{"id":52606,"date":"2020-11-24T19:27:42","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T19:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/north-macedonia-is-fighting-to-become-the-first-balkan-nation-to-legalize-weed\/"},"modified":"2020-11-24T19:27:42","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T19:27:42","slug":"north-macedonia-is-fighting-to-become-the-first-balkan-nation-to-legalize-weed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/north-macedonia-is-fighting-to-become-the-first-balkan-nation-to-legalize-weed\/","title":{"rendered":"North Macedonia Is Fighting to Become the First Balkan Nation to Legalize Weed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image <\/em>via<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The tiny nation of North Macedonia may go down in history as the first country in the Balkan region to legalize adult-use cannabis<\/u><\/a>. <\/p>\n

North Macedonia may not be a familiar name to people living outside of southern Europe, for a number of reasons. The country has been trying to become a member of the European Union for over 14 years now<\/u><\/a>, with little success, and has no major business industries to speak of. The landlocked nation is also a less popular tourist destination than neighboring Greece, Montenegro, and Croatia, which all have lovely views of the Adriatic Sea. And to make matters worse, the country’s economy has been heavily impacted by the ongoing COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has a new plan<\/u><\/a> that he hopes will solve these issues by bringing jobs, money, and tourism to his country. Last week, Zaev announced a new proposal to legalize adult-use marijuana in the country’s biggest tourist hotspots. But instead of mirroring the full retail markets seen in Canada and adult-use US states, the new proposal would be modeled on Amsterdam’s cannabis cafes.<\/p>\n