Photo Gallery High Hopes
In the US, one state after another is relaxing legislation on cannabis use. Medicine Man Denver is the single largest legal medical and recreational marijuana dispensary in Denver, Colorado. Radio frequency ID tags and 65 video cameras allow the State of Colorado to track inventory through the growing process and all plant weight is accounted for.
SPIEGEL surveyed Germans on their opinions about cannabis legalization.
After a decades-long cultural battle over America's most commonly used illicit drug, adults over 21 in Washington are legally permitted to use cannabis in private -- as they are in Colorado, Alaska and Washington. A similar law is set to come into effect in Oregon soon and it's highly likely that it will also been introduced in California next year.
Germany has slightly less cannabis users than the EU average.
This April saw the largest marijuana rally in the world take place in Denver, Colorado, a state that pioneered tolerant legislation on cannabis. The event happens every year.
In Vancouver, Canada, anyone who submits to a pseudo-medical examination can buy as much cannabis as they like. The city is home to a population of some 600,000 and at least 80 specialized stores for cannabis, such as Marc Emery's Cannabis Culture.
Colorado went to the polls in November 2012 to vote on a controversial ballot initiative that would permit possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for adults over 21. The measure was passed. The new law addresses "personal use and regulation of marijuana" as well as commercial cultivation, manufacture, and sale, effectively regulating cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol.
Patients with chronic conditions want marijuana to be legalized on the strength of its medical benefits.
There are two different kinds of receptor cells that bind with cannabinoids.
Hubert Wimber recently retired after serving for nearly 18 years as chief of police in Münster, a student town where cannabis use is widespread. He is all too familiar with the vagaries of the German Narcotic Drugs Act. "We have had no success with it whatsoever," he says.
Psychiatrist Kirsten Müller-Vahl from the Hanover Medical School treats patients with cannabis-based medication.
