It’s a little before three on a sunny Friday afternoon and Laugardalur Park, near central Reykjavik, looks practically deserted. There’s an occasional adult with a pushchair, but the park’s surrounded by apartment blocks and houses, and school’s out – so where are all the kids?

Walking with me are Gudberg Jónsson, a local psychologist, and Harvey Milkman, an American psychology professor who teaches for part of the year at Reykjavik University. Twenty years ago, says Gudberg, Icelandic teens were among the heaviest-drinking youths in Europe. “You couldn’t walk the streets in downtown Reykjavik on a Friday night because it felt unsafe,” adds Milkman. “There were hordes of teenagers getting in-your-face drunk.”

The country with the biggest weed habit? That might surprise you.

A new report claims the UK government should legalise marijuana because it's “the only solution to crime and addiction problems”.

The strongly-worded study - titled The Tide Effect: How the World is Changing its Mind on Cannabis - was produced by the nonpartisan Adam Smith Institute and has the backing of several cross-party MPs including former deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg.

A new report claims the UK government should legalise marijuana because it's “the only solution to crime and addiction problems”.

The strongly-worded study - titled The Tide Effect: How the World is Changing its Mind on Cannabis - was produced by the nonpartisan Adam Smith Institute and has the backing of several cross-party MPs including former deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg.

According to a new report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Icelanders are one of the world's biggest users of cannabis, with over 8% of Icelanders using the drug. 

According to Þórarinn Tyrfingsson, director of Vogur drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre he warns of taking such international comparison literally. "It does however tell us that we are at least using similar amounts to cannabis to other countries. 

"We only have official documentation of cannabis users who seek help for addiction," says Arnar Jan Jónsson, doctor and one of the directors of a society in Iceland which aims to educate the public about the effects of cannabis and have set up the website cannabis.is. 

If you go by United Nation figures, Icelanders consume the most cannabis as a percentage of the national population. However, if you take a closer look at the numbers, that doesn’t mean much.

More than 18% of the Icelandic population consumed cannabis throughout the year in 2012, topping the U.S.’s reported 15.4% during 2013, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The U.N. figures are largely self-reported and the years the data were collected vary by country.

Marijuana legalization has been a political issue in the United States for some time, and while it remains illegal in most states, others have softened their stance in recent years. Colorado and Washington both passed initiatives by popular vote to decriminalize and legalize cannabis in 2012. In 2014, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., followed suit. Many states including Massachusetts, California, Missouri, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada and Ohio have flirted with legalization for a few election cycles, with buzz growing.

The United States isn't the only country where people use marijuana legally or illicitly. In fact, it isn’t even the country with the highest reported marijuana use.

Monday, the Northeast Iceland Police confiscated 58 cannabis plants during a house search on a farm in Svarfaðardalur, near Dalvík, RÚV reports. The suspected cultivators of the plants received an ISK 1 million (USD 7,500, EUR 7,000) award for innovation in organic farming last year.

In addition to the 58 cannabis plants, 100 grams of cannabis and equipment for cultivation were confiscated.

A second house search related to the case was carried out in Akureyri, revealing dozens of liters of a chlorine mixture, which had been offered for sale as medication on the internet. The director of health warned against the use of such a mixture in 2010.

A 58-year-old Icelander is believed to be one of the ringleaders of a major marijuana plantation in Molina de Segura, Spain, RÚV reports. He rented a warehouse in which the drugs were produced. The facility produced at least ten tons of cannabis a month, valued at up to ISK 30 billion (USD 241 million, EUR 210 million).

BAGS OF WEED Local Police raiding a cannabis producer. Despite what you might have read 1) Icelanders don't smoke more weed than others and 2) authorities don't turn a blind eye to pot. Photo/Valgarður Gíslason.