Although the United Nations international drug treaties have upheld an official prohibition against marijuana, the marijuana industry has spread across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

As people are celebrating the legal sale of marijuana in the US, the burgeoning cannabis industry has gone from a curiosity to a bonafide booming market.

A new report by a leading marijuana industry investment and research firm found that legal cannabis sales jumped 17%, to $5.4 billion, in 2015 and they will grow by a whopping 25% this year to reach $6.7 billion in total US sales.

According to an INC.com report, there are also sizable and completely legal industries outside of the US, like Israel's 10-year-old medical industry. As governments from Germany to Australia to the UK are on the verge of legalising some form of marijuana, the global opportunity is coming into focus.

Cigarette and alcohol use among 15- and 16-year-olds is declining across Europe but the numbers using cannabis are growing, an EU survey shows.

The Espad report for 2015 includes most EU countries, but not Germany or the UK, and data for Spain is incomplete. 

In 2015 "current smokers" accounted for 21% of those surveyed, and the highest total was in Italy (37%). 

In 1995-2015 those using alcohol in the past 30 days fell from 56% to 47%. Top in cannabis use were the Czechs (37%).

That figure for Czech teenagers reporting a lifetime experience of cannabis was higher than the level in the US - 31% in comparable surveys. 

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.

When Huanito Luksetic was arrested for growing marijuana to help him cope with multiple sclerosis, he could not have known his struggle would eventually pave the way for Croatia to legalise cannabis for medical use.

“I knew it would happen eventually,” says Luksetic, recalling the day in October 2014 when police burst into his home near Rijeka on the northern Adriatic coast, seizing some 20 kilos (44 pounds) of marijuana.

“When they knocked on my door, it was a kind of relief,” he admits.

Released on bail soon after his arrest, he is now on trial for marijuana production and sale, although he was growing it for personal medical use only. If found guilty, he faces up to 12 years in jail.

The ancient Romanesque village of Groznjan, Croatia, witnessed a truly historic moment on June 10: the announcement of the first-ever legal shipment of cannabis extract containing psychoactive THC (and non-psychoactive CBD) across the pond from North America to Europe.

Most European countries, as well as many American states that have legalized medical cannabis in some form in recent years, have struggled to create functioning systems, and some areas around Europe don’t provide access to herbal cannabis or specific cannabinoid preparations. 

For years, Lisa Tollner, co-founder of the California marijuana edibles company Sensi Products, says she’s received calls and emails from customers reporting her cannabis-infused Sensi Chew caramels had helped alleviate pain, insomnia, nausea and other ailments. But Tollner wanted more.

“These people are telling me their stories, but with no real consistency,” said Tollner, who was interested in hard data on how her products worked, not shifting anecdotal evidence. “I need ways to prove our products’ efficacy.”

Global medical cannabis leader proud to help Croatian patients in need.

Tilray, a global leader in medical cannabis research and production, today announced that the company has shipped precisely crafted medical cannabis products to Croatia to be dispensed to patients with prescriptions via pharmacies. This marks the first time medical cannabis products containing the active compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are being legally imported into the European Union from North America for commercial medical use. It marks another strategic milestone for Tilray as the company aims to build the world's most trusted and admired medical cannabis brand by offering patients, physicians, researchers and pharmacies pure, precise and predictable products.