albania

As Albania gears up for elections, one huge challenge facing the Balkan country has been low on the campaign agendas: the scourge of its cannabis fields, which threatens to hinder EU accession. Morocco may be the leading source of cannabis resin, but mountainous Albania is the main supplier...

Albania has become the largest producer of outdoor-grown cannabis in Europe. The potent plant has been described as "green gold" for struggling farmers. In a poor nation, it's a billion-euro industry. Off a dirt road, in a small village north of Tirana, there's a half-built, tumble-down...

A government MP in Albania is preparing an amendment to the law code that will permit the cultivation of hemp, or so-called "industrial cannabis", in the country. Villages in the Malesia e Madhe in northern Albania grew hemp for years for use in the textile and oil industries but stopped...