PREFACE

Despite cannabis being the most widely used illegal drug, and therefore the mainstay of the War on Drugs, it has only ever held a relatively marginal position in international drug policy discussions. In recognition of this, I decided to convene a team of the world’s leading drug policy analysts to prepare an overview of the latest scientific evidence surrounding cannabis and the policies that control its use. This Report would both bring cannabis to the attention of policymakers and also provide them with the relevant facts to inform their decisions in the context of the United Nations Strategic Drug Policy Review of 2009, and beyond.

In 1998, the international community agreed on a 10-year programme of activity for the control of illegal drug use and markets. These agreements were made at a United Nations General Assembly Special Session held in New York in June of that year, and a commitment was made to reassess the situation at the end of the 10- year period. The nature of this programme was epitomised by the slogan ‘A drug free world - we can do it!’. However, the reality is that since 1998 drugs have become cheaper and more readily available than ever before. At the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna in March 2007, it was agreed that a high-level political meeting would be held in the spring of 2009 to review progress and to agree the way forward for the next 10 years. We hope that, with the help of this Report, the path that emerges from this meeting will lead towards a more just, rational and effective approach to the control of cannabis.

Cannabis is, however, a complicated issue, with many seemingly contradictory facets. On the one hand, it has a history of spiritual and medicinal use that dates back millennia; this, together with the explosion in its use during the latter half of the twentieth century, indicates the many subjective benefits that users attribute to it. Furthermore, it is one of the least toxic substances used recreationally, with only two deaths in the medical literature attributed to its use. On the other hand, recent years have seen growing concern about an association between cannabis use and a variety of possible harms, particularly mental health disorders. Only through extensive and rigorous research can we hope to clarify some of these contradictions, between the dangers cannabis presents, and its perceived benefits.

Some of the many questions on which we lack reliable evidence include: Why do people choose to use cannabis? What are the psychological and therapeutic needs it fulfils? What are the processes it might enhance? Why and when is cannabis harmful? Can these harms be understood in terms of differences in individual genetic and personality types, or in the type of cannabis consumed, or in the patterns of its consumption? By answering these and other questions we might minimise the harms caused by cannabis use and help to prevent its misuse, as well as better understanding the benefits many users reportedly derive from it, both in alleviating sickness and promoting wellbeing.

When considering harms, it is also important to include the adverse effects of a criminal justice approach to the control of cannabis. This is particularly pertinent given the evidence that cannabis control policies, whether draconian or liberal, appear to have little or no impact on the prevalence of its consumption. At the onset of international cannabis prohibition, use of the drug was confined to a scattering of countries and cultures. Since then it has spread around the world and is now widely used in most developed countries, to the extent that it has become a rite of passage for many young people. In 2005 the UN estimated the number of cannabis users to be 160 million worldwide i.e. 4% of the global adult population, and cannabis constituted the largest illegal drug market in financial terms.

However, despite cannabis being responsible for the great majority of arrests for illicit drug-use or distribution – arrests which disproportionately affect the young and ethnic minorities – international drug policy discussions have tended to ignore cannabis, focusing instead on those substances that cause the most harms: opioids, cocaine and amphetamines. As discussed in this volume, although cannabis has always been relatively marginal to the main interests of the international drug control system, the upholders of the system have been extremely reluctant to consider reforms which would change its status within, or remove it from, that system.

In the developed world, it is all too easy to overlook the unintended consequences of the War on Drugs, including the extensive violations of human rights, since in these countries the violations are most predominantly felt by drug-users themselves, particularly where discriminatory enforcement leads to significantly higher levels of arrests among the disadvantaged and minority groups. However, in producer/transit countries, such as in Latin America, the suffering caused by this war is vastly more widespread, and affects whole populations by the destabilisation of political and social systems through the corruption, violence, and institutional collapse that result from directing hundreds of billions of dollars anually into the hands of criminals.

Although the Report is specifically targeted at reviewing cannabis laws, it is worth noting that any change to the scheduling of cannabis under the international drug control system could lead to the serious undermining of the whole War on Drugs approach. Without cannabis within the system’s remit, the proportion of illegal drug-users in the global population is just over 1 % - far too small to justify the vast costs, both in financial terms and human suffering, that result from the current efforts to enforce the ideals behind this unwinnable war.

The present volume reviews the issues which need to be considered by policymakers in developing more effective cannabis policies that minimise the harms associated with its use and control, and enable countries to set policies that better reflect their own individual circumstances. We hope that this Report will prove useful in policy discussions concerning cannabis, not only in the context of the 2009 international Review, but also as a guide for governments seeking to reform their cannabis policies thereafter.

Amanda Feilding
Director
The Beckley Foundation