Millions more Americans now admit to toking up than just three years before.

That conclusion is based on a new Gallup survey, which found the number of Americans admitting to current marijuana use has nearly doubled in just three years. In 2013, 7 percent of US adults responding to Gallup admitted to smoking marijuana. This year, 13 percent did.

As Christopher Ingraham at the Washington Post pointed out, that 13 percent amounts to more than 33 million Americans — more than the population of Texas.

Medicinal Cannabis Sativex and Bedrocan are now available in many European countries, and several have infrastructure in place to supply patients with medicinal cannabis. So which countries are moving with the times, and which are dragging their heels? Where are medicinal and recreational users most (and least) free to utilize their drug of choice? Let’s take a look at the facts.

The Olympics opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro has been many things: An introduction to Brazilian culture; a parade of many, many nations; and a collection of entertaining moments. Naturally, Twitter users have been on the case all Friday night long, not letting the smallest details go unnoticed. There was a moment when the tops of those silver, cheese grater-looking boxes exploded to reveal green plants that formed the Olympic rings. Now, I don't know about you, but to me and many viewers on Twitter, those green Olympic rings looked like weed.

No drug comes close to cannabis when it comes to the number of criminal offences.

One billion dollars.

If current trends keep up, that will be the value of marijuana retail and producer/processor sales in Washington state on a yearly basis. With few exceptions, state marijuana sales have risen every month since the first recreational stores opened two years ago, bringing millions in state taxes and thousands of jobs.

That’s the good news.

“The picture thus far is a curate’s egg — good in parts,” writes University of Washington professor emeritus Roger Roffman. “No policy change of this magnitude will go precisely according to plan.”

So what still needs fixing?

The best of Oregon’s crops and cows will make their way to the state capital at the end of this month for the Oregon State Fair. As with most state fairs, there will be plenty of cotton candy, rickety carnival rides, and foods that probably shouldn’t be deep fried. In Oregon, though there will be one unique exhibition no other state can claim: a legal display of award-winning marijuana plants.

Fairgoers over the age of 21 can see the plants at the Oregon Cannabis Business Council’s booth in an exhibition hall. “You can’t display plants out in the open,” says Don Morse, head of the council, “because there are kids around. So the plants will be in a greenhouse, manned by security guards.”

Amid concerns of an influx of ganja and products made from the herb now widely available in Jamaica, the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) is warning persons that it is still illegal to purchase any of those items.

In a statement released yesterday, the agency said it was recently brought to its attention that there was a proliferation of cannabis, cannabis-infused, and cannabis-derived products, of both local and overseas origin, being made available and/or sold throughout Jamaica.

As a result, "the CLA wishes to advise unaware potential consumers, producers, and purveyors of such products that by purchasing, processing or producing such products, they are engaging in an activity that is both illegal and unregulated," the authority noted.

In the three years since Silk Road 1.0 was closed – and Ross Ulbricht given a life sentence – drug sales have tripled.

Drug sales on the dark web have tripled since the closure of the high-profile Silk Road marketplace in 2013 and life imprisonment of its owner, Ross Ulbricht.

Revenues have doubled in the same period, as the threat of FBI arrest and a lifetime in prison has done little to stop the sale of drugs like cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy online. Dark web marketplaces are hidden from search engines like Google and can only be visited through anonymising browsers like The Onion Router (Tor).

According to a Wikileaks DNC email dump, the alcohol industry pressured and bribed officials in Congress to destroy the reputation of cannabis.

According to cannabis industry website Marijuana.com, officials in some of the top alcohol companies in America spent money on persuading members of Congress to pay attention to the alleged problem of “marijuana-impaired driving”.

Hightimes.com reports:

Should the same festival offer both a “bud garden” and a bouncy castle?

A local medical marijuana advocate is proposing just that for a pro-cannabis event next spring.

Steven Stairs, president of the Winnipeg 4/20 organizing committee, said he’s met with city and provincial officials to discuss ways to add a kid-friendly element to festivities a day after the main event on April 20, 2017.

Otherwise known as 4/20, that’s the day cities around the world host pot-smoking demonstrations.