Xinhua

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) -- Three farmers had died and two others fell ill after they drank strychnine poisoning rice wine Sunday night in a pagoda in southern Cambodia's Kandal province, according to a police report released Monday.

Strychnine is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter alkaloid often used to kill birds and rodents, but smaller doses of strychnine can be used to treat fever, venom and malaria. In Cambodia, rural residents, who feel difficult to travel to health centers, always use smaller doses of strychnine as medicines.

According to Kandal Provincial Police Commissariat's report, strychnine rice wine was made by a Buddhist monk, who had used it for the treatment of high temperature and malaria. "The victims had taken the wine from the monk's quarter to drink without telling him,"the report said, adding that three men died after drinking the wine excessively and two others were sent to hospital.

read more: http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/16230/3-farmers-die-after-drinking-strychnine-poisoning-rice-wine-in-southern-cambodia/

Strychnine as a medicine? The mind boggles.

Harsh consequences for their sin...RIP

Strychnine as a medicine? The mind boggles.

Yep there are some strange remedies in this part of the world. My gf said when she was a girl the mothers would feed their children a chingchok for a stomach ache. Sometimes they would cook them and sometimes they would just kill them and feed to their children.

Strange indeed. Strychnine???? I've heard of quinine for malaria but.........

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Not a weird cure story here, but a remote area incident........nearest doctor was 3 miles away in Prasat & nobody had any wheels.

My wife has a tiny scar on her throat. When she was 1 year old in 1975, she got stung in the throat by a bee/wasp/hornet - "not sure".

Her Dad ran 3 miles thru the rice paddies on foot to find a doctor & he had to do an emergency tracheotomy. I guess the Doc had some wheels to get them back.

Khun Paw was about 30 at the time & has always been thin as a rake. Super nice, hardworking guy. I bet he made those 3 miles in about 20 minutes, barefoot.