Early history Cannabis was an important crop in ancient Korea, with samples of hempen fabric discovered dating back as early as 3,000 BCE. The traditional
sambe cloth is made from
hemp.
Modern accounts In 2010, the American NGO Open Radio for North Korea stated that their source informed them that a crackdown on meth had been announced in
Hamkyungbuk-do; however, the crackdown was focused on
methamphetamine, with
opium and marijuana not being considered "drugs". In 2013, citing sources at
NK News and
Reddit,
Vice News reported that cannabis was widely used and tolerated in North Korea, smoked as
ipdambae (잎담배, "leaf tobacco") by the lower classes as a cheap alternative to cigarettes and to relax after a day of labor. According to Lexi De Coning of
MassRoots, it is fairly common for North Koreans to grow their own marijuana, or to simply harvest marijuana plants which
grow wild across the country. However, a reply by journalist Keegan Hamilton in a 2014 article in
The Guardian sought to debunk these as rumors. He cited Matthew Reichel of the
Pyongyang Project who notes that
ipdambae is actually a mixture of herbs and tobacco, superficially resembling cannabis but unrelated. Cannabis is cultivated industrially, but in the form of low-THC hemp, and while some people may cultivate personal amounts of psychoactive cannabis, its use is still illegal, though it is also unlikely to be punished severely. A
Swedish ambassador to North Korea said in 2017 that "there should be no doubt that drugs, including marijuana, are illegal here. One can't buy it legally and it would be a criminal offense to smoke it; expect no leniency whatsoever." ==See also==