Marcus Webb
Cannabis Travel Writer — Updated May 2026
WARNING: Zero-Tolerance Jurisdiction
Cambodia recriminalised cannabis in 2021 after years of Happy Pizza tolerance. Enforcement has tightened. The open cannabis tourism era in Phnom Penh is over.
Cannabis Laws in Phnom Penh 2026
Cambodia's Law on Drug Control (1997) prohibits cannabis possession and use. Personal possession can result in 1 to 5 years imprisonment; supply and trafficking carry 10 to 30 years. The critical development was a government directive in 2021 that explicitly ended the era of informal tolerance for cannabis in food and beverages. Restaurants that had openly served "happy" cannabis-infused food were ordered to stop or face closure. Police enforcement has intensified since 2021. The legal situation post-2021 is fundamentally different from what many travellers have read about Cambodia based on earlier experiences.
What Travellers Need to Know
The Phnom Penh that cannabis travellers historically knew — where Happy Pizza on Street 278, Lazy Gecko and other venues openly served cannabis-infused food and the police were widely considered uninterested in tourists — has substantially changed. The 2021 directive represents a genuine policy shift, not merely rhetoric. Foreign nationals are now regularly arrested in Phnom Penh for cannabis. The informal market continues underground but is more difficult to access and riskier to engage with than in previous years.
Phnom Penh Neighbourhood Guide
BKK1 (Boeung Keng Kang 1) is the expatriate and upmarket restaurant/bar hub. Riverside (Sisowath Quay) is tourist-central. Street 308 (the old bar street) has seen significant change post-2021. Toul Tom Pong (Russian Market area) is local and residential. The Phnom Penh expatriate community that historically provided social context for cannabis tourism has contracted significantly since 2021 as enforcement has increased.
Safety Tips for Phnom Penh
Do not visit Phnom Penh expecting the cannabis environment of pre-2021. The change is real and documented. If you visit, abstain. Do not bring CBD products into Cambodia as no legal distinction exists. If your primary motivation for visiting Cambodia was cannabis tourism, reconsider and choose a destination with an appropriate legal framework instead. The Angkor Wat archaeological complex (near Siem Reap) remains an extraordinary reason to visit Cambodia that has nothing to do with cannabis.
Official Sources