Medical marijuana for Czech patients to be grown by Elkoplast Slusovice.

"A local company won by offering lowest price per gram, which was set to 68 Czech Crowns (2.3 Euro)," said Lucie Sustkova, spokesperson for the National Agency for Drug Control.

The winner shall supply the market initially with 40kg of medical marijuana.

The availability and supply of medical marijuana will be responsibility of the National Agency for Medical Use of Marijuana, which is part of National Agency for Drug Control.

Patients will no longer be forced to obtain marijuana on black market or illegally grow it at their homes.

Prague, June 4 (CTK) - More than a quarter of the 10.5 million inhabitants of the Czech Republic have some type of addiction, national drug coordinator Jindrich Voboril told CTK Thursday, adding that the number is increasing, while the amount of money for prevention and treatment is decreasing.

Two million adults drink alcohol every day and 94 percent of children under 15 have some experience with it. Around 200,000 Czechs smoke marijuana, 45,000 use hard drugs and there are around 150,000 gamblers, Voboril said.

He said the number of contact centres for drug addicts is insufficient.

"There should definitively be more contact centres and its employees should have an opportunity to work with the people (addicts)," Voboril said

The purity and potency of illegal drugs is Europe is on the rise, according to a new report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). In its annual analysis of European drug trends, the EMCDDA also found that heroin use was in decline, that London's sewers had the highest concentration of cocaine among all European capitals, and that two new psychoactive substances hit the market every week.

One of the most common and perhaps heartbreaking degenerative disorders in the world today, Parkinson’s Disease is a disorder of the central nervous system as a result of the death of dopamine generating cells in regions of the brain.

One of the reasons as to why Parkinson’s is considered such a selfish, agonising disease may be down to its lack of answers. There is no known reason as to why the cells degenerate and no definitive cure to the disease itself.

However, despite its relentless nature as a degenerative disease, there are ways in which the side effects of Parkinson’s can be managed. Over the past 30 years, research into the medicinal benefits of marijuana on Parkinson’s have provided some fascinating conclusions:

In between slurps of soup and sips of coffee, Jindřich Vobořil tells a story of his youth that would sell out a Broadway theater. He lived on and off the streets in his hometown of Brno, Czechoslovakia, running with local gangs. By age 12, he was burning through 30 cigarettes a day and says he moved on to hard drugs by his teenage years. By the mid-’80s, Vobořil was a 17-year-old dropout who played guitar in a rock band and had joined the nation’s preeminent anti-communist organization, Charter 77, before becoming … a Catholic, organizing underground religious activities — back then, religious people were persecuted by the government.

Friends, meet the unlikeliest top-level bureaucrat on planet Earth.

About 1,000 social media executives from around the world attended the Engage 2015 conference in Prague last week, hosted by Socialbakers, the big Czech startup that handles a huge chunk of Facebook's international marketing clients.

Outside the main conference sessions much of the chatter among attendees was about whether Facebook or Google was more powerful in terms of reaching the audiences they need. Both have audiences in the billions, but Facebook seems to be innovating faster than Google right now.

There was less talk about Twitter.

Carun UK managing director Michal Takac in the country’s ‘first cannabis pharmacy’

Londoners looking for a solution to ageing skin, body aches and other ailments can add hemp to their bathroom cabinet after the opening of the UK’s “first cannabis pharmacy”.

The store, which sells mainly oils and hand creams rather than medicines, is situated in the affluent southwest London suburb of Twickenham.

Carun Pharmacy, the UK arm of Carun, a Czech company, is not the first in the country to sell hemp health products. The Body Shop launched its hemp range nearly 20 years ago.

According to Carun’s website, a 105ml tub of “all-purpose hemp ointment” costs £16.99, while 200ml of “hemp intimate hygiene gel” sells for £11.99.

Police: Prague march for marijuana legalization saw no notable incidents

Prague, May 8 (ČTK) — Some 5,000 mainly young people took part in the Million Marijuana March 2015 in the center of Prague for the legalization of cannabis growing.

The march started on Karlovo náměstí (Charles Square) and continued across Wenceslas Square to ŠtvaniceIsland where it culminated with celebrations.The police imposed several fines for marijuana possession and smoking on the spot, but no incidents accompanied the march, the police patrol commander told the Czech News Agency.

The main demand of the 18th Million Marihuana March is the legalization of the growing and possession of cannabis and its products for personal use and not only for medical treatment.

In Europe, the legislation varied from one country to another. And the most stringent laws do not necessarily produce the best effects.

According to the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), nearly one in two French smoked cannabis. However, France has one of the toughest laws on drug use, even so-called "soft" drugs. In Europe, laws differ. On one hand the countries that decriminalize, are tolerant, do not condemn. And conversely those which are very severe. Scientific studies are struggling to establish links between the laws in force and the actual consumption of drugs. If consumption is sometimes tolerated in different forms, the sale and cultivation of cannabis are of course mostly misdemeanors.

Countries that tolerate

San Rafael High School’s claims to fame include adult actress Nikki Tyler and Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” video, but the California campus is best known as the alleged birthplace of 420. Back in 1971, five classmates sought a hidden cannabis crop in the Point Reyes Peninsula, and 420 served as the code word for the search and their 4:20 p.m. meeting time. The legend may or may not be historically accurate, but 420 is definitely the preeminent counterculture holiday with annual cannabis celebrations on April 20. On the fifty shades of green scale, 420 ranks up there with St. Patty’s and Earth Day, and travelers can celebrate with cities to visit, things to do and places to munch.

Punta del Este, Uruguay