my guess is in north america with a medical card or grower license.
No need to guess; he's mentioned before he's in The Netherlands. As long as it's deemed for personal use and a maximum of 5 plants it's not seen as a commercial venture and all they'll do, if discovered, is take away and destroy the plants - which in practice means cops don't bother even if it's 'in plain view' as it just generates paperwork. Dutch 'gedoogbeleid' is weird that way.