Jamaica has made its first shipment of medical marijuana extract oil to Canada.

In making the announcement, Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw, “Jamaica is uniquely positioned to be a global player and we are committed to providing the leadership and resources required for opening the international markets including Canada and Europe for our licensed and regulated Jamaican companies.”

The shipment was authorised through an import permit issued by the Government of Canada through Health Canada for Jamaica and an export permit issued by the Ministry of Health in Jamaica.

The underlying intention of its legalization policies is to take business away from the contintent’s deadly narco businesses.

Uruguay’s bid to allow the sale of recreational marijuana in pharmacies, under its revolutionary law that fully legalized the production, sale and consumption of marijuana in 2013, is due to come into force this month.

Becoming the first country in the world to uphold such drug policies, Uruguay’s intentions, tabled under the leadership of leftist guerrilla-turned-former President Jose Mujica, is to take business away from the contintent’s deadly narco businesses.

Marijuana stocks have soared as state after state in the U.S. has legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use. The market potential is huge, with some estimating that the marijuana industry in the U.S. could generate sales of more than $18 billion by 2020.

But focusing only on the U.S. is nearsighted -- literally. There are significant opportunities for investors looking to profit from the expanding marijuana industry in other countries. Here are several important areas across the world with growing marijuana markets along with some of the marijuana stocks that could benefit from that growth.  

Witnessing the incredible output of Colombian drug makers is a highlight of the Netflix series Narcos. It boggles the mind trying to fathom how much cocaine Pablo Escobar and rival crews carried across American borders. And when it comes to drugs America has long provided a captive and willing market... be they pharmaceuticals or illicit substances. 

Chileans are increasingly growing their own cannabis for medical purposes as the conservative South American nation begins loosening legal prohibitions on the formerly illegal plant.

In 2015, Chile legalized the use of medical marijuana, following a wave of other Latin American nations that are slowly making the cultivation, distribution, and consumption of cannabis easier.

Earlier in May, pharmacies in the capital city of Santiago began selling cannabis-based medicines, the first time such treatments have been offered by drugstores in Latin America.

Boosters of the plant are making sure Chileans with chronic pain have the know-how to grow marijuana, even as doing so occupies a legal gray area.

Starting as soon as 2018, some Canadian ACMPR patients may see CBD-based medicines become more affordable, thanks to an international relationship announced in a recent press release between Canada-based licensed producer, Emblem Cannabis Corp, and Uruguayan cannabis firm, ICC.

With the modern climate of legalization, and cannabis research becoming increasingly approachable, scientists continue to discover new information about how and why individual ingredients within cannabis can be used to effectively treat medical conditions. The most commonly known active ingredient within cannabis is THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), and though the ingredient CBD (cannabidol) is not a new discovery, it is rapidly growing in popularity among enthusiasts and medical patients alike.

Attitudes in Latin America are shifting away from supporting prohibitionist policies, but they are far from consensus and the policy implications are unclear.

Sentiments in Latin America in favor of outlawing marijuana appear to be undergoing shifts in some countries, according to researchers in Chile and the UK.

A study published the International Journal of Drug Policy found that, in some parts of the region, more than 40% of respondents supported legalizing the drug, while in other, more conservative areas, support remained minimal.

A Brazilian Supreme Court justice called on Friday for the legalization of marijuana and even cocaine to undo the growing power of drug gangs behind a wave of violence that has shaken Latin America's largest country. 

Justice Roberto Barroso, a Yale graduate and constitutional law professor, said 50 years of war against drugs had failed miserably, clogging jails with small-time dealers and fueling a violent gang battle for control of the lucrative trade.