Medicinal plants

French customs officers have discovered nearly 400 kilograms of cannabis in a truck with a Bulgarian registration, reports the French edition of "L'Est Républicain"

The drug was discovered on A39 road in Jura, France, on the night of Thursday to Friday. The exact amount of cannabis is 398 kilograms. Its market value is about 4 million euros. The drug was hidden under oranges.

Konstantinos Syros turned to cannabis 26 years ago after a motorcycle accident left him with deformed arm and debilitating pain that conventional treatments could not assuage. For years he had to buy it illegally. Now, he plans to grow it himself.

Decriminalization of the possession and cultivation of small quantities of marijuana for personal needs will make NGOs to protest for another year.
 

Police seized a total of 3,700 opium poppy plants in the region of Viotia in central Greece Tuesday and arrested four foreign nationals - three Indians, aged 36, 47 and 58, and a 28-year-old Pakistani.

Authorities are also looking for a 64-year-old Greek man.

Three of those arrested did not have residence permits.

The prime minister of Macedonia has also urged all those who have the resources to invest in the production of cannabis, "because it is profitable."

He pointed out that "ethics and law in Macedonia" allow the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes, and that eight licenses have been issued so far, while another "four or five" are under review.

Six Albanian nationals have been arrested in the region of Grammos in northwestern Greece, near the border with Albania, on charges of violating forestry laws by illegally picking huge amounts of a wild mountain herb.

Police said they caught the men on Tuesday and seized 132 kilos of Primula veris (cowslip), as well as 10 horses that were used to carry the harvest.

Greek police say they have arrested six Albanian men near the border that separates the two countries and seized 10 horses and more than 100 kilograms of an illegally harvested wild mountain herb traditionally used to cure various ailments. 

After the Greek parliament approved a law for the cultivation and sale of medical cannabis this month, five international companies already have expressed interest in pumping over 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) into the country's burgeoning sector.

Five consortiums with investment plans to cultivate cannabis for medical use, adding up to over 1 billion euros on paper, have already knocked on the door of Deputy Economy Minister Stergios Pitsiorlas.

Parliament on Thursday approved legislation allowing the manufacture of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

The new legislation sets out the rules governing the cultivation and production of the particular types of the plant that are used for pharmaceutical purposes, as well as the operation of manufacturing units.