Table Of ContentAs more countries look to follow evidence-based policies on drug law
reform, this book is a welcome addition to the literature on this subject.
The “war on drugs” has been a failure. Policymakers need to know what
the alternatives to futile attempts to prohibit drugs are. This book draws
on the work of international experts to explore such options.
Rt Hon Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of
New Zealand and member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy
This is a comprehensive account of the diverse forms that cannabis legali-
zation has taken in recent years, with a separate chapter telling the story
and considering the lessons for each case, ranging from Uruguay to Spain
to Canada, with US states, Jamaica, the Netherlands and other places in
between. Other chapters consider lessons for cannabis control from regu-
lation of alcohol and of tobacco, and from New Zealand’s attempts to
regulate “legal highs”. It’s a “must read” for anyone interested in drug
policy: its histories are memorable, its interpretations thought-provoking.
It’s worthwhile reading too for anyone interested in market regulation,
in public health policy, or in law reform.
Prof. Robin Room, Centre for Alcohol Policy
Research, La Trobe University
Professors Decorte, Lenton, and Wilkins have assembled a global all-star
team of drug policy researchers for this excellent book. It’s a must read for
those seeking new insights about the past, present, and future of cannabis
legalization.
Dr. Beau Kilmer, coauthor of Marijuana Legalization:
What Everyone Needs to Know and Director of the
RAND Drug Policy Research Center
Legalizing Cannabis
Marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug in the world. Over the past couple of
decades, several Western jurisdictions have seen reforms in, or changes to, the way
cannabis use is being controlled, departing from traditional approaches of criminal prohibi-
tion that have dominated cannabis use control regimes for most of the twentieth century.
While reform is stalled at the international level, the last decade has seen an acceleration of
legislative and regulatory reforms at the local and national levels, with countries no longer
willing to bear the human and financial costs of prohibitive policies. Furthermore, legali-
zation models have been implemented in US states, Canada and Uruguay, and are being
debated in a number of other countries. These models are providing the world with
unique pilot programs from which to study and learn.
This book assembles an international who’s who of cannabis scholars who bring together
the best available evidence and expertise to address questions such as: How should we
evaluate the models of cannabis legalization as they have been implemented in several juris-
dictions in the past few years? Which scenarios for future cannabis legalization have been
developed elsewhere, and how similar/different are they from the models already imple-
mented? What lessons from the successes and failures experienced with the regulation of
other psychoactive substances (such as alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceuticals and “legal highs”)
can be translated to the effective regulation of cannabis markets?
This book may appeal to anyone interested in public health policies and drug policy
reform and offers relevant insights for stakeholders in any other country where academic,
societal or political evaluations of current cannabis policies (and even broader: current
drug policies) are a subject of debate.
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). He has been advisor to a range of organiza-
tions on policies to improve public health relating to the use of drugs around the world.
Simon Lenton is a Professor and the 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
& Whāriki 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.
Routledge Studies in Crime and Society
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From Social Causes to Threats to the Social
Bernd Dollinger
Human Enhancement Drugs
Edited by Katinka van de Ven, Kyle J.D. Mulrooney and Jim McVeigh
Organized Crime and Terrorist Networks
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Legalizing Cannabis
Experiences, Lessons and Scenarios
Edited by Tom Decorte, Simon Lenton and Chris Wilkins
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Studies-in-Crime-and-Society/book-series/RSCS
Legalizing Cannabis
Experiences, Lessons and Scenarios
Edited by Tom Decorte,
Simon Lenton and Chris Wilkins
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 selection and editorial matter, Tom Decorte, Simon Lenton and Chris
Wilkins; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Tom Decorte, Simon Lenton and Chris Wilkins to be identified
as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without
intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Decorte, Tom, editor. | Lenton, Simon, 1961- editor. | Wilkins,
Chris, editor.
Title: Legalizing cannabis : experiences, lessons and scenarios / Tom
Decorte, Simon Lenton, Chris Wilkins.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2020. | Series:
Routledge studies in crime and society | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2019048744 | ISBN 9781138370906
(hardback) | ISBN 9780429427794 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Drug legalization. | Cannabis–Law and legislation |
Marijuana industry–Law and legislation
Classification: LCC K3641 .L44 2020 | DDC 344.05/4–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019048744
ISBN: 978-1-138-37090-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-42779-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
Contents
List of figures xvii
List of tables xviii
Contributors xix
Foreword xxvii
Acknowledgments xxx
List of abbreviations xxxii
Introduction 1
TOM DECORTE, SIMON LENTON AND CHRIS WILKINS
A new era in cannabis policy 1
Legalization reforms are stimulating policy debates 2
What this book is about 4
How this book is organized 5
PART I
The new legal cannabis markets 9
1 The uneven repeal of cannabis prohibition
in the United States 11
BRYCE PARDO
Introduction 11
Background 13
Medical cannabis 13
Evolving public opinion and policy impasse 16
State repeal efforts of non-medical cannabis 17
Pioneer states 17
Second wave of voter initiatives 20
Third wave of voter initiatives 23
Legislative efforts 26
Recent and future repeal 27
Comparative analysis of regulations 28
viii Contents
2 Practical lessons learned from the first years
of the regulated recreational cannabis market
in Colorado 39
TODD SUBRITZKY, SIMON LENTON AND
SIMONE PETTIGREW
Introduction and background 39
Market insights 40
The emerging literature 42
Colorado public health framework 44
Evolution of Retail Marijuana Code (RMC) 46
Tension between commercialism and public health 47
Constitutional constraints on public health best practice 48
Marketing and advertising 48
Budtenders and the retail experience: observations from the field 51
Pesticides 52
Lessons learned 54
3 Recreational marijuana legalization in Washington
State: benefits and harms 62
CLAYTON MOSHER AND SCOTT AKINS
Introduction 62
The path to marijuana legalization in Washington State 62
Policy heterogeneity and local variation 66
Outcomes 68
Adolescent marijuana use 69
Marijuana-impaired driving 75
Additional outcomes 79
Diversion 79
Criminal justice system costs 80
Tax revenues 80
Conclusion 81
4 A century of cannabis control in Canada: a brief
overview of history, context and policy frameworks
from prohibition to legalization 89
BENEDIKT FISCHER, CAYLEY RUSSELL AND NEIL BOYD
Introduction 89
Cannabis control in Canada – early history 89
Recent twenty-first century developments 92
Medical cannabis: plant-based therapy or “side-door
legalization”? 93
Contents ix
The way to “non-medical” cannabis legalization 96
The Canadian cannabis legalization framework 98
The (heterogeneous) provincial regulation frameworks 101
Discussion and questions 104
What is the practical feasibility and uptake of the proposed
legalization framework? 104
What will the public health effects of legalization be? 105
What will happen to cannabis use among young people? 105
How will the cannabis industry evolve and conduct itself? 106
Will the heterogeneity of provincial regulation frameworks
matter? 107
How will Canada deal with the international treaties? 107
Conclusion 108
5 Uruguay: the first country to legalize cannabis 116
ROSARIO QUEIROLO
Uruguay: the first country to legalize recreational marijuana 116
Legalizing to increase public security 118
Three means of acquisition: clubs, pharmacies and home growers 120
Strengths and weaknesses of the implementation 122
Lessons to be learned 125
PART II
General models of reform 131
6 Cannabis decriminalization policies across
the globe 133
NIAMH EASTWOOD
Introduction 133
The criminalization of cannabis related activities – a relatively
recent phenomenon 134
A declaration of “war” and a partial retreat 134
What is meant by decriminalization? 135
The different paths towards decriminalization – a global
experience 136
Drivers for legislative reforms leading to decriminalization
of possession offenses 136
Constitutional Courts – developing a rights-based approach
to drug use and possession 138
De facto decriminalization – non-enforcement of the law 140
The impact of decriminalization policies 141
