2) The risks and harms of cannabis are lower than those of tobacco or alcohol. 3) Cannabis can and should be separated from illicit drug markets, in which users are exposed to other (more dangerous) illegal drugs.
4) The resources spent enforcing laws against personal cannabis elsewhere.26
use
are
better
allocated
2.26. In the US, as far back as 1972, despite President Nixon’s desire to stamp out marijuana, the Shafer National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse found no justification for prohibition policy and presented a report to Congress entitled "Marihuana, A Signal of Misunderstanding". 27 According to oval office tapes declassified in 2002, Nixon told Shafer he wanted a report that would blur the distinction between marijuana and hard drugs. However, the Report favored legalizing marijuana and adopting other methods to discourage it and concluded that “there is little proven danger of physical or psychological harm from . . . cannabis"28 and that the “actual and potential harm of use of the drug is not great enough to justify intrusion by the criminal law into private behavior".29 2.27. The latest UK Commission also put forward this approach, saying simply, but profoundly, that prohibition causes harm with vast financial and human costs, more than the substance itself and that this “desperately needs to change.”30 It took the rationales for change as a given and focused on designing an appropriate regulatory framework. 2.28. Such Commissions concluded that legal reform was necessary, moving away from the criminal justice, law enforcement lens to implement a public health and rights centred approach to cannabis that reduces its harms to individuals and society. These rationales also exist in the Caribbean, along with other important ones, such as social justice and religious freedom. Such an approach does not deny that cannabis may have adverse effects or cause harm in some cases and for some people. Rather, it posits that prohibition is not the most sensible or effective policy to address those concerns. As Room et al. point out, “In modern societies, a finding of adverse effects does not settle the issue of the legal status of a commodity; if it did, alcohol, automobiles, and stairways, for instance, would all be prohibited, since use of each of these results in substantial casualties.”31 2.29. The public health/ rights centred approach attempts to put health promotion at the core of policy within a framework that respects individual rights as far as possible, maximising benefits for the largest number of people. It is based on evidence‐informed policy and practice, turning away from punitive measures and addressing the underlying determinants of health and rights. This philosophy guides approaches to alcohol and tobacco, and is presented as a model superior to prohibition for addressing cannabis. Fischer et al argue that: “The [current] policy approach to cannabis is fundamentally different from current approaches to other popular drugs like alcohol, where a public health approach instead focuses on high‐risk users, and especially on modifiable risk factors, to reduce harms to individuals and society. Given that the majority of harms related to cannabis use appear to occur in selected high‐risk users or in conjunction with high‐risk use practices, a similar . . . approach to cannabis use should be considered . . . and not
Room R, Fischer B, Hall W, Lenton S, Reuter P (2010). Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate. Oxford: Oxford University Press. The Shafer Commission Report (1972) National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, “Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding; First Report,” Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, March 21, 1972. 28 https://www.marijuana .com/news/2014/08/Richard-Nixon-was-the-marijuana -antichrist/ 29http://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2015/11/1973-richard-nixon-shafer-commission.html#!/2015/11/1973-richard-nixon-shafer-commission.html; ‘1973 Richard Nixon and Shafer Commission Report on Marijuana. The Commission found that there “No significant physical, biochemical, or mental abnormalities could be attributed solely to their marihuana smoking ... Most users, young and old, demonstrate an average or above-average degree of social functioning, academic achievement, and job performance . . . The weight of the evidence is that marihuana does not cause violent or aggressive behavior; if anything marihuana serves to inhibit the expression of such behavior... Marihuana is not generally viewed by participants in the criminal justice community as a major contributing influence in the commission of delinquent or criminal acts... Neither the marihuana user nor the drug itself can be said to constitute a danger to public safety.” It called for a policy “which prohibits commercial distribution of the drug but does not apply criminal sanctions to private possession or use nor casual, non-profit distribution incidental to use.” This approach was dubbed “decriminalization.” 30 A Legal Framework for a Regulated Market for Cannabis in the UK, Parliamentary Commission, UK 2017. 31 Room et al, 2010, at p. 15. 26 27
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