Liberal drug policies have spread across Europe. But some early adopters are slipping behind.

On a cobbled street lined with tourist shops in central Prague, a darkened storefront advertises cannabis-flavoured beer and absinthe ice cream. Inside, chocolate bars featuring Bob Marley’s face are for sale alongside “mushroom cookies” and glass bongs. Nothing stronger is on offer. But in a country where the possession of drugs is mostly tolerated, it is not hard to find the real stuff elsewhere: dealers loiter in the city’s main square, and barmen sell cannabis under the counter.

At the moment, it’s easier to go outside and buy weed than it is to find the definitive number of people currently incarcerated on narcotics offenses, which tells you all you need to know about the efficiency of the U.S. prison system versus that of the drug trade. But if you dig, you can find some information. According to the most recent figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 208,000 people nationwide are serving time in state prisons for nonviolent drug charges. Toss in those held in federal prison, and that figure jumps to 303,000, or roughly the population of Pittsburgh.

Legal marijuana is already a global industry and the U.S. is behind the curve.

When you think of the legal marijuana industry, you think of Colorado and California. But marijuana is not uniquely American, nor is the legalization movement.

The Czech Republic’s drug policy was praised as a “great example of a successful liberal approach to drugs” during last month’s UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in New York City. But the actions of the National Anti-Drug Agency, the Czech equivalent of the DEA, toward the country’s cannabis community reveals a painful gap between cannabis theory and practice. 

The first sign that something was changing in the Czech Republic came in the summer of 2013, when police accused a journalist of “spreading and encouraging drug abuse.” Why? He made an innocent joke about the improvement of sight after smoking a joint. It did not come to a trial, because the jurisdictional district court judge refused to open such a case.

Since 1996, two dozen states have approved medical marijuana laws in the U.S. The most recent was Pennsylvania, which passed medical marijuana legislation just last month. We've also witnessed four states legalize the sale of recreational marijuana.

For medical marijuana patients, approval of the drug at the state level means possible new pathways to treatment. Though each state typically differs on what diseases and disorders qualify, glaucoma, epilepsy, and most terminal cancers are ailments that commonly fit the bill. For the states themselves, legalization is primarily motivated by the additional revenue-generating potential. Since marijuana is taxed, medical marijuana provides a way for states to funnel extra money to schools or law enforcement.

MGC Pharmaceuticals (ASX: MXC) has relisted on the Australian Securities Exchange and will move ahead with a $5 million planned capital raising after the ASX confirmed that MGC’s acquisition of a European medical cannabis company does not constitute a change of nature or scale under Chapter 11 listing rules.

The funds will be used to expand MGC’s European operations and to acquire Panax Pharma s.r.o., a Czech-based company holding a medical cannabis breeding license with access to growing space in the Vukoz Research Institute of the Czech Ministry of the Environment.

There are plenty of misconceptions about cannabis laws in European countries. The Czech Republic is a striking example: most foreign visitors think cannabis is legal in this small country in the heart of Europe. But alas, it is not, at least not in the way most international media report. Here are the five biggest myths you should know before you set out on a trip to Prague.

Myth #1: You Can Smoke Cannabis in Public in the Czech Republic

Netherlands Based on rising demand, Bedrocan, the sole remaining producer of medicinal cannabis in Europe, tripled its production with the opening of a new production facility in 2015. Nevertheless, the company cannot supply Europe’s cannabis patients single-handedly.

MGC Pharmaceuticals has bought a Czech-based association so it can rise new strains of medicinal cannabis and boost production.

A brief time ago, a shares were adult some-more than 7% to $0.06.

MGC, that skeleton to grow medical cannabis in Australia, is shopping adult to 80% of Panax by providing Euros 700,000 ($A1.03 million) for handling costs and by arising adult to Euros 800,000 ($A1.18 million) in shares.

“Our merger of Panax significantly strengthens MGC Pharma’s medical cannabis investigate and prolongation capabilities,” says Nativ Segev, co-founder and handling executive of MGC Pharma.

A roundup of various movement in cannabis legalization in Europe.

While in the Americas in the last few years we have seen several waves of liberal reforms in countries like the USA, Canada, Chile, and Uruguay, we rarely hear similar news concerning European countries. But cannabis legalization is also winning support slowly in European countries other than the Netherlands Spain and Portugal.

In the UK last month, Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb raised a bill for decriminalization of cannabis – a second hearing will take place on May.