In a bid to highlight the country’s foray into legal medical marijuana, Thailand will host the inaugural World Ganja Festival early next year. The event is being organized by the Association of Researchers of Thailand with cooperation from the national and local governments.

“We’re the main host. Thailand’s the main host. We’re deciding who we will invite to the Ganja Festival,” said the World Ganja Festival’s Honorary Advisor, Gen. Charan Kullawanit. “There will be Chinese, Japanese and American guests. They once opposed the idea.”

“We’ll invite them so we can listen to their academic ideas, presentations, and statements,” he added. “We’ll see how the event will benefit the global community.”

The Association of Researchers of Thailand announced that the group had signed agreements to hold the first World Ganja Festival next year from January 29 through February 2 with the Thai Nationalism Foundation, the Journalist and Media Association of Thailand, and provincial administrative organizations of Nakhon Phanom, Sakon Nakhon, and Mukdahan. The event will be held at a 40-acre venue near the Nong Yat Reservoir in Nakhon Phanom province.

The World Ganja Festival 2020 will serve as a platform for the sharing of knowledge about the medicinal uses of cannabis, according to Gen. Kullawanit. The event will include educational seminars, information about technological innovations, and opportunities for business negotiations. A music festival and product design competition will also be featured.

Organizers of the festival hope the event will help create new opportunities for Thailand, the first country in the region to legalize medical marijuana. They also hope to provide a better understanding of cannabis and the legal issues pertaining to its cultivation and use.

Thailand legalized cannabis for medicinal use and for research last year, a move that was affirmed by royal decree in February. The government is looking to legalization as a way to benefit the Thai people both medically and by providing new economic and agricultural opportunities for the country.

Thailand has a tradition of cannabis use to relax muscles and for the treatment of fatigue and labor pains that goes back centuries. In August, the Thai government began distributing 10,000 vials of medical cannabis oil to hospitals to be used for patient care.