michaela: hello and a very warm welcome to "global 3000." cannabis -- an innocuous looking green plant at the heart of a multi-billion dollar global industry. but should we ban it or tax it? this week we look at two very different approaches to the consumption of the controversial crop. that's just one of the topics coming up on the show. cannabis in colorado -- how legalizing the drug has helped to keep the municipal coffers full. inside an armenian prison -- for despondent inmates, reform can't come a moment too soon. and --

national park status in uganda -- good news for wildlife, but at what cost to the human population? recreational drug consumption is big business. just how big, it's hard to say with certainty since most transactions take place outside of the law. the un, however, estimates that around 260 billion euros worth of drugs sales are made globally each year. around a quarter of a billion people are thought to take drugs, the most popular of which is cannabis. around 180 million people worldwide smoke or consume cannabis, also referred to as "weed," "hash," and "dope," on a regular basis. opinions as to the dangers of cannabis consumption vary, as do the legalities of buying and selling it. the united states is a case in point. there, cannabis dealing can either land you a spell in jail or a hefty tax bill, all depending on which state you happen to be operating in.

reporter: jake brown says he enjoys his work. even if it sounds a bit weird to german ears, he's a marijuana critic for the colorado daily "the denver post." here he's choosing new products, a bit like a sommelier for cannabis. jake brown: i get emails and tweets and facebook messages all the time from people that say, "hey, i just went out and tried this strain that you recommended," or "thank you, i avoided this one." but, you know, just like food criticism or people that review micro-brews, there's definitely a market for people that want to learn more about cannabis. >> welcome on your first cultivating spirits experience. we're going to have a wonderful night of some gourmet dinners with cannabis pairings and some wine tastings. reporter: it's the latest trend in colorado. $250 for an evening in a stretch limo where you learn everything about the finest strains of cannabis. passengers include young entrepreneurs, doctors, and marketing experts, not the stereotypical pothead of years gone by.

but everyone here started as a teenager. one prefers not to be recognized for fear of his boss, but sean talks openly to us. would you say how your life has changed since the legalization? sean: you know, i lived in new york city for 18 years and there, where it's not legalized, you hand over $100 to someone on the street or you hop into a car. reporter: now philip, the tour guide, explains that by rubbing the leaves together they're bruising the terpenes, the essential oils in cannabis, and analyzing what they smell, a bit like wine tasters. people are obviously enjoying it. brittany: i've been smoking cannabis since i was, like, 13, but like now i'm really thinking about the taste, like the different experiences and the different strains and like that tastes different from the last one.

reporter: marijuana is rarely cultivated on balconies or in back yards in denver, but instead in huge warehouses like this one. andy williams explains that the plants have to grow perfectly straight. cannabis has already made him rich. there's a gold rush atmosphere in the sector. andy williams: someday i hope to be a millionaire, when i sell the company or when i can relax and just stop growing. but right now, you know, we're growing and growing and growing. reporter: if you drive through denver, you'll find cannabis on almost every corner, even here in the pedestrian zone, sporting names like "blue dream" or "durban poison." new products come onto the market almost daily, going as far as cannabis in chocolate, cookies, and harmless looking candies. lauren metzger: if you don't have self-control and you can't stop yourself from eating

a medicated piece of candy, i mean, i kind of think that 's -- that's sort of on you to be responsible, you know, and to consume something properly. you can buy candy in the grocery store if you have a hard time only eating one piece of candy at a time. reporter: what's immediately noticeable -- no one pays with a credit card. everything's in cash, in the u.s., of all places. i find out why in this armored vehicle. philip baca, once a policeman, is now a driver for a security firm carrying huge amounts of dollar bills. philip baca: banks are a little bit leery of taking cash from the marijuana industry, because it would bring extra scrutiny to their bank. and they wouldn't want to deal with any federal prosecution or anything like that. reporter: in these inconspicuous bags, his colleague, matt, picks up the money for the tax authorities. doesn't it feel a little bit like a concealer's job what you are doing? matt: it's a little bit different. but all we're doing is moving money so our clients can pay their taxes. reporter: a year and a half ago

this would have been unthinkable. in the past year, the state of colorado has taken in just under $53 million in taxes and fees. many here say better the state than black market dealers. i'm on my way to denver children's hospital. one of the biggest legalization opponents is researching here. jeffery galinkin says cannabis should not be legal for people under 25, as their brains aren't yet mature, and that panic attacks and psychoses could result. but he couldn't keep his son from using cannabis, with tragic consequences. jeffrey galinkin: he got into trouble with suicide. marijuana started to contribute to his declining mental health. and so that's made me, i think, even more passionate about trying to keep marijuana out of the hands of younger people, and trying to educate kids about the danger of marijuana. reporter: but right now arguments like that are falling on deaf ears here.

more and more states are considering legalizing cannabis. kate: armenia's approach to cannabis consumption could not be more different. there, prison is the punishment dealt out to dealers and their customers alike. even possession of a small amount of the substance is enough to land you in jail. indeed, armenia's approach to minor offenses of all kinds is notoriously draconian, with 25% of prisoners serving time for crimes they haven't even been convicted of committing. as a result, the country's prisons are full to overflowing, and that's a situation which the government is now trying to address. reporter: for days, thousands of people blocked the center of yerevan, the armenian capital. originally the protests were triggered by a rise in electricity prices, but now they're about president serzh sargsyan, numerous human rights violations, and police violence.

in the last weeks of june alone hundreds of demonstrators were detained. armenia's prisons are chronically overcrowded. the european committee for the prevention of torture recently published a study calling treatment of prisoners in armenia inhumane and degrading. and people can easily end up in prison here, says to human -- says human rights activist anna melikyan. anna melikyan: our courts, justice system, tends to convict people to imprisonment and for rather long sentences. reporter: relatives have to bring inmates food from outside. there's no medical care. sahak shahinyan barely survived a heart attack while in nubarashen prison. sahak shahinyan: i lost my house. i lost my health.

is there anything more precious than that? reporter: seven grams of cannabis brought him 5 1/2 years in prison. many of the inmates of nubarashen are still awaiting trial, often for years. anna melikyan: from 25% to 30% of those who are currently deprived of their liberty are those pending trial whose guilt was not established by the court yet. reporter: the neighboring country of georgia shows that things can be done differently. after a prison abuse scandal three years ago, the criminal justice system was completely restructured. suspended sentences were shortened and an open prison created. the head of the newly-created parole agency says that helps reintegration into society. giorgi arshoshvili: we cooperate very closely with the private companies to hire the probationers for a job. reporter: the inmates demonstrate what they've learned

in open prison. special workshops are offered for inmates with good behavior records. giorgi arshoshvili: here we have a class. reporter: there are also leisure activities and even a pasta factory on the grounds. giorgi arshoshvili: the inmates are paid for this work. they receive salaries, and approximately the average salary here is $200 per month. reporter: those who show cooperation are allowed to go home at weekends, like malkhaz gobozashvili, who's serving four years for involuntary manslaughter. malkhaz gobozashvili: if i had to go straight home from prison, who knows what i'd be like mentally. probably be like some madman because i've been isolated from society. reporter: today he's finished serving his sentence and going

-- and is going home for good. his sons are already waiting at the door. from now on, he'll once again work with them in the family business. in armenia, modern prison methods are still a long way away, but the armenian justice minister, suren kromoyan, plans to change that. suren kromoyan: we are reforming our prison system now. it means using some electronic monitoring systems for keeping them at home. reporter: but electronic tagging won't solve everything. anna melikyan say that to reform the armenian criminal justice system, very different problems have to be faced. anna melikyan: such as difficulties in reintegration into society, finding

employment, jobs after they are released. reporter: with no employment or prospects, many inmates soon end up behind bars again. sahak shahinyan: i've lost everything since i've been prison. reporter: sahak shahinyan says he hopes he survives his last year in prison. despite recent reforms, both -- kate: despite recent reforms, both armenia and georgia still have a long way to go before their prison systems conform to international standards. in the meantime, rights groups continue to raise concerns about conditions and the mistreatment of prisoners. now, what does globalization mean to people in different parts of the world? it's a question our reporters ask when they travel the globe. and, every now and again, we find a response which interests us so much that we shape it into a global questionnaire.

and that is exactly what happened this week in vietnam. >> my name is nguyen thi duyen. i'm 36, and i live in hue. >> right now i'm working as a bamboo weaver, earning 7 euros a day.

>> to me, globalization means that the products from the company i work for, ngoc minh, can also be exported abroad. >> my family and the fact that i have a steady job. >> my wishes are very simple. i want a good education for my children. >> germany. every time i hear something about germany, i want to visit the country.

kate: our next destination is not germany. to east africa now, and a national park which straddles uganda's border with kenya. named after the volcanic mountain range at its heart, the mount elgon national park was once a paradise for plants, birds, and bigger beasts such as elephants, leopards, and buffalo. over time, however, the park's biodiversity became depleted by deforestation, poaching, and increased demands on the water supply. the government's response was drastic, and the local human population is still learning to live with the consequences.

reporter: it's also called the mountain of the sun, although its summit is usually wrapped in clouds. mount elgon in eastern uganda, a volcano that's been extinct for many centuries. the mountain is famed for its biodiversity. we begin our ascent under the guidance of a ranger from the uganda wildlife authority. for 27-year-old andrew tasike, the mountain is everything. andrew tasike: so, at this point, you can see the volcanic soils are very fertile. you can see the climbing beans. they are doing very well because of the fertile soil here. this place is rich. reporter: thanks to the many mountain streams, a unique ecosystem has emerged. to preserve it, the upper part of the mountain was declared a nature reserve in 1993. at that time, more than 30,000 people had to be resettled. andrew: because if they are to stay in the park, then they do

their activities and they will end up spoiling the ecosystem and the streams of water which are coming from the mountains. reporter: people were forced out so that nature could develop undisturbed. we go past the highest settlements. then, after a long trek, we finally reach the nature reserve. it's guarded by the ugandan military. people are allowed into the national park only with a permit. in addition, the soldiers make sure no one smuggles anything out of the park. andrew: we have unique plants here which, if tampered with, can become extinct. we have, like, the lobelia elgonensis.

if they are destroyed, then the whole world will miss it. they are only found up here in the mountain. reporter: as we continue, andrew tells us many animals used to live here -- leopards, buffalo, and elephants. but now there are only a few monkeys. humans have killed or driven out all the other large animals. andrew: for example, the elephants when they were hunted, these are animals with a very high memory, in that when one of them is killed they will never forget where their friend died and they will never cross there. so, like for the elephants, i don't think they will ever come back to uganda. reporter: at an elevation of 3500 meters, we reach our camp. it's quite cold up here, just 8 degrees celsius, but our campfire keeps us warm.

early the next morning we start our final ascent. the destination -- a mountain lake just below jackson's peak, 4165 meters up in the mount elgon massif. with every step the air gets thinner. the reward for our efforts is a fantastic view of jackson's pool. andrew tells me that, for many ugandans, this is a mystical place. andrew: they believe when you come up here, you bathe in this water, you go back and have blessings. reporter: the view alone at the highest point of our trek is special. at the same time, i'm eager to hear what the people who were

forced out when the national park was established have to say. to meet some of them, we go back down the mountain. then we see a fire that shouldn't be there. andrew: they smoke bamboos from the park and at the end they don't put out the fire. and the fire ends up burning the park. and when such a person is arrested, then you take that person in prison, but only for one day. then the second day you see the same person moving around you. reporter: andrew thinks the nature protection laws could be -- should be more stringent. but at the foot of the mountain, many people yearn for the past. waniala boniface: when we lived up on the mountain, our lives were good. we had huge farms and everything

grew, without artificial fertilizer. but then they suddenly told us we had to leave. we were very frightened. we didn't know what would happen to us. reporter: due to the resettlement, 30,000 additional people suddenly had to be provided for. over time, the soil became exhausted. landslides after rainfalls became increasingly frequent. for the past four years help has been coming from the united nations development programme. in regular workshops, people around mount elgon learn how to use their farmland better, especially by crop rotation and building drainage ditches, because it rains frequently here and hard. sam massa: most of the farmers were not well versed as to how they can protect the environment. but since undp introduced its activities in this place, many activities have been taking place.

people are now able to protect their soils as opposed to soil erosion. reporter: the project runs out at the end of 2015. those responsible believe people here will be able to come to grips with their problems themselves. paul nteza: we are hopeful that with the livelihoods that we have been able to improve in the short term the longer-term aspect will be able to cover up on all those aspects and ensure that the activities and the ideals that we put in place move through the communities in the life to come. >> in addition, the conservation -- reporter: in addition, the conservation authority wants to build up the tourist trade and attract more hikers and trekkers to the mountain, creating a completely new source of income for the people around mount elgon. kate: and the theme of changing behavioral patterns continues in

our next report, which comes to us from mexico city. in order to combat the national obesity crisis, the civic authorities there have been embracing innovative and often downright wacky schemes to try and coax their citizens into doing some exercise. reporter: oh, no! what is going on? this is anything but normal. the reason these mexican commuters are moving around like this is a campaign to fight obesity. we wonder if this woman knew sh's -- she is at a very special bus stop. if she looks around her, she'll see commuters exercising. she didn't know. would she like to try it? she would. and she's off! the mexico city metro system thought this up. ten squats while you're on your way are better than no exercise

at all. and afterwards they get a small pedometer and a free subway ticket. so, we wonder, are you going to be doing this every day now? >> if i change buses here, yes. reporter: and she still manages to catch her bus. eduardo román: most people don't have time to exercise, so we mexicans have a problem with excess weight. and many chronic disorders can be avoided with regular exercise. reporter: no, there's not a piano student playing scales in mexico city's subway. instead, the same people who thought up the free ticket for ten squats have installed a piano staircase here. and because it's so much fun, hardly anybody here uses the escalator. each step plays a note triggered by a photo-electric sensor. so, overweight or not, mexicans

are exercising of their own free will. the normal stairway a floor higher shows that the campaign is working -- it's empty, and everyone's on the escalator. kate: i'd love to play you out of the program by exercising on a piano staircase. we didn't have one. i'm going to remind you of our webpage, dw.com/english/global3000, where you can see these and other reports again. and by the way, our webpage has had a bit of a re-vamp, so please do check it out. also, don't forget we are on facebook. that's all for this week. thanks for watching and goodbye. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ñ[qupowowú!úú%

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