Where is Marijuana Legal Outside Of The U.S?
It is important to know where marijuana is legal when traveling abroad. Countries like Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, and Malaysia carry a death penalty for marijuana use. So there’s plenty of incentive to keep track of these things.
The Netherlands
In the Netherlands, marijuana is sold legally in coffee shops and is allowed to be grown at home. You have to be 18 years old to buy and consume marijuana. No advertisement of marijuana is allowed and you can only purchase 5 grams at a time. Marijuana falls in the soft drugs category, therefore the law is lenient. Hard drugs like LSD, cocaine and heroin are completely forbidden.
Uruguay
Uruguay legalized marijuana in 2013. The difference here is that it wasn’t designed for tourists (something The Netherlands benefits from). You can only purchase marijuana from pharmacies and you have to be in the government registry and above 18 years old.
Medical Marijuana Outside The U.S.
Medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001. It is an alarming $900 dollar industry. The Czech Republic legalized medical marijuana in 2013. What differs with their medical marijuana laws is that patients are not allowed to grow at home. Medical marijuana is only grown and distributed by local farms.
Colombia legalized medical marijuana in 2015 and allows up to 20 grams of possession per person. This recent legalization is interesting because it is a step forward on fighting their own war on drugs, something they have been dealing with for decades.
So not only is marijuana outside the U.S. being used for tourist or medicinal purposes, but also to combat the negative effects of marijuana when it is considered illegal.