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.

A man who operated a controversial “cannabis advice centre” from a Dundee shop-front has been jailed after pleading guilty to stashing £35,000 worth of drugs in his home.

Nik Brown, who ran the Dundee Cannabis Collective from a premises on Dundee’s Strathmartine Road, championed drug legalisation and claimed to give members of the public advice on the benefits of using medicinal cannabis.

Brown, of Laing Street, was found to be in possession of more than £35,000 worth of cannabis in September last year after fire crew attended his home following reports of a fire.

They forced entry and extinguished a small kitchen fire, which started because the accused had left food unattended on the cooker.

A highly dangerous method of producing super-strength cannabis is emerging in the UK, police and firefighters say.

Butane hash oil is made using large amounts of the flammable gas, which can explode with devastating consequences. 

A BBC investigation has learned of two deaths and 27 people being injured across the UK since 2014, as a result of making the drug. 

The warning comes on the same day a Glasgow man was jailed for more than six years after his drug lab exploded.

Butane hash oil (BHO), which is illegal in the UK, is also known as honey oil, dabs or shatter.

Pure and strong

It is pure and strong and made by using solvents to strip out of cannabis plants one of the active ingredients of the drug - THC.

Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of GW Pharmaceuticals PLC- (NASDAQ:GWPH) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

A strange thing happened last a few weekends ago. The police at the Secret Garden Party music festival in Cambridgeshire stopped trying to arrest drug-takers and instead stood by supportively as The Loop, a drugs charity, tested party-goers’ illegal substances to ensure they were safe.

The common question gets to the bottom of some of the central problems in drug policy.

Cannabis continues to be the world’s favourite illicit drug with around 147m people using it annually. However, there are fears that the drug is becoming increasingly potent and that it could pose a public health risk. But how reliable is the evidence? And is it really getting stronger?

Around one in 12 adults aged 16 to 59 (8.4%) have taken an illegal drug in 2015/16 – equal to around 2.7 million people, according to official figures.

But that number jumps to one in five among 16 to 24 year olds, which works out at 18% of that population. The Crime Survey for England and Wales figures are similar to what they were a year ago, but show a decline in substance misuse over the past decade – 25.2% of those aged 16 to 24 had taken a drug in the past year when surveyed in 2005/06.

When antibiotic drugs were first discovered in 1928, they revolutionized healthcare. By the end of World War II, their production had exploded.

Decades later, things have changed.

Today, according to an estimate from the CDC, about half of the antibiotic prescriptions in the United States are totally unnecessary. The effects of that over-prescription are serious.

An Afghanistan war hero who lost both legs in an bomb blast is forced to break the law to get cannabis to ease his pain.

Lance Corporal Callum Brown is now leading calls to legalise the drug for medical use. He wants to see cannabis made available to patients like him who suffer agonising pain 24 hours a day.

Callum, 28, also shattered his pelvis in the huge explosion after he stepped on a boobytrap bomb while on patrol in Helmand five years ago.

Speaking to the Daily Record, he said: “As well as my other injuries, I have no skin on my backside – it’s just thin scar tissue so the nerve damage and the phantom pains are the main reason for smoking.

A British Airways flight to Crete was forced to make an unscheduled return to Gatwick after an overpowering smell similar to that of cannabis filled the cabin.

Passengers on Thursday’s 8.15am flight to Heraklion complained of a foul odour and the pilot turned the plane back as a precaution. The flight was diverted over Paris and met by fire crews when it landed at Gatwick 90 minutes later.

Passengers were transferred to a rescheduled flight at around noon. One of them, Simon Skinner, tweeted: