The Berlin ICBC concludes as Germany launches it’s legalized framework for medical cannabis. In other words, a cannabis generation opens up in 2017 with a crack that is more of a friendly grin than a roar of disapproval. This was not a conference of Euro-hipster youngsters gone crazy. Instead, these are adults as consumers, advocates, innovators, investors, scientists, rain-makers, and corporate ninjas, from every continent except Antarctica.

Globally, the access-to-cannabis movement is as divergent as each nation’s disproportionately unique law that allows or prohibits possession, cultivation and usage. Germany is one new beachhead. The buzz now extends to the two old flames of democracy: France, in light of its presidential election, and the United States, due to its light-headed president.

Notoriously, France has been seen as one of the most rigid against drugs of any kind. Hell, I remember backpacking around Europe 25 years ago, recalling fellow travelers freaking out when our train crossed into France, boarded by submachine gun toting gendarmes looking for people who forgot to unload their pot in Holland.

But seemingly as polls suggested about 10 years ago hence in North America and in Western Europe, the medical cannabis movement set off a fever that defied all attempts to contain it or rationalize it as fringe. Politically, neither left nor right, but in front, diverse international pockets of grassroots movement building precipitated a confluence of generational currents.

Alternative Libertarian and Social-Democrat media was covering the cannabis movement’s rise, while mainstream media was stuck labeling opinions with degenerate condescension, such as the UK Guardian and Le Monde. But eventually, a more enlightened press could no longer ignore the medical and industrial discourse affirming the virtues of cannabis, such as the The Economist, who endorsed legalization in 2015.

Recent polls relative to the presidential election in France, show over 75 percent of French citizens think cannabis prohibition is unnecessarily punitive, while 55 percent favor legalization of medical cannabis, according to Ipsos poll. France’s public health ministry estimates that over 1.4 million citizens smoke at least 10 joints per month.

With the April 23rd election results, Marine Le Pen of the far right National Front, garnered 21.3 percent of the national vote, while political upstart and centrist, Emmanuel Macron captured 24 percent. They both advance to the next round of voting on May 7. Their run-off invokes the all too familiar pathos of the 2016 Brexit-Trump rise. However, a majority of the French want to remain in the European Union – as does Macron but not Le Pen. The liberalizing of cannabis in France stands a better chance with Macron.

Concurrently, the United States approaches a pivotal crossroads as the Rohrabacher-Farr (Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher Republican, Sam Farr, Democrat; Representative Earl Blumenauer (D) is the co-author now that Farr has retired) amendment expires on April 28, along with the continuing resolution that funds the federal government. The amendment prohibits the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Agency from spending funds that interfere with the state “implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana”.

As the Nation Magazine recently reports, President Trump’s Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, reiterated that, “I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store,” and added that “Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.” Adding to the fury, is Trump’s appointment to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Representative Tom Marino, who voted against Rohrabacher-Farr.

Congressman Rohrabacher himself reminded a very enthusiastic crowd at the Berlin ICBC that he “remains optimistic that their amendment will be renewed.” He stopped short of deciphering the uncertainty of Trump or answering questions that suggested AG Sessions might look the other way on the amendment, if momentum is galvanized against cities and states that support “Sanctuary Cities.”

Constantly reminded every time my eight-year-old son sings the entire musical of “Hamilton,” my history IQ is refreshed that the French-American relationship is rooted in the shared ideals of the French and American Revolutions. Tested by many battlefields, eras of artistic and literary enlightenment, and self-absorbed tension, the French-American alliance has grown profoundly strong over the last 240 years. It was not by coincidence that Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady, and Rene Cassin, Nobel Peace Prize winner, collaborated to write the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man over 50 years ago.

However, a denominator that has exacerbated strained relations for nearly 50 years, between the United States and many nations, including close allies, has been the misguided wasteful war on drugs. As Berlin conference goers return home to their respective lands, we approach an intersection of political collaboration, maybe through the United Nations, or some other multi-lateral exchange, that strengthens the ties that once were frayed…by building a regulated international framework for cannabis-access.