More than one in five Europeans has taken cannabis at some point in their lives. ISER’s Steve Pudney, who has conducted considerable research in this area, was asked by VOXEU, a website publishing research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists, to explore the issues facing policymakers trying to deal with marijuana.
Among other things Steve explores the issues around use of the drug, suggestions about liberalisation and reclassification, and the challenges facing policymakers in dealing with it. He concludes:
“In my view, the best way to begin putting policy on a better footing is to allow more variation in policymaking, including the legalisation option. This could be done if domestic supply and consumption of cannabis were removed from the international drug prohibition treaties, while retaining the ban on international trade in the drug.
“At present we are limited to decriminalisation unaccompanied by the instruments of regulation available for legal markets, so that the potential benefits of a non-prohibitionist approach are largely precluded. The removal of cannabis from the UN treaty structure would pass the responsibility for cannabis policy back to national governments, with freedom of action to pursue independent policies. Some will choose to stick to the status quo, others will choose decriminalisation or legalisation. In doing so, we will certainly have the chance to learn more about the effects of policy.”
You can read What should we do about cannabis? on the VOXEU website.
Steve’s research on this issue has also been published in the Economic Policy journal.