The status of cannabis in the UN drug conventions is controversial. It is now scheduled among the most dangerous substances. How and why did cannabis in the conventions? Does it belong there? What are the options to review the status of cannabis according to current scientific data? Is making cannabis subject to a control regime similar to harmful substances like alcohol and tobacco a solution?
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Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate
Robin Room, Peter Reuter, Wayne Hall, Benedikt Fischer, Simon Lenton & Amanda FieldingBeckley Foundation’s Global Cannabis Commission
September 2008Despite 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. Amanda Fielding of the Beckley Foundation 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. The report of the Beckley Foundation's Global Cannabis Commission is aimed at bringing cannabis to the attention of policymakers and guide decision making.
Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate
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Cannabis: Classification and Public Health
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs
April 2008The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs reviewed the classification of cannabis in the light of real public concern about the potential mental health effects of cannabis use and, in particular, the use of stronger strains of the drug.
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Review of the world cannabis situation
Bulletin on Narcotics
April 2008Cannabis is the world’s most widely cultivated and consumed illicit drug, but there remain major gaps in our understanding of global cannabis markets. For example, it appears that premium sinsemilla cannabis, often produced indoors in consumer countries, has become more potent in recent years and that its market share is also growing in some areas. This may be leading to greater localization of cannabis markets. It may also be responsible for the increase in the proportion of cannabis users in treatment populations at the international level.
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Cannabis resolutions at the 2008 CND
TNI briefing
March 2008At the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in March 2008 in Vienna three resolutions on cannabis were tabled. They were all clearly against 'lenient policies' in some countries depenalising or decriminalizing the use of cannabis. One of the resolutions called for the criminalization of drug abuse that would have significantly expanded the UN drug conventions.
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The INCB and cannabis
From: The International Narcotics Control Board: Current Tensions and Options for Reform, IDPC Briefing Paper 7
February 2008Where legal ambiguities and disagreement persist around cannabis policies, the INCB continues to make narrow legal interpretations of what is allowed under the UN drug conventions and repeatedly expresses its strong objection to any move towards decriminalization of possession for personal use, lowering law enforcement priorities for cannabis or reclassification.
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Decriminalization of cannabis
Wim van den BrinkCurrent Opinion in Psychiatry 2008, 21:122–126
March 2008This paper discusses the case for decriminalization of cannabis use, based on a careful weighting of the currently available evidence regarding advantages and risks of such a policy change. The issue of decriminalization is a response to the widespread use of cannabis in spite of its current illegal status; that is, as a consequence of the perceived ineffectiveness of the traditional prohibition of cannabis use.
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Invitational Conference Cannabis Policy
Dutch government urged to open international debate about UN drug control conventions
Open letter to the Dutch Prime Minister
December 12, 2007TNI co-signed a letter that was sent to the Dutch Prime Minister and relevant parliamentary commissions, stressing the need for an active Dutch involvement in the UNGASS review process and specifically to use the moment to open the discussion about the UN conventions that are an obstacle to further developments in Dutch cannabis policy.
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Characteristics of the cannabis market in Belgium
Tom DecortePublished in: Drugs in Society: European Perspectives
Radcliffe Publishing: 2007The number of cannabis plantations uncovered by the Belgian judiciary has been rising steadily, and the relocation of cannabis production to the Low Countries (i.e. Belgium and the Netherlands) has often been associated with a growing professionalisation of its cultivation and the involvement of organised crime, and with a more noxious and hazardous product compared with cannabis imported from elsewhere (due to a higher concentration of the most psychoactive chemical in cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, and thus a stronger potency, and to the presence of remnants of pesticides and other toxic chemicals).
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Danish cannabis policy in practice
The closing of 'Pusher Street' and the cannabis market in Copenhagen
Vibeke AsmussenPublished in: Drugs in Society: European Perspectives
Radcliffe Publishing: 2007Danish drug policy has been reversed from liberal to more repressive, especially in 2003, when the Danish liberal-conservative government that had been in office since 2001 launched their official policy on drugs, The Fight Against Drugs: action plan against drug misuse. This action plan emphasised a more repressive drug policy in which priority was given to law enforcement, although an expansion of treatment facilities and prevention initiatives was also planned. The overall aim was to tighten the laws on drug dealing and drug use and to increase the penalties for these offences. The plan explicitly stated that the policy was to take a zero tolerance approach towards any kind of drug dealing.
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A cannabis pandemic?
UNODC World Drug Report 2006 full of scientific insults
TNI Press Release
June 26, 2006In its 2006 World Drug Report, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) struggles to construct success stories to convince the world that the global drug control regime has been an effective instrument. UNODC Executive Director, Antonio Maria Costa claims that the world is experiencing a devastating “cannabis pandemic”. His strong language is at odds with other sections of the report, TNI commented in a press release.
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