Ong-ard Panyachatiraksa, a farm owner in northern Thailand, has a license to grow medicinal cannabis. He uses abundant production of cannabis leaves as chicken food. The result, claimed to make the chicken healthier.
A number of academics at Chiang Mai University were curious. Since January, they have studied 1,000 chickens at Pethlanna Ong-ard's organic farm, in Lampang, to see how the animals respond when marijuana is added to their feed or drinking water.
The results, according to Chompunut Lumsangkul, assistant professor in the department of animal and aquatic sciences at Chiang Mai University who led the research, are promising and show that cannabis can help reduce farmers' dependence on antibiotics.
Chompunut looked at the chickens to see what impact cannabis had on their growth, susceptibility to disease, and to see if their meat and eggs differed in quality, or if they contained cannabinoids.
The animals were given plants in different intensities and in different forms. Some were given water boiled with cannabis leaves, while others were fed mixed with crushed cannabis leaves.
"No abnormal behavior was observed in the chickens. At the level of intensity we gave them, a dose of marijuana would not make the chickens intoxicated," Chompunut said.
The levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a plant psychoactive substance that makes people feel high, and cannabidiol (CBD), a non-intoxicating compound, in leaves ranged from 0.2 to 0.4%.
"I'm trying to find a suitable level for them that can help them boost immunity and performance without any ill effects," Chompunut says.
The results have not yet been published, but Chompunut has observed positive signs. Chicken supplemented with marijuana tended to experience fewer cases of avian bronchitis, and the quality of the meat, judging by its protein, fat and moisture composition, and tenderness, was also superior.
"The medicinal and cooking benefits of cannabis have long been recognized in Thai tradition. It is a local wisdom of Thai people to use cannabis (leaves) as a food additive, mixing it as an ingredient to make chicken noodles. People put it in soups to make it taste better. ," said Chompunut, adding he wanted to investigate the science behind such practices.
To note, Thailand has relaxed its marijuana laws in recent years. First, they legalized marijuana for medical purposes, then allowed the company to sell products containing hemp and CBD.
This month, the Thai government removed marijuana and the hemp plant from its narcotics list, despite public warnings not to smoke in public and cannabis extracts containing more than 0.2% tetrahydrocannabinol remain illegal.
Local officials say they want to boost agriculture and tourism by capitalizing on the growing interest in cannabis-infused food and drink and medical treatment.
It's not clear why marijuana has such a positive effect on chickens, Chompunut said. It is possible that the bioactive compounds in cannabis have stimulated the chicken's gut health, immunity and thus improved its performance.
Further investigation is needed to see if cannabis can replace antibiotics in chicken farming. Chompunut is planning a second study that will use higher-intensity cannabis extracts to observe what impact it has on disease and mortality rates among chickens.