The owners of three cannabis cafes in the southern city of Maastricht should be fined €5,000 and given 150 hours of community service for selling the soft drug to tourists, the public prosecution deparment said on Wednesday.

They should also face a one month suspended jail term, the public prosecutor says.

Produced in association with United Patients Group, American Drug War 2: Cannabis Destiny is the second American Drug War documentary from filmmaker Kevin Booth. Set for release June 6, 2013, this gripping look inside the medical marijuana industry asks big questions about the secret motives for restricting cannabis and who America’s longest running war is really hurting.

American Drug War 2: Cannabis Destiny, the latest documentary from director Kevin Booth, goes deep inside the past, present and future of cannabis. Produced in association with medical marijuana patient resource UnitedPatientsGroup.com, this film is available for companies and individuals to bring to their cities by hosting a screening.

A visit to Trekt Uw Plant in Antwerp

What was originally a small group of friends, has become a feasible alternative to the cannabis black market in the north of Belgium. Our guest author guides us through Antwerp’s cannabis social club. Belgium legalised the possession and use of small amounts of cannabis for personal use a decade ago. Since that time, smokers can not only carry up to 3 grams in public but can also legally grow one plant per person at home.

The cannabis social club is a feasible alternative tobuying weed illegally on the street, or visiting coffeeshops across theborder in the Netherlands. It has the potential to cut a chunk out ofthe black market and reduce crime rates, while promoting a more humaneapproach towards cannabis smokers.

'Cannabis clubs' all over France have taken the high-risk move of registering with authorities as non-profit organizations. A leading activist tells The Local why the clubs should be seen as part of solution to the drug problem.

Farid Ghehioueche is a prominent French activist for cannabis legalization, and is on the steering committee at ENCOD, the European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies.

There are currently two primary camps when the issue of cannabis is involved. There are those who agree that it should be legal, and those who do not.  The people who think it should be legal to cultivate, sell and consume cannabis are now in the majority all around the world.  People, given the chance, largely agree that you should be able to go down to the local store and buy some weed. Even many of the ones who don’t smoke support legalization; so what is going on with our governments?