With Cambodia’s traditional cash crops struggling to compete in global supply chains, the Kingdom could carve out a lucrative niche in commercial cannabis harvesting and exports – provided it acts fast to take advantage of the falling legal barriers, a Cambodia-based American innovator has argued.

Jim Plamondon, a former technical evangelist for Microsoft, said cannabis, the flowering plant that produces marijuana, was a potential goldmine for the Kingdom’s agricultural sector, which employs two-thirds of the country’s workforce.

He said US elections earlier this month were a tipping point, with more than half of the 50 US states having now legalised marijuana for medical use, such as treatment of glaucoma, and seven states legalising it for recreational use.

From Singapore: “Try wearing clothes that are marijuana related e.g. pictures of weed leaves etc.”

From Cape Town, South Africa: “I bought one bankie, and was caught by police. . . . African prisons SUX!!! So stay away from them.”

From Baghdad, Iraq: “Go up to most any civilian military contractor, at a good time, and just ask!”

For those who enjoy sampling the local grass as much as other travelers seek out regional wines or craft beers, the world has many welcoming corners.

The Cambodian police showed off their latest haul earlier this week as they paraded around 1.5 tonnes of marijuana that had an estimated street value of nearly $7m.

Rightly pleased with themselves, this was another victory for the police force who are currently ploughing resources into an ongoing operation to crackdown and eradicate the drugs trade in the country.

General Khieu Samon, the head of the interior ministry’s anti-drug office, said that the haul had been seized in Cambodia’s capital city Phnom Penh and that a number of Cambodian nations had been arrested.

About $7 million worth of marijuana stuffed into coffee bags has been seized by police in Cambodia as the country tries to crackdown on the drug, according to the Associated Press. The 1.5 tons of marijuana confiscated during a series of raids is the largest haul police have made since the crackdown began 15 years ago.

Cambodia has a complicated relationship with cannabis. While it’s technically illegal, the authorities make exceptions for traditional and medicinal use. But now with a global trend away from prohibition, some suggest it’s high time the government here followed suit

As farmers across Cambodia take to their fields this month in anticipation of the rainy season, in a sleepy village in Battambang’s Moung Ruessei district, some are sowing a crop alongside their rice and cassava that’s just as traditional but much more controversial.

“Here, ganja is just like in Jamaica,” said Ratanak*, a 42-year-old farmer, after inhaling a lungful of thick, pungent cannabis smoke from a bamboo water pipe.

San Rafael High School’s claims to fame include adult actress Nikki Tyler and Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” video, but the California campus is best known as the alleged birthplace of 420. Back in 1971, five classmates sought a hidden cannabis crop in the Point Reyes Peninsula, and 420 served as the code word for the search and their 4:20 p.m. meeting time. The legend may or may not be historically accurate, but 420 is definitely the preeminent counterculture holiday with annual cannabis celebrations on April 20. On the fifty shades of green scale, 420 ranks up there with St. Patty’s and Earth Day, and travelers can celebrate with cities to visit, things to do and places to munch.

Punta del Este, Uruguay