of these four steps they mean. Then quote the date of the national law and the treaty behind it.
5. The Reversal, Without Exaggeration
Thailand opened, then narrowed
Thailand legalised medical cannabis in 2018. It is often called the first Asian country to do so. However, South Korea is also described as the first in East Asia, in November of the same year, so the âfirstâ claim is not clear-cut.
On 8 May 2022, the government announced that it would give out one million free plants from 9 June 2022. In June 2022, cannabis flower was removed from the national narcotics list. This step is linked with Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul of the Bhumjaithai Party. About 4,200 prisoners were released.
Dispensaries then sold flower without prescriptions, in what sources describe as a legal grey area. The public debate led to a correction, not a wider opening. Under Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin, cannabis flower became a controlled herb on 26 June 2025, so sales were limited to medical use with a prescription. Overall, Thailand opened, left a gap in regulation, and then partly stepped back. For the full sequence, see the map of Thai cannabis rules from 2022 to 2026.
Translatorâs note: here is what the current rules mean if you grow or sell in Thailand.
- Since 26 June 2025, cannabis flower has been a controlled herb. The legal basis is the Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Re: Controlled Herbs (Cannabis), B.E. 2568, issued under the Thai Traditional Medicine Protection Act B.E. 2542.
- Flower may be sold only against a PT 33 (àž .àž.33) prescription, for no more than 30 days of use.
- Advertising flower is prohibited, and so is selling it online. That includes posts on this forum. See the advertising rules on Asiannabis.
- The Ministerial Regulation on Controlled Herbs (No. 2) B.E. 2569, in force since 30 April 2026, tightens the licence criteria for flower.
- The Ministerial Regulation on Cannabis or Hemp Extracts B.E. 2569, in force since 26 April 2026, limits who can be licensed for extracts above 0.2% THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the main intoxicating compound). Only three kinds of holder qualify: Thai juristic persons that are not âforeignâ under the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542, state agencies, and the Thai Red Cross Society.
- Under section 78 of the 1999 Act, the penalty is up to one year in prison, a fine of up to 20,000 baht, or both.
- The draft Cannabis Control Act is not law yet. The Cabinet approved the draft on 22 September 2026 and sent it to the House of Representatives.
What you can do: before your next licence renewal, compare your licence and sales records with the 2569 criteria, so you find any gap before an inspector does. Do not base farm plans on the draft act until it becomes law.
The rest of the region
Elsewhere in Asia, the picture is cautious and varies from country to country. For current rules country by country, see cannabis laws across Asia.
- South Korea allows three named pharmaceutical products through a narrow case-by-case process. The plant itself and its natural derivatives remain unapproved.
- Japan has legalised medicinal cannabis while making non-medical use a crime for the first time. Since December 2024 it has also limited THC in CBD (cannabidiol, a non-intoxicating compound) products to trace levels. Industry groups warned that most products then on sale would fail the limits.
- China has never banned industrial hemp growing nationwide, and cannabis is widely grown in Yunnan Province, especially around Dali. Smoking cannabis is treated as a public-security offence, normally punished with ten to fifteen days of detention, and a fine may be added.
- India keeps the legal distinction between the parts of the plant. Uttarakhand moved to allow industrial hemp in November 2015. Gujarat removed bhang from its list of intoxicating drugs in February 2017. In August 2022, the Karnataka High Court ruled that bhang is not prohibited under the 1985 law.
No country in Asia should treat Thailand as a model to copy. If cannabis is illegal where you live, treat this article as history and nothing more.
6. Timeline: What the Record Supports
BCE means âbefore the common eraâ (the same as BC), and CE means âcommon eraâ (the same as AD).
| Approximate date | Place | Event | Strength of evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8000 BCE | Oki Islands, Japan | Cannabis achenes (seed-like fruits) at a site | One mention, reported |
| Fifth millennium BCE | China, Yangshao culture | Hemp fibre marks on pottery | Corroborated |
| 3000 BCE | Korea | Hemp fabric samples | Corroborated |
| c. 1200â1000 BCE | India | Atharvaveda composed | Identity of the plant debated |
| c. 200â250 CE | China | Shennong Bencaojing compiled | Attribution is legend |
| 456â536 | China | Tao Hongjing writes on hemp seed | Documented |
| 645 | Japan | Yamato court taxes hemp | Reported |
| c. 1123 | Egypt under the Fatimid dynasty | Word âhashishâ first recorded | Documented |
| 1798 | British India | Tax on bhang, ganja and charas | Documented |
| 1893â1894 | British India | Indian Hemp Drugs Commission sits and reports | Documented |
| 1934â35 (B.E. 2477) | Thailand | Cannabis Act | Documented; exact date not confirmed |
| 1948 | Japan | Cannabis Control Law | Documented |
| 1961 | International | Single Convention lists cannabis | Documented |
| 1976 | South Korea and Nepal | Full bans | Documented |
| 1985 | India | Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act | Documented |
| 2018 | Thailand and South Korea | Medical cannabis legalised | Documented |
| 2 December 2020 | International | Cannabis removed from Schedule IV | Documented |
| 26 June 2025 | Thailand | Flower becomes a controlled herb | Documented |
7. What the Record Shows Versus Popular Claims
| Claim you will see | What the record supports |
|---|---|
| Shen Nung recorded cannabis in 2737 BCE | Legend. He is a mythical figure with no recorded reign. The text credited to him was compiled around 200â250 CE |
| The Atharvaveda names cannabis among five sacred plants | Reported. Whether âbhangaâ means cannabis is still debated |
| Cannabis was the soma of the Rigveda | An open hypothesis, not a finding |
| Cannabis was domesticated in Central Asia | The older default view, now being revised |
| It was domesticated in East Asia about 12,000 years ago | Supported by a 2021 DNA study (Ren and colleagues, Science Advances), as an estimate with a wide margin. East Asian archaeology is strong on its own |
| Cannabis leaves were standard in Thai boat noodles and curries | Reported in food writing, not verified here. Use as a kitchen seasoning in Southeast Asia is supported |
| Japanâs 1948 ban was engineered by American petrochemical companies | The source itself calls this historiansâ speculation |
| The 1961 treaty banned hemp farming | False. Article 28 exempts growing only for fibre, seed or horticulture |
| Bhang is illegal throughout India | The 1985 law bans charas and ganja and leaves out leaves and seeds. State rules vary widely |
| Asia is liberalising | Overstated. One country opened and then narrowed, and most of the region remains restrictive |
What you can do: keep this table handy. When one of these claims appears in a thread, reply with the matching line and a source.
8. Why This History Matters to You
A community that repeats a fake date like 2737 BCE loses credibility when it needs to make a claim that matters. The accurate version is also more interesting. It includes:
- a fibre and food crop of great age in East Asia;
- three distinct preparations in South Asia that are still part of living religious practice;
- a ritual material in Japan with an unbroken history;
- a twentieth-century prohibition that came through a treaty system, with an exemption for fibre and a deadline for traditional use.
Nothing here describes what cannabis does to the body. Historical medical use is described strictly as history.
Written sources cannot supply the next layer, but members can. Many of you come from families that grew hemp, wove it, cooked with it, or remember when the law changed. Did your grandparents keep hemp cloth for mourning? Was there a plant behind the house in Isan (northeast Thailand) before 1979? Does your family have a bhang recipe older than anyone living? Does a shrine near you still grow its own ritual fibre? Please post it under this topic. Family and local memory is what the written record misses, and this community can supply it. Corrections are just as welcome, ideally with a source attached.
References for Part 2
- Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, including Articles 28 and 49, with its drafting record.
- Commission on Narcotic Drugs, Decision 63/17, 2 December 2020, following World Health Organization recommendations of 2019.
- Thailand: Cannabis Act B.E. 2477; Narcotics Act B.E. 2522; Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Re: Controlled Herbs (Cannabis), B.E. 2568; Ministerial Regulation on Cannabis or Hemp Extracts B.E. 2569; Ministerial Regulation on Controlled Herbs (No. 2) B.E. 2569; Thai Traditional Medicine Protection Act B.E. 2542, section 78.
- Japan: Cannabis Control Law (Taima Torishimari Ho), July 1948; legislation passed by the House of Councillors, December 2023.
- South Korea: Narcotics Act, 1957; Cannabis Control Act, 1976.
- India: Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985; Karnataka High Court ruling on bhang, August 2022.
- Ren G, Zhang X, Li Y, et al. Large-scale whole-genome resequencing unravels the domestication history of Cannabis sativa. Science Advances, 2021; 7(29): eabg2286.
This article is part of the Asiannabis Community educational series on cannabis history and culture. It is for education in jurisdictions where cannabis is legally permitted.