The countries that smoke the most weed, in one map

The legal status of cannabis is changing globally, with more countries opting to legalise recreational and medicinal use of the drug.

The Marijuana industry is booming in the US: the state of Colorado, where marijuana is legal for recreational use, got a total revenue of $72.8 million (£59.3 million) as of October 2016.

The declassification of the plant in many parts of the world has been led by scientific investigations into the potential benefits of the drug.

In the UK, possession of cannabis can land you in prison for five years; however there is support from some MPs, including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, for its legalisation.

With that in mind, here is a map of cannabis use as a percentage of the population of each country:

Using data collected by Telegraph travel, here it is:

Let's take a closer look at the different regions of the world:

Europe

France (11 per cent), Italy (9 per cent) and Spain (9.2 per cent) report the highest cannabis use.

The UK is fairly high up, with 6.2 per cent of its population smoking cannabis, along with the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

Further East, countries report significantly lower cannabis usage, with Romania, Belarus and Hungary possessing some of the lowest levels.

Iceland reports the highest reported level of usage, with over 18 per cent of the population using some form of cannabis.

Central America and Canada

Both Canada and the US report high levels of cannabis usage (12.7 and 16.2 per cent respectively).

Given that certain states in the latter championed its legalisation, this is not surprising.

South America

Down South, cannabis doesn't appear to be the drug of choice, with Chile and Uruguay being the only countries to report high usage.

Africa, Asia and the Far East

Nigeria and Zambia are the only two countries reporting significantly high cannabis usage.

Some countries, like Algeria, report very little.

However, many parts of Africa have no data, hence the lack of colour.

The lack of data follows to parts of Asia. Only Australia reports high usage, followed by Russia.

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