Legalizing Cannabis

This book examines cannabis policies and reform, offers an inter-disciplinary (but social-science led) account of global trends, and explores policy evaluation, models for legalization, and lessons that can be drawn from attempts to regulate other psychoactive substances.

Tom Decorte is Professor of Criminology and Director of the Institute for Social Drug Research (ISD) at Ghent University (Belgium). He is co-founder of the Global Cannabis Cultivation Research Consortium (GCCRC). His research interests include patterns of substance use, on the supply side of cannabis markets, and on the implementation of local drug monitoring systems. He has been advisor to a range of organizations on policies to improve public health relating to the use of drugs around the world. Simon Lenton is a Professor and Director of the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University, Australia, and works part time as a clinical psychologist. He has published widely on drugs, health and the law and provided advice to a range of government and private organizations on evidence-based drug policy and other drug issues. Chris Wilkins is Associate Professor and is the leader of the drug research team at SHORE & Wh-riki Research Centre, Massey University, New Zealand. He has researched drug trends, drug markets and drug policy change. Dr Wilkins has been an invited speaker at international meetings in Europe, the United States and Australia.

Introduction; PART I : THE NEW LEGAL CANNABIS MARKETS; 1.The uneven repeal of cannabis prohibition in the United States; 2.Practical lessons learned from the first years of the regulated recreational cannabis market in Colorado; 3.Recreational marijuana legalization in Washington State: benefits and harms; 4.A century of cannabis control in Canada: a brief overview of history, context and policy frameworks from prohibition to legalization; 5.Uruguay: the first country to legalize cannabis; PART II: GENERAL MODELS OF REFORM; 6.Cannabis decriminalization policies across the globe; 7."More than just counting the plants": different home cannabis cultivation policies, cannabis supply contexts and approaches to their evaluation; 8. City-level policies of regulating recreational cannabis in Europe: from pilot projects to "local customization"?; PART III: LESSONS FROM ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND LEGAL HIGHS 9.Lessons learned from the alcohol regulation perspective; 10.Lessons from tobacco regulation for cannabis product regulation; 11.How not to legalize cannabis: lessons from New Zealand's experiment with regulating "legal highs"; PART IV: EARLIER INNOVATIONS IN CANNABIS LAW REFORM; 12.Coffeeshops in the Netherlands: regulating the front door and the back door; 13. Cannabis social clubs in Spain: recent legal developments; 14.Swiss cannabis policies; 15. The Australian experience and opportunities for cannabis law reform; 16.Cannabis policy reform: Jamaica's experience; PART V : NEW CANNABIS LEGALIZATION PROPOSALS; 17.The risks of cannabis industry funding of community and drug treatment services: Insights from gambling; 18.Insights for the design of Cannabis Social Club regulation; Conclusion