The high times are a-changing in Cambodia's cannabis crackdown

Jun 5, 2008, 7:43 GMT

Phnom Penh - Cambodian police arrested and jailed six men allegedly caught smoking marijuana, local media said Thursday.

The six Cambodians all worked as motorbike taxi drivers and were detained in custody pending a court hearing in the seaside resort town of Sihanoukville, 240 kilometres south-west of the capital, according to Khmer-language Rasmei Kampuchea daily.

Their arrests follow a statement by the country's anti-drugs chief, General Lou Ramin, earlier this year that marijuana, known locally as ganja, was no longer available in Cambodia and people caught with the drug would be harshly punished.

However police said Thursday the six would probably be let off with a fine and a stern warning for a first offense.

Cambodia was once viewed as a safe haven for ganja users, compared to neighbouring countries such as Thailand, which jails smokers, and has been described in pro-marijuana publications such as US-based High Times as a 'pot smoker's paradise'.

But times appear to have changed, according to Rasmei Kampuchea, which warned that not only backpacking tourists who once came to Cambodia for its legendary crop but locals as well are no longer guaranteed of being exempt from the law if caught with the drug.