Legal marijuana is already a global industry and the U.S. is behind the curve.

When you think of the legal marijuana industry, you think of Colorado and California. But marijuana is not uniquely American, nor is the legalization movement.

The takeaway from April’s United Nations meetings on international drug policy, at least in Italy: We’re ready to culturally embrace cannabis and other recreational drugs, but we’re bureaucratically hamstrung when it comes to making it happen.

Marco Perduca, Italy’s permanent representative to the U.N. from the Radical Party, said that while many countries are calling for sensible policy and seeking to regulate and legalize cannabis, other countries continue to violate human rights in the suppression of the cannabis trade — and thus stymie progressive efforts worldwide.

Netherlands Based on rising demand, Bedrocan, the sole remaining producer of medicinal cannabis in Europe, tripled its production with the opening of a new production facility in 2015. Nevertheless, the company cannot supply Europe’s cannabis patients single-handedly.

A roundup of various movement in cannabis legalization in Europe.

While in the Americas in the last few years we have seen several waves of liberal reforms in countries like the USA, Canada, Chile, and Uruguay, we rarely hear similar news concerning European countries. But cannabis legalization is also winning support slowly in European countries other than the Netherlands Spain and Portugal.

In the UK last month, Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb raised a bill for decriminalization of cannabis – a second hearing will take place on May.

Decriminalizing cannabis sales would strike a blow against Islamic State militants and Italian mobsters who, according to ongoing investigations, are smuggling hashish together, Italy's top prosecutor told Reuters.

The main smuggling route for North African hash - compressed cannabis resin - now runs from Casablanca, Morocco, through Algeria, Tunisia to Tobruk in eastern Libya, said national anti-mafia and anti-terrorism chief Franco Roberti. 

Along that route is the seaside city of Sirte, which now serves as a Mediterranean base for the most powerful Islamic State (IS) branch outside Syria and Iraq. 

While the government continues slowly considering progress, some are taking Italy’s cannabis future into their own hands.

Anyone who has ever spent time in Italy knows that the country has some of the most draconian drug laws in the western world. When I studied abroad in Florence, for example, it took nearly a month to find anything to smoke.

For centuries, marijuana (cannabis) has been used in herbal remedies. A number of studies in the past have shown that marijuana can be helpful for treating neuropathic pain, which is caused by damaged nerves.

More recently, a few studies linked the biologically active components in marijuana with cancer cure. While some studies claim that marijuana cures cancer, others suggest it can effectively treat nausea and vomiting from cancer chemotherapy.

Scientists in Italy have now traced marijuana’s ability to treat male fertility.

Smoking pot frequently is known to take its toll on male sperm, but the new study from the University of Rome Tor Vergata in Italy affirms marijuana has the potential to treat infertility in men.

FLORENCE, Italy — Cannabis use increases the risk for nonadherence to antipsychotic medications, suggesting that discouraging cannabis use may improve not only treatment adherence but also the prognosis of psychosis patients, say United Kingdom investigators.

The researchers found that cannabis use more than doubles the risk for nonadherence to antipsychotics and that continued use of the drug increases the risk for nonadherence more than fivefold.

Enrico Foglia, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London, United Kingdom, toldMedscape Medical News that this is the first meta-analysis of the relationship between cannabis use and antipsychotic medication nonadherence.

Psychosis patients who have used cannabis have greater premorbid social skills than patients with psychosis who have never used the drug, data from five European countries suggest.

Laura Ferraro, a PhD student in psychiatry at the University of Palermo, in Italy, and colleagues found that lifetime cannabis use was associated with significantly increased improvements in premorbid social adjustment among psychosis patients.

Moreover, the results, which were presented here at the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) 24th ​Congress, indicate that the impact of cannabis on sociability was significantly greater among psychosis patients than among healthy individuals.

The flavor is named after Bob Marley. Probably not because the reggae legend loved gelato.

What's Italian for munchies? 

A town on Italy's Riviera coast has begun selling a weed-infused gelato that campaigners hope could change the country's attitude to cannabis.

Perleco, a gelato parlor in Alassio, recently launched the gelato -- named Marley after reggae legend Bob. 

But while it sounds like a weed fiend's dream, its makers say the frozen treat isn't going to get anyone high.