Manila, Philippines - Sitting at an undisclosed location in Metro Manila, Alden is busy preparing for his next delivery until his phone beeps. He says it is one of his customers texting to check that he is OK and hasn't been shot like thousands of others since the start of President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.

Alden, however, is not a typical drug dealer. He treats hundreds of patients with debilitating diseases and life-threatening illnesses, even though he never studied medicine in college. He may not be a doctor, but he has something very few medical practitioners in the Philippines have: cannabis oil.

Greece has become the latest European country to legalize marijuana for medical purposes.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said last week that doctors will soon be able to prescribe the drug for a variety of medical conditions.

Cannabis is normally prescribed for conditions like muscle spasms, chronic pain, PTSD, epilepsy and cancer.

“From now on, the country is turning its page, as Greece is now included in countries where the delivery of medical cannabis to patients in need is legal.” Mr Tsipras said at a press conference, as reported by the Greek Government Gazette.

Greece is the sixth EU country to take this action after the Czech Republic, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain have already legalised the drug for medical use.

Now that Las Vegas has officially started selling recreational marijuana as of Saturday, pot tourists should learn the rules before they get high, legal experts say.

In Nevada, gambling, drinking, and even some prostitution is allowed. Marijuana may fit right in.

"It's always crazy, so it's going to be fine, I guess," said Ilze Mondragon who was flying to Las Vegas for her birthday.

It's estimated two thirds of recreational marijuana users in Las Vegas will be tourists, so what do locals think?

"There are still a lot of legal ramifications," Las Vegas resident Spencer Cranney said.

You can't use marijuana in hotels, on the Strip, in public, or in restaurants.

The underlying intention of its legalization policies is to take business away from the contintent’s deadly narco businesses.

Uruguay’s bid to allow the sale of recreational marijuana in pharmacies, under its revolutionary law that fully legalized the production, sale and consumption of marijuana in 2013, is due to come into force this month.

Becoming the first country in the world to uphold such drug policies, Uruguay’s intentions, tabled under the leadership of leftist guerrilla-turned-former President Jose Mujica, is to take business away from the contintent’s deadly narco businesses.

Marijuana stocks have soared as state after state in the U.S. has legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use. The market potential is huge, with some estimating that the marijuana industry in the U.S. could generate sales of more than $18 billion by 2020.

But focusing only on the U.S. is nearsighted -- literally. There are significant opportunities for investors looking to profit from the expanding marijuana industry in other countries. Here are several important areas across the world with growing marijuana markets along with some of the marijuana stocks that could benefit from that growth.  

A Swiss couple in their thirties who grew marijuana plants near Alhaurín el Grande were cleared of a drugs related offence by a Malaga court last week.

In a statement, the judge said that there was “more than reasonable doubt” over what would have happened to the marijuana once it had been grown. The couple had always insisted that the plants were only being grown for personal use, which is legal.

Guardia Civil officers arrested the pair in August 2015 after discovering the plantation on the plot of land they were living on in their mobile home, and reduced the couple to tears when they chopped the plants down.

On December 28, 2016, the Massachusetts state legislature voted to delay sales of recreational marijuana for six months. Originally, licensing for cannabis shops was set to begin on January 1, 2018, under the measure, but the delay set by legislators moved the date to July 1, 2018. Legislators cited needing more time to tinker with the measure as the reason for enacting the delay. Personal use, possession, and cultivation of marijuana all became legal on December 15, 2016.

July 1 brings Canada Day, an annual celebration of national unity. This year, it’s also an important milestone: As of today, Canada is exactly one year away from being only the second country on Earth to fully legalize cannabis for adult use. (Thanks for stealing our thunder, Uruguay.) It’s an exciting time to be alive—how often do you get to see federal prohibition repealed?—and the change carries huge ramifications for the legal, medical, financial, and political spheres. Here are six things to watch for as the 12-month countdown plays out.

1. Canadian Celebrities Jumping on the Canna-Bandwagon