The marijuana movement, for lack of a better phrase, is growing like a weed.

Looking back only two decades we would not find a single state allowing marijuana to be legally sold in a shop or prescribed by a physician, and only a quarter of respondents in Gallup's national survey shared a favorable view of the drug.

A former senior UK government advisor on drugs policy has joined calls for a debate about the decriminalisation of controlled substances to begin in Scotland.

Professor David Nutt, who is currently the Edmond J Safra chair in Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, was dismissed as chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs in 2009, after saying that ecstasy, cannabis and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco.

He has long advocated the use of some illegal substances to treat patients suffering from everything from anxiety attacks to terminal cancer, but admits he has struggled to garner political support at Westminster.

Five weeks ago, Bill Shorten visited Cherie and Trevor Dell in their Sydney home to talk about how medicinal cannabis is helping their three-year-old daughter Abbey. 

The very next day, the police came knocking.

Abbey suffers from a rare genetic disorder known as CDKL5, which results in constant violent seizures.

They tried every legal medicine and treatment under the sun but found that nothing worked. Eventually, desperate to relieve Abbey's suffering, they turned to the underground suppliers that provide illegal medicinal cannabis oil to families in need across the country.

Grace can finally sleep through the night without being awakened by one of her epileptic crises since the eight-year-old Mexican girl started taking cannabis-based medicine a month ago.

Her parents have seen a marked improvement in their daughter's conditions since she became the first person authorized to take medicinal marijuana in October.

"Her reaction has been very good. Since she took the medicine, we noticed that she could sleep all night," her father, Raul Elizalde, said from the family's home in an upper-class neighborhood of the northern industrial hub of Monterrey.

An overwhelming majority of Swedes think illicit drugs should remain banned, despite the legalization of narcotics being the subject of heated debate in recent years, a fresh poll has suggested.

A whopping 91 percent of respondents told major pollsters Sifo that they think consumption of narcotics should remain illegal. Seven percent opted against a ban and three percent said they did not know.

States laws may prevent black farmers from growing medical marijuana

In Montana, a man was arrested for possessing about as much marijuana as it would take to roll a joint. Montana is a fairly conservative state, so it's not a surprise. But what was surprising is when it came time to fill the jury slots, the judge could not find one single person willing to convict a man over a small amount of marijuana. And it continues to show the ridiculousness of marijuana laws throughout the U.S.:

Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has declared seizing narcotic drugs valued at more than $1 billion over a seven-year period.
A statement issued by the agency’s spokesperson, Mr. Mitchel Ofoyeju in Lagos on Sunday, the drugs weighed fifty-five million, eight hundred and thirty thousand, eight hundred and thirty-seven kilogrammes.

Also 72,253 suspected drug traffickers were arrested between 2006 and 2014.

”This arrest was made under the leadership of the NDLEA Chairman, Ahmadu Giade and this impressive scorecard has continued to attract accolades from stakeholders including UNODCâ€� the statement said.

According to the anti-drug agency suspected traffickers number 67,773 males and 4,480 females.

Iran regularly puts drug traffickers to death—but it also tests out progressive policies for treating drug addicts

Situated between Afghanistan’s extensive poppy fields and eager Western markets, Iran has an extensive history of domestic opium, alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use dating back centuries. In recent decades, heroin has become more popular. Most recently, the use of methamphetamine has exploded and is reportedly in demand across the social spectrum, from tired workers to women seeking weight loss.

A strange South Dakota law is drawing renewed attention this year amidst confusion over how Native tribes can grow and distribute cannabis. Passed in 2001, the South Dakota law prohibits the “internal and physical possession, distribution, and manufacture of marijuana” by all non-Natives within the state, with exceptions for Natives consuming on tribal land.

The law was challenged and brought to the Supreme Court back in 2004, when police stopped a man in traffic, found him in possession of a scale, and pressured him into consenting to a urine test. He failed the test and was slapped with a criminal charge for internal possession.