Stoner-Friendly Countries

Today we’re going to talk about stoner-friendly countries, places that any stoner would love to go thanks to the fact that it’s legal to smoke there, or at least cannabis has its foot in the door of the law.

In Belgium, cannabis use was legalized in 2001 as long as it’s for private and personal use; if you’re caught smoking in public then you will most likely get a heavy fine. This law is extremely similar to Spain, where you can smoke inside in your own house and nobody can say a thing to you.

Spain has legalized personal use, as well as having a set of regulations that allows cannabis use through social cannabis clubs, where people can get together to consume cannabis legally. Although Spain has some of the best conditions for growing this plant, these cannabis clubs are founded on a loophole, and the government will look for any excuse to shut them down the first opportunity they get.

Holland has been a sort of Mecca for stoners, although the prices are ridiculously high for tourists and the quality has gone down somewhat in the last few years. Growing cannabis is illegal in Holland, but you can buy it in many different coffee shops, and the government apparently is completely against people growing in their homes.

Switzerland partially decriminalized possession of less than 10g of weed for people over the age of 18, which now comes with a small fine rather than a criminal offense. In 2016 serious talks we held involving opening a certain number of trial cannabis clubs in the country.

Portugal is a country that went against everything every other country stands for when it comes to drugs; they decriminalized cannabis, cocaine, heroin, meth… basically all of the drugs. This, in turn, caused a significant decrease in users of all substances, a similar result that Holland experienced when coffee shops became a thing. You can possess up to 25g of cannabis, but you may be fined for smoking in public.

There are, of course, eight states in the United States that currently allow recreational use of the drug as well as medicinal, and a total of 30 states have legalized cannabis medicinally; even in the states where it’s legalized medicinally it’s apparently quite easy to get a doctor’s recommendation allowing you to use cannabis. Of course, federal law classes cannabis as a schedule l substance, making it federally illegal; this means that although the state you’re visiting has legalized recreational use, organizations such as the FBI have jurisdiction to fine you or shut dispensaries down, for example.

Colombia, since 2012, allows legal possession of up to 5 grams of cannabis and 1 gram of cocaine, as long as it’s for personal use – this allows tourists to enjoy strains that are native to Colombia without having to worry about legal issues.

Argentina legalized a system in 2012 that’s similar to the cannabis social clubs in Spain; as long as you use it in private places without annoying other people, cannabis use is allowed.

Chile allows for personal use as long as it’s in private, and they’ve also legalized personal growing of up to six cannabis plants either indoors or outdoors for both recreational and medicinal uses.

Uruguay legalized the production, recreational and medicinal use of the plant both privately and in groups as long as these groups are in private, and it can also be found in pharmacies. You’re allowed to buy 40 grams a month, grow 6 plants or 480 grams a year.

Canada allows for personal use and they were one of the first to allow the use of cannabis through permission from the government, as long as the person who wants to consume has the correct permission; they can also grow their own plants, but if you try and do so without permission or if you try to commercialize it and sell it, then you might end up with serious issues, more so than in the United States.

Italy in 2014 legalized personal use again, allowing users up to one gram of cannabis; it’s decriminalized, meaning that you’ll still get fined if you’re found with more than that on you, but this is still much better than the previous law. Before this new law, in Italy you could go to prison for between 6 to 20 years for growing cannabis. The current law states that you “only” get 2 to 6 years for growing. In Italy you can find some amazing hash strains that come all the way from Asia.

The Maldives is an amazing paradise that everyone has to see at least once in their lives, and it’s also a haven for weed smokers; although technically it is illegal, there’s no real legislation on it so if you stay in and smoke nobody will say a thing to you.

Swaziland is a small country in Africa, one of the few countries in the world that is still under an absolute dictatorship, allows for selective of growing medicinal cannabis although they’ve been fighting against commercial grows since the 90s with little results. Many, many amazing sativa-dominant strains come from this country.

Jamaica finally opened its doors to legal cannabis in 2015, making it even more of a hotspot for stoners; this country has a heavy Rastafarian population, making it absurd that the law was ever so repressive in the first place!

So, there you have it, a list of some of the countries where you can more or less freely get stoned and have a good time without worrying about the police, freely enjoying cannabis and all of the culture that comes with it.

Author: Fabio Inga
Translation: Ciara Murphy