Marseille elected on Sunday (January 8th) to legalize the consumption of cannabis. This subject, has divided the left for 20 years, is again being debated between candidates at the primary level.

Legalize, decriminalize or penalize the consumption of cannabis?

The question has resurfaced in recent weeks. On Sunday, 8 January, one hundred and fifty Marseilles, including PS Patrick Mennucci and Marie-Arlette Carlotti, launched an appeal in the JDD for a "controlled legalization" of cannabis.

Is Germany the major growth frontier for the medical cannabis industry?

Many news outlets have recently discussed the potential opening of cannabis coffee shops in Germany and this has left investors wondering how this may impact their investments, specifically Canopy Growth Corp (CGC.TO) (TWMJF).

Cannabis legalization has been a growing trend around the world. From Canada to Australia, legal cannabis movements have made strides across the globe and these developments have caught the stock market’s attention.

Germany’s Capital to Allow Cannabis Coffee Shops…

One of the biggest health insurance companies in the Netherlands announced last month that it will stop covering the costs of medical cannabis. The announcement, which comes at a time of increasing use of medical cannabis in the country, has sparked sharp criticism among patients.

Marijiuana, a divisive issue that normally resurfaces in Europe during election campaigns, has come home to France's hotly-contested presidential race.

With eight months to go until the 2017 French presidential election, marijuana - or cannabis, as the French prefer to call it - is an honored guest meme in the candidates' discourse, and a subject of intense controversy among the French electorate.

European cannabis consumers, patients, and activists are watching with a bit of envy as legalization in the United States moves beyond Colorado and Washington to other states, from California in the west to Massachusetts in the east. Mainstream media in Europe now routinely report that hundreds of millions of dollars are being collected annually in each state in “weed taxes” and how legalization has created jobs, reduced prison occupancy, and led to capital improvements at schools, parks, and community centers.

Over the past six years, Eastern European countries have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of patients treating themselves with homemade cannabis extracts. The healing potential of THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids also led to the formation of several Eastern Europe-based patients movements demanding medical cannabis be legalized. What explains the development of such strong advocacy in this region, the likes of which are rarely seen in other European countries?

Many people are proud of their drug use. For many it can define who they are in their own mind for a period of their life. This is perhaps more true for cannabis users that for any other drug.

Not only does it have the oldest established media empire of any illicit drug (think High Times) but seeing as it is regarded and one of the safest drugs is common use many people, including the mass media regard it use a less of a mortal sin than the use of cocaine or heroin for example.

Medical cannabis has seen a rather dramatic political renaissance over the past two decades. Until California passed Proposition 215, there were no states with legal marijuana. Today, 28 states and Washington, D.C., have legal marijuana while medical use has supermajority support among American voters. Medicinal use laws clearly help increase the support for adult use by non-patients as more people become educated about cannabis use.

With a population of 80.6 million and nearly 140k square miles, the country of Germany is roughly 85% the size of California, and contains over double the population. As medical cannabis laws across Europe become liberalized and attitudes toward adult recreational use continue to soften, Germany is now poised to be the next big thing in the European cannabis market.