It’s the most commonly cultivated, trafficked and abused illicit drug worldwide, and there’s still a lot of social stigma attached to the recreational use of pot. But it’s slowly dawning on regulators in countries from Canada to the US to South Africa that by ignoring the clear medical benefits of marijuana, they may have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Countries across Europe are now also opening their minds, laws and wallets to cannabis.

According to a brand-new EU-wide survey, European plant researchers are concerned about the European Court of Justice‘s (CJEU) interpretation that targeted mutation methods aimed at improving crop yield and resistance to climate change yield GMOs. In an open letter, they call for political action and a modernisation of the EU Directive 2001/18/EC because a lack in tech-transfer would put Europe at the bottom of the pile in the upcoming bioeconomy.