Netherlands Based on rising demand, Bedrocan, the sole remaining producer of medicinal cannabis in Europe, tripled its production with the opening of a new production facility in 2015. Nevertheless, the company cannot supply Europe’s cannabis patients single-handedly.

The Dutch supreme court has ordered a retrial of the owner of what was the country’s biggest cannabis cafe, saying a lower court ruling clearing him of criminal charges was not properly motivated.

Meddie W was found not guilty of most of the charges against him by Amsterdam’s appeal court in 2014, when judges said he was not a member of a criminal organisation, and did not have to pay a fine.

The café in Terneuzen was closed by the town’s mayor in 2007 because it broke government rules on soft drug sales. At its height, the Checkpoint cafe was said to be serving up to 3,000 clients and processing 10 kg of marijuana a day.

Coffeeshops What is the current situation regarding cannabis in the Netherlands? What has happened in the last year, following the departure of Ivo Opstelten? Is the weed pass still relevant and are tourists in Amsterdam still allowed to smoke cannabis? Read an update here.

On 9 March 2015, the most vehemently anti-cannabis politician the Netherlands has ever seen resigned from office. Ivo Opstelten’s position as Minister of Security and Justice became untenable after systematically misinforming the House of Representatives about a dubious deal with a criminal, which took place in 2000.

The debate over legalising marijuana fired back up in France on Tuesday after a minister said cannabis should be decriminalised.

Here are places where marijuana is already allowed for recreational or medical reasons. 

- Uruguay -

The South American nation became in 2013 the first country in the world to legalise marijuana, with a plan to distribute it through pharmacies for $1.40 (1.20 euros) a gram.

Under Uruguayan law, citizens and residents can buy up to 40 grams (1.4 ounces) of pot a month from the pharmacies, grow it themselves at home, or join cannabis clubs where members jointly tend to the plants.

The government has licensed two private companies to produce and distribute marijuana.

Should you find yourself in Amsterdam, cycling along the city’s complex latticework of bike paths, be wary along the canals. It is not uncommon for reckless cyclists to accidentally veer into the water. By the city’s estimates, between 12,000 and 15,000 bicycles are dredged out of the canals each year. It would seem that installing some rudimentary barrier or guardrail along all the canals may prevent such wanton loss of property. But such modest precautions seem antithetical to Amsterdam’s spirit—they’re patronizing and nanny-ish in a city where it’s the individual’s duty conduct him- or herself non-moronically, and not the duty of civic leaders to prevent anyone from doing so.

Imagine a world where most of the global adult population consume a gentle, natural, herbal drug every day that contains psychoactive compounds that relax and revive them. It is often consumed in a social ritual of bonding, conversation and empathy. And this is seen as quite unremarkable.

Amsterdam has been a symbol of cannabis freedom for a few decades already. Long traditions like Cannabis cup and coffeeshops created a profile of a city that welcomes tourists from all over the world just because there is no problem smoking weed here. Whether you just want to do some cannabis tasting, or you just like to buy some cannabis seeds to grow home, Amsterdam is the place to be.

So, here we are. Tourist buses load off thousands of weed-hungry people, older couples visit the Red Light district and stop for a smoke and a laugh at one of the biggest attractions: coffeeshops. I mean “coffeeshops” with many “”””…Nowhere is “coffee” so popular. It is a normal day in Amsterdam.

I sit in a brightly lit doctors surgery in central Amsterdam. It’s clean, modern and pristine. A team of receptionists see to patients sitting waiting to my left. Sitting to my right is a UK pain patient who, for the sake of anonymity, we’re going to call Mr X. 

Mr X uses cannabis for his pain caused by spinal damage due to injuries sustained whilst working in the armed forces. He’s a UK citizen and he’s here to get a prescription he can’t get from his doctor at home in London.

Mr X is young, talkative and passionate about what he’s doing. He’s not just in it for himself either:

Marijuana is the world’s drug of choice. This is evident to travelers and entrepreneurs, as well as researchers parsing Erowid, the online drug encyclopedia. A group called Project Youth at the University of Amsterdam has just finished cataloguing all the personal testimonies on the site to get a snapshot of how people have been using drugs over the past decade and which drugs they’ve been using together. Turns out that cannabis plays well with others.

As the federal Liberals map out their plan for legalizing marijuana, they can look at how — and how successfully — a handful of other jurisdictions have overturned the prohibition of pot.

In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first U.S. states to legalize marijuana. Within two years, each state set up a framework governing how retailers could start selling. 

But although the two states have much in common, they have different takes on key questions that Canada will have to consider, like whether residents will be able to grow their own plants as they can in Colorado, or whether laws should put limits on non-residents who buy marijuana here, like in Colorado — or leave the market open as Washington does.