Yo yo yo, what’s good, it’s your boy Dan back at it again with some dope knowledge about the countries that love to puff puff pass the most. Now, when you think of places where weed is lit, you probably think of Amsterdam or even Colorado and Cali in the US. But just because a place has some chill cannabis laws doesn’t mean everyone’s getting lit. So which country tokes the most? Brace yourself, cause it ain’t Amsterdam like we thought.
You know how everyone thinks Dutch people are lighting up spliffs all day every day? Turns out only about 8% of them actually smoke weed. So who’s at the top of the list? Portugal? Uruguay? Nah fam, it’s Iceland. That’s right, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), about 18.3% of Icelanders ages 15-64 use marijuana. The US came in second with 16.2% and Nigeria was third with 14.3%. Surprising right?
What makes Iceland stand out even more is that weed isn’t even legal for recreational use there. Y’all heard me right, it’s straight up illegal. You can’t grow it, sell it, possess it, or use it unless you’re a chronically ill patient. But despite all that, the peeps in Iceland still love to light up. Reports say smoking in public or having a small amount usually just results in a fine and smoking weed is widely accepted socially.
But hold up, how do they get away with it if it’s illegal? Well, the police can’t just search anyone without reasonable suspicion so people can lowkey get away with it. The fine for getting caught with one gram of weed is around $500 but you gotta have at least half a kilo to get jail time for three months. Even though people still get arrested for it, there’s definitely a culture of consuming and producing weed in Iceland.
Now you might be wondering why Iceland loves weed so much. Well, the answer isn’t crystal clear but some say it’s because they didn’t have legal beer until 1989. Alcohol was completely prohibited there back in 1915 and although wine and liquor became legal, beer only got the green light around 30 years ago. So for those college kids looking to party back in the day, weed may have been a safer alternative to dodgy beer.
So what about the other countries on the list? The US is second with 16.2% of the population using marijuana. And even though it’s still illegal on a federal level, 33 states and Washington DC have legalized it in some form or another. As people get more open-minded about cannabis, the culture is only gonna grow.
Nigeria’s third on the list with an estimated 20.8 million users each year even though sales are illegal there too. Canada comes in fourth with 12.7% of the population admitting to using weed. And down in 20th place is Amsterdam, which proves that just because it’s legal doesn’t mean everyone’s lighting up.
But let’s be real fam, we all know that when you walk into a coffee shop (not your regular cafe) in Amsterdam, most of the customers are tourists anyway. Locals aren’t really into that scene like that and you won’t find many coffee shops where they’re at either. So next time you think everyone’s blazing up all over Amsterdam, remember that it’s mostly just us outsiders enjoying what they got going on over there.
In conclusion, just cause a country has some chill cannabis laws doesn’t mean everyone’s lighting up all day every day. Iceland takes the cake when it comes to smoking the most weed even though it’s illegal there. So if you’re ever in Reykjavik, don’t be surprised if you catch a whiff of that sticky icky in the air.
