It’s a pleasant summer evening in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. The plazas are bustling, and it seems every bit of storefront is a bar or a restaurant. But one inconspicuous door opens to a different kind of place.

The sign says “Smokers’ Club” in English. A small surveillance camera watches over the door.

Inside, artsy drawings hang on a brick wall. A hall leads to a chill-out area, where mostly young people are sitting on low couches, chatting, drinking and smoking. There are TVs, a DJ booth and a little bar in the back.

In Spain, grassroots social movements have come together to help build a system where individuals can lawfully purchase and consume cannabis. Thanks to activists working from the bottom up, there are now hundreds of cannabis social clubs across the country. Now a new and long-neglected focus of cannabis culture is finally coming to the fore: feminism.

Customs & Excise report 10-fold increase with most from South Africa and Spain. 

The number of cannabis seizures being made in the Republic’s postal service has reach record levels.

Customs & Excise officers have seen a near 10-fold increase in seizures in the last five years and, despite that level of growth, seizure numbers almost doubled last year.

The vast majority of seizures involve herbal cannabis being imported into the State via the postal service from Spain and South Africa.

Security sources believe while some of the finds belonged to gangs experimenting with smuggling routes to test how effective searching in the postal system is, most of the finds result from orders for the drug placed online.

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.

Through their international architecture competitions, Bee Breeders give young architects and designers the platform to question the social and political role of architecture. Their latest competition, a Cannabis Bank without a specified site, was an open-ended question into the role and relevance of the increasingly normalised substance. The judges selected three winners and six honorable mentions, all of which presented ideas that open up the discourse around cannabis and its integration into the built environment.

Barcelona Barcelona’s Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum officially opened its doors on May 9, 2012. Located in the Palau Mornau, an emblematic and impressive building remodelled by modernist architect Manual Raspall, in the centre of Catalonia's capital, became the first museum ever dedicated solely and exclusively to the Cannabis plant.

Today, after more then four years since it opened, the Barcelona Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum continues to work every day to show the world the considerable role of cannabis throughout history. To do this, it organises events and exhibitions shifting us to different eras and times, educating us and opening up our minds.

Freedom Leaf, Inc. (OTC PINK: FRLF) the successful publishing and licensing company behind the legal cannabis industry, has quickly reached important revenue-driving milestones in Spain and The Netherlands in its international branding effort.

Freedom Leaf, Inc. has drawn interest from overseas licensees seeking access to its brand, its editorial content, ability to put on events, along with premium products and services under its banner. "We're a magnet to attract mergers and acquisitions, incubation of new companies and spinoffs," said Cliff Perry, CEO of Freedom Leaf, Inc. "Our news, media, entertainment platforms and other properties raise awareness for investors and seed more potential deal flow"

For the third year in a row, I spent my summer vacation on the stunningly beautiful island of Tenerife in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. I keep returning for the island’s natural richness, with amazing beaches, dense forests and spectacular mountains, but also — probably the main reason — because of the island's thriving cannabis culture.

Former NFL star Ricky Williams is featured in an upcoming SI Films production in which he discusses his experience with marijuana use and his support for legalization.

The exclusive film and accompanying exclusive longform special, written by SI’s Greg Bishop, will debut on SI.com on Wednesday, July 13.

The film, “Ricky Williams Takes the High Road,” is the first in-depth look at Williams’s life today, five years after his NFL career ended. He reflects on his clashes with the NFL drug testing program, his support of marijuana as a medicinal tool in the NFL and the anguish he felt as his image was tarnished because of his public support of the drug.

A cannabis producing and processing company based in California has been selling and shipping a range of their products to UK customers. They also ship to other countries where the import and export of the cannabis flower is illegal, such as Brazil, Spain and Germany. This is the first time a cannabis-derived product has been shipped on an international scale, and the products have been reaching UK customers with no problem – but before you start to fret, everything is completely legal.