Cannabis activists gathered in the Southern Italian town of Salerno, near Naples, earlier this month to form a new federation in favor of regulating cannabis in Italy. There are even hopeful signs the effort will find traction — Parliament is scheduled to have a debate on the subject on June 27.

The passing of a joint, besides still being illegal in Italy, can be especially dangerous in Naples. The local Mafia, the “system,” does not tolerate third parties selling or distributing cannabis outside its monopoly. It’s a fact often denounced by the powerful DIA, the District Anti-Mafia Direction, which last year proclaimed the utter failure of prohibition and urged the government to start regulating cannabis. 

Medical Cannabis company MMJ PhytoTech (ASX:MMJ) has added to its senior management and advisory personnel Stanislav Sologubov as Chief Executive Officer of Satipharm Switzerland and John Hollister as a strategic pharmaceutical consultant.

The key appointments are in line with MMJ’s intended evolution towards a pharmaceutical business model in which the company plans to commercialise Medical Grade Cannabis and high potential cannabis based therapeutics products to the international market and in line with medical cannabis laws.

Managing Director of MMJ, Andreas Gedeon had the following to say in the announcement to the market:

A cannabis producing and processing company based in California has been selling and shipping a range of their products to UK customers. They also ship to other countries where the import and export of the cannabis flower is illegal, such as Brazil, Spain and Germany. This is the first time a cannabis-derived product has been shipped on an international scale, and the products have been reaching UK customers with no problem – but before you start to fret, everything is completely legal.

36 leftist SYRIZA MPs submitted a question to Greek Health Minister Panagiotis Kouroumblis regarding the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. The question, titled “National plan for medicinal cannabis,” follows a previous request for the legalization of medical marijuana production in February.

So far 13 European Union nations have legalised marijuana-derived medicines including Austria, Britain, France, Germany, Italy.

Marijuana-derived medicines became legal today in Macedonia, which joined over a dozen European countries that have already authorised the products for certain patients.

Medicines containing less then 0.2 per cent of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant's main psychoactive ingredient, can now be prescribed by doctors and bought in pharmacies, the head of Macedonia's agency for medicines Marija Darkovska-Serafimovska told reporters.

"This will help a huge number of Macedonian citizens that are fighting serious illnesses and have a need for treatment with nature-based products," Darkovska-Serafimovska said.

For years, Lisa Tollner, co-founder of the California marijuana edibles company Sensi Products, says she’s received calls and emails from customers reporting her cannabis-infused Sensi Chew caramels had helped alleviate pain, insomnia, nausea and other ailments. But Tollner wanted more.

“These people are telling me their stories, but with no real consistency,” said Tollner, who was interested in hard data on how her products worked, not shifting anecdotal evidence. “I need ways to prove our products’ efficacy.”

Global medical cannabis leader proud to help Croatian patients in need.

Tilray, a global leader in medical cannabis research and production, today announced that the company has shipped precisely crafted medical cannabis products to Croatia to be dispensed to patients with prescriptions via pharmacies. This marks the first time medical cannabis products containing the active compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are being legally imported into the European Union from North America for commercial medical use. It marks another strategic milestone for Tilray as the company aims to build the world's most trusted and admired medical cannabis brand by offering patients, physicians, researchers and pharmacies pure, precise and predictable products.

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.

Experts gathered in Rome last last month for an Italian parliament hearing on a proposal to legalize cannabis. The proposal, dubbed Cannabis Legale, is the brainchild of a committee that includes more than 200 senators and deputies. 

So what are the chances of Italy legalizing any time soon?

Justice minister suggests fines will replace criminal proceedings, while local report says ministers will vote Sunday on draft bill