Note the wide disparity of drug prices across the countries surveyed.

With the recent turn of economic events in Greece and China, it has become ever more apparent that we live in increasingly globalized world in which economies are inextricably linked.

This begged the question; are national drug economies linked in a similar manner?

In this informative video, BuzzFeed shows you how much coffee, cannabis, cigarettes, cocaine, whiskey, and heroin can you buy for $20 U.S. dollars around the world.

Rarely does an enormous, totally virgin industry emerge with guaranteed demand, where startups are better placed to capitalise than big corporates. Beyond the ethical debate around legislation of cannabis, it’s this tantalising commercial prospect that’s getting a growing number of people excitedly sizing up opportunities and making business plans in anticipation of a change in law.

Each year, over 1,000 tonnes of cannabis is produced across the UK in secret basements, bedrooms, repurposed sheds and warehouse farms. Another 200 tonnes is imported from places like Morocco and the Netherlands. In short, UK cannabis production is booming.

The Colorado Department of Revenue collects millions of dollars in taxes each month from marijuana businesses around the state. The state collected $9.6 million from sales of retail and medical marijuana in April, bringing the current year through May 1 total to $78 million.

Many of these millions are stuffed into duffel bags and driven to the Department of Revenue to be paid in cash.

“It can be really scary,” said Mike Elliott, the executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group.

After 18 months of full-scale legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado, the federal government and state governments here and elsewhere have not found a solution to providing access to banking to the marijuana industry.

Many states are facing numerous deadlines for legislation, but the marijuana movement keeps progressing through it all. A major cannabis banking bill is making waves, Alaska’s recreational lawmakers just released regulations, and Chile is on the verge of decriminalization. To top it off, Crimean authorities just discovered an island covered for miles with cannabis, as far as the eye can see. We’ve got the latest in cannabis legalization updates – are you in the know?

U.S. Cannabis Updates

NATIONAL

DENVER — A federal law crafted to fight the mob is giving marijuana opponents a new strategy in their battle to stop the expanding industry: racketeering lawsuits.

A Colorado pot shop recently closed after a Washington-based group opposed to legal marijuana sued not just the pot shop but a laundry list of firms doing business with it — from its landlord and accountant to the Iowa bonding company guaranteeing its tax payments. One by one, many of the plaintiffs agreed to stop doing business with Medical Marijuana of the Rockies, until the mountain shop closed its doors and had to sell off its pot at fire-sale prices.

This week marks the one-year anniversary since sales of marijuana for recreational use began in Washington state.

In the first year, $70 million in tax revenue has been generated statewide from marijuana sales. The Washington State Liquor Control Board, which oversees the state's cannabis industry, reports that dispensaries sold more than $257 million worth of marijuana.

Chip Boyden, who owns a medical marijuana dispensary in Tucson, Arizona, jumped at the thought of expanding his marijuana business with family in Washington after the first dispensaries started to open in July 2014. Washington voters passed a law in 2012 to legalize marijuana for adults over 21.

Anyone raising capital (finders or company officers), absent an exemption (see Regulation D and employee, officer or director), for any company (private or public) through investors (including friends and/or family) is engaging in the sale of securities and must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Securities Act. Selling securities unregistered is considered illegal. 

But manufacturing process, potency have caused concerns

Bend resident Tamara Brost became an Oregon Medical Marijuana Program patient after being diagnosed with cancer in 2011 . The marijuana mitigated some of her symptoms, but smoking aggravated her asthma, and edibles, which can take an hour or more to kick in, didn’t provide immediate pain relief.

A company planning to grow medical marijuana in Seneca County has unveiled plans to offer aid to help families purchase the drug. 

Citiva Medical, which was founded by Colorado medical marijuana pioneer Josh Stanley, announced its intent to donate at least 2 percent of its net income to Strains of Hope, a non-profit organization established by Stanley, to assist patients pay for medical marijuana treatment. 

The contributions to Strains of Hope will at least partially cover the costs of medical marijuana prescriptions for families who can't afford the drug, which typically isn't covered by health insurance plans and could cost as much as $250 a month. 

As attitudes toward marijuana become more lenient and states authorize its use for medicinal — or even recreational — purposes, a long simmering debate over the efficacy of workplace drug testing has found a new flash point.

Marijuana accounts for more failed workplace drug tests than any other substance, and the new laws have the potential of decreasing or eliminating employer testing for it.

Defenders of drug testing maintain that employees who use drugs, including marijuana, have been found to miss more work, cause more accidents, change jobs more frequently and ultimately cost employers more money.