If you are in the international market for marijuana, your legal options are limited. Though the cultivation of pot is widespread across the world, its legal status has only just begun to shift, with some countries choosing to decriminalize the substance and others loosening up enforcement regulations for users and growers.

The plant can grow just about anywhere, making it generally accessible to the global population, and, subsequently, one of the most commonly used illicit substances everywhere from the Americas to Europe. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there are more than 177 million cannabis users globally.

"The stereotype of overdose is a person with a needle in their arm"

IN 2012, 350 people died in Ireland from overdoses – twice as many people as those who died in traffic accidents that same year.

Today is International Overdose Awareness Day, a time to draw attention to the impact overdoses have across the world.

The Ana Liffey Drug Project is using the day to raise awareness of the devastating effects drug overdoses have on public health here in Ireland.

There were an estimated 183,000 drug-related deaths across the world in 2012 – the most recent official statistics – most of which were overdoses.

"The stereotype of overdose is a person with a needle in their arm"

IN 2012, 350 people died in Ireland from overdoses – twice as many people as those who died in traffic accidents that same year.

Today is International Overdose Awareness Day, a time to draw attention to the impact overdoses have across the world.

The Ana Liffey Drug Project is using the day to raise awareness of the devastating effects drug overdoses have on public health here in Ireland.

There were an estimated 183,000 drug-related deaths across the world in 2012 – the most recent official statistics – most of which were overdoses.

Ireland officials recently met about their concerns over Ireland’s national drug abuse problem. They appear to be leaning to the idea that all drugs should be decriminalized.

Years ago, Portugal decriminalized all drugs and applied a public health approach to illegal drug use because of increasing drug overdose deaths and HIV/AIDS. Years later, Portugal has the second lowest number of drug-related deaths in all of Europe.

Ireland is leaning towards the approach of treating drug abuse as a public health issue rather than criminal justice issue.

Dubbed the Minister for Hugs and Drugs, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin’s radical ideas regarding heroin and cocaine will not get a warm embrace from everyone.

The fact the Coalition did not appoint a minister with special responsibility for drugs policy for four years tells you all you need to know about how seriously they take the issue.

But Mr Ó Ríordáin, who also covers equality issues — the huggy part of his job — has certainly attempted to move fast to make up the lost time since being appointed to the role in May.

Far from trotting out the tired old cliches about a so-called war on drugs, Mr Ó Ríordáin has called for a new approach whereby Ireland would follow Portugal’s largely successful move to decriminalise all drugs from crack to weed.

He was complimented on the way he prepared his defence and the judge told him some lawyers could learn from him

A judge complimented a Polish man telling him members of the legal profession could learn from how he presented his defence - before jailing him for six months.

Representing himself, 28-year old Polish national Przemyflaw Pril, caught cultivating cannabis plants, was complimented on the way he prepared his defence and was told by Judge Gemma Loughran: "There are lawyers who could learn from the care you have taken in presenting your material."

The 37 marijuana plants in black plastic pots were found - and police issued a tongue-in-cheek appeal on Facebook to find the owners

Prosecutors say 16 charged over suspected racket linked to Italian factory growhouse

Nearly 80 consignments of cannabis were imported into Northern Ireland in a multi-million pound international trafficking operation, it was alleged in Belfast High Courton Friday.

Cannabis, not drink, is the major drug problem of 2015 among the young, according to Ireland's leading adolescent psychiatrist Dr Bobby Smyth, who says drug debt is now a huge issue for Irish teens too.

"Cannabis accounts for 85pc of my clients. It's very much the dominant drug, it's head and shoulders above everything else and alcohol would be second.

"Up until eight years ago, cannabis would have accounted for 25-to 40pc of referrals," the psychiatrist and Trinity College lecturer said.

"In terms of the number of young people whose lives have been damaged by this drug, we have nothing to compare to, you would have to look back to the heroin epidemic in the 80s. Although the consequences are different, for me, it is the drug problem of 2015," he said.

OFFICERS FROM THE Revenue Commissioner have seized 60 kilos of herbal cannabis that had been sent in the post.

The operation, which involved officers from the Revenue’s Customs Service in the Midlands, led to the seizure of three parcels within the postal system.

The three parcels each weighed 20 kilos and contained herbal cannabis with an estimated value of €1.2 million.

Revenue says that “for operational reasons” they cannot give further detail.