Medicinal Cannabis Sativex and Bedrocan are now available in many European countries, and several have infrastructure in place to supply patients with medicinal cannabis. So which countries are moving with the times, and which are dragging their heels? Where are medicinal and recreational users most (and least) free to utilize their drug of choice? Let’s take a look at the facts.

OSLO: Norwegian customs agents have reported a three-fold increase in the amount of cannabis confiscated at the nation’s borders.

Through the first six months of 2016, the Directorate of Norwegian Customs has seized 1,600 kg of cannabis, while just 550 kg was seized in the first half of last year. The agency director general, Bjørn Røse, said the increase may indicate that cannabis use is on the rise both in Norway and elsewhere in Europe. “Cannabis use has remained stable in Norway for several years, but the new figures give cause for concern,” he said. Røse said that major seizures had been made in trailer transports, vans and campers.

Two Norwegian researchers examined the likelihood of marijuana to cause a motor vehicle crash, and came to a surprising conclusion.

Marijuana appears to be set up for what could be its best year ever.

The plant, which is currently illegal at the federal level, has expanded like a weed over the past two decades. A whopping 23 states have legalized marijuana for medicinal use since 1996, and four states have legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational purposes since 2012.

More than 90 academics, politicians and lawyers in Norway have signed a public statement in support of the country's organizations that fight for the rights of people who use drugs and their right to be heard and included in political decisions. The petition was published on February 12 in Norway's largest daily newspaper, Verdens Gang. Signatories include two former Supreme Court judges and the leader of the Liberal Democrat party.

The list of human rights organizations and UN agencies that recommend decriminalization is growing. So strong is the pressure for less punitive drug policies, that it has become impossible for states to ignore. Real change has started happening as well. Cannabis has been legalized in five American states, and Canada is set to become the first G7 nation to regulate the drug. Countless others are decriminalizing personal use and possession. We have come to the realization that punitive policies infringe upon basic rights and prevent people from seeking help.

This week, the "doomsday seed vault" (as it's known in headlines, anyway) made the news because scientists made the first "withdrawal" from the remote arctic store. But there's another reason to be excited about the underground vault on Norway's Svalbard archipelago.

Svalbard seed vault

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.

A 22-year-old Norwegian man has died from synthetic marijuana use, making him the first known Norwegian victim of the drug.

Egil André Kvelstad Myhre from Namsos in Norway died the day after a party in March, but was only proven to have died as a result of the drug by a recently completed autopsy. 

So-called synthetic marijuana is produced by spraying psychoactive chemicals onto plant matter that can then be smoked or eaten by users.

Note the wide disparity of drug prices across the countries surveyed.

With the recent turn of economic events in Greece and China, it has become ever more apparent that we live in increasingly globalized world in which economies are inextricably linked.

This begged the question; are national drug economies linked in a similar manner?

In this informative video, BuzzFeed shows you how much coffee, cannabis, cigarettes, cocaine, whiskey, and heroin can you buy for $20 U.S. dollars around the world.