Deep within a cedar forest in British Columbia, Dan Sutton is building what he hopes will be the most energy-efficient, high-technology greenhouse for growing cannabis. Spurred by the booming market for medical marijuana, he and a group of biologists and engineers have experimented for almost three years with digital sensors, lighting arrays, software programs and ventilators to design a greenhouse system with the lowest energy costs and highest crop yields.

“We said, ‘Let’s assume everything that’s ever been done in cannabis cultivation is wrong, and we have to build from the ground up,’” said Sutton, the 28-year-old managing director of Tantalus Labs in Vancouver.  “We have this broad realm of science that no one has been able to previously explore.”

In Europe, the legislation varied from one country to another. And the most stringent laws do not necessarily produce the best effects.

According to the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), nearly one in two French smoked cannabis. However, France has one of the toughest laws on drug use, even so-called "soft" drugs. In Europe, laws differ. On one hand the countries that decriminalize, are tolerant, do not condemn. And conversely those which are very severe. Scientific studies are struggling to establish links between the laws in force and the actual consumption of drugs. If consumption is sometimes tolerated in different forms, the sale and cultivation of cannabis are of course mostly misdemeanors.

Countries that tolerate

Sweden is famous for its highly regulated state monopoly on alcohol, with the 'Systembolaget' chain the only liquor store allowed to sell alcoholic beverages. But a similar scheme could be created to legalize the sale of cannabis, if a Swedish youth politician has her way. It's an unlikely possibility but the idea's triggered a strong debate.

Hanna Wagenius, chairwoman of Sweden's Centre Party's youth wing, told The Local on Wednesday that Sweden should take its lead from several places around the world which have legalized the drug, such as the Netherlands and a number of US states.

GÖTEBORG, Sweden/SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Feb. 23, 2015—Heliospectra AB (OTCQB: HLSPY, FIRSTNORTH: HELIO), a world leader in intelligent lighting technology for greenhouse cultivation and plant research, today announced that it has hired Dr. Sue Sisley as Director of Medicinal Plant Research.

As Director of Medicinal Plant Research at Heliospectra, Dr. Sisley provides the company with “in the field” knowledge and customer feedback. Working with growers to develop scalable medicinal plant growing methodologies, Dr. Sisley oversees data collection and reporting protocol with Heliospectra’s medicinal plant cultivators in the US, Canada and globally.

Russia's ambassador in Copenhagen says the Swedish authorities should lay off the weed, while adding that Danish and Swedish officials are on "a very dangerous path".

Russia's ambassador to Denmark on Wednesday made light of Swedish concerns over a Russian military jet's alleged near-miss with a passenger plane, suggesting Swedish authorities may have smoked too much cannabis.

"The Swedish authorities also recently said there was a submarine in their waters. There wasn't," Mikhail Vanin, Russia's ambassador in Copenhagen, told the Berlingske daily.

Around 20 cannabis farms have been discovered in the Soderasen region of southern Sweden over the past 12 months, with youth workers claiming that the area was is now “self-sufficient”.

In the Soderasen area, in northwest Skane, almost every small town has a cannabis farm, in what local youth workers are referring to as a new trend.

Mathias Loow, from the youth and drugs group in Soderasen, said that he would guess the area was now self-sufficient in cannabis. He revealed that many growers do so for personal use but others do it to sell it. He went on to say that, due to the fact it was a remote area, it was much easier to evade the authorities.

Some 20 cannabis farms have been discovered around the Söderåsen area of southern Sweden in the past year, with youth workers warning that the area has become 'self-sufficient'.

In almost every small town around Söderåsen, a area of natural beauty in northwest Skåne, there are cannabis plantations signifying a new trend according to local youth workers.

"I would guess that Söderåsen is self-sufficient in cannabis now," said Mathias Lööw at Söderåsens youth and drugs group to the Helsingborgs Dagblad daily.

Lööw explained that while many grow the drug, which is illegal in all quantities in Sweden, for personal use there are others who cultivate the weed for commercial purposes.