This report, prepared by the foreign law specialists and analysts of the Law Library of Congress, provides a review of laws adopted in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, and Uruguay with regard to decriminalization of narcotics, and touches specifically on cannabis and legalization.

When Noa Shulman came home from school, her mother, Yael, sat her down to eat, then spoon-fed her mashed sweet potatoes — mixed with cannabis oil.

Noa, who has a severe form of autism, started to bite her own arm. “No sweetie,” Yael gently told her 17-year-old daughter. “Here, have another bite of this.”

Noa is part of the first clinical trial in the world to test the benefits of medicinal marijuana for young people with autism, a potential breakthrough that would offer relief for millions of afflicted children — and their anguished parents.

Mayor Eberhard van der Laan of Amsterdam wants medicinal marijuana to be more easily obtainable for people who need it, he wrote in a letter to the Dutch Senate and Ministers Stef Blok and Edith Schippers of Security and Justice and Public Health respectively, Het Parool reports. 

According to the Mayor, too many people don't have access to medical marijuana, despite it being able to improve their health. Van der Laan calls for a discussion with all stakeholders, including the pharmaceutical industry and health insurers. According to him, the situation around medical marijuana is too unclear in the Netherlands' current tolerance policy. 

Seattle has long been synonymous with coffee, and nowadays the city with a distinctive coffee culture is crafting a burgeoning reputation for cannabis culture. What might happen when you combine the two, coffeeshop and cannabis? Sounds like a great idea, right? Like it was meant to be?

In assessing the true potential of this endeavor, where else could we begin than with the elder statesman of not only the cannabis coffeeshop industry, but also cannabis legalization: the Netherlands. We’ll take a look at the context in which cannabis coffeeshops emerged and the changes they have undergone over time. What valuable lessons can be learned from the Dutch cannabis experience, and how might they apply in the context of the United States?

While the U.S. continues to squabble state-by-state over medical and adult use legalization, over the past year cannabis has quietly grown into a truly international industry.

Policymakers should regulate the potency of cannabis products such as skunk and oil, aiming for a chemical balance that reduces the risk of psychosis without losing the drug's pleasurable effects, experts said on Thursday.

With cannabis laws becoming more liberalized in many countries - particularly the United States - there is also an urgent need for more detailed and accurate scientific studies to explore how cannabis use can be made safer, the experts said.

"Worldwide there is a trend towards liberalization and increasing consumption," said Robin Murray, a professor at King College's London's the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience.

Cultivation In a landmark decision, the Lower House of the Dutch parliament voted last week in favour of adding cannabis cultivation to its famous tolerance policy. A move that would decriminalize the supply aspect of the coffeeshops.

This new Dutch cannabis cultivation bill would exempt professional growers from punishment, creating a closed system from the production to the consumption of cannabis. Not legalized, not regulated but tolerated under government control.

But who is going to supply coffeeshops? Big state-controlled companies like Bedrocan?

What about growers who are being criminalized because of the illegality of the plant? Are they going to be allowed to grow and become players in the new cannabis market?

The medicinal value of the cannabis plant is well-known and consistently under-valued by mainstream medicine. However, it seems that the medical industry is finally catching up and is beginning to accept that yes, a plant can indeed be medicine. Thousands of studies have demonstrated the plant’s clear medicinal value in a variety of conditions. Recognition of the plant’s benefits is continuing to garner steam, so much so that we may soon see it popping up for a number of uses. In fact, cannabis-laced chewing gum may even be on the market soon.

I will never forget the first time one of my friends went to Amsterdam. It was my best friend’s little brother in the early 2000’s. I had read all about Amsterdam in magazines like High Times, and when I got dial up internet connection, Amsterdam was one of the first things I looked up. Obviously the reviews all said that the cannabis was unreal, but what were people basing that off of? Were the reviewers used to smoking bammer/brickweed, because if so I’d imagine anything would be amazing to them.

The Dutch lower house of parliament has narrowly voted to approve the cultivation of cannabis. 

The bill would exempt professional growers working within certain conditions from punishment.

But it is not yet law, as it must also get majority support from the Senate.

Buying small amounts of cannabis at so-called coffee shops has long been tolerated in the Netherlands, but cultivating and selling it to the coffee shops is illegal.

Coffee shops often fall back on supplies from criminal networks.