Cannabis Policy: Status and Recent Developments

Buy Weed Online Marseille buy weed online with bitcoin in marseille. Order cannabis online marseille buy marijuana online in marseille. Under international laws, cultivation, supply and possession of cannabis should be allowed only for ‘medical and scientific purposes’. In general, possession of the drug for personal use should be a crime. To deter use, and most countries make this punishable by imprisonment. In recent years. However, several jurisdictions have reduced their penalties for cannabis users, and some have permitted supply of the drug. Allowing us to observe different control models and their consequences. Policy discussions are complicated by conflicting claims decriminalisation or legalisation, medical or recreational use, policy success or failure and this page aims to clarify some issues

How is international cannabis policy developing?

Background

While international laws oblige countries to impose criminal penalties for supply of drugs for non-medical purposes, some jurisdictions are creating exceptions. A system of cannabis supply has been illegal but tolerated in the Netherlands since the 1970s. ‘Medical marijuana’ was legalised by popular vote in California, in 1996, to treat symptoms including chronic pain. As there is no objective test for pain, public access to legal smokable cannabis became a formality.

In Europe, since the late 1990s, decriminalisation and harm reduction policies had less negative impact than had been feared. The 2008 economic recession forced cuts to law enforcement budgets. In 2012, with medical cannabis available in 18 US states, voters in the states of Colorado and Washington approved systems of cannabis supply for recreational, not just medical, use. In the following year, the government of Uruguay passed a law to establish a system of supply via pharmacies and social clubs. More US states have legalised cannabis since then. Buy Weed Online Marseille buy weed online with bitcoin in marseille. Order cannabis online marseille buy marijuana online in marseille

Terminology

The terms ‘depenalisation’, ‘decriminalisation’ and ‘legalisation’ are often used in the drug control debate. These terms are briefly distinguished as follows.

Depenalisation: something remains a criminal offence, but is no longer punished, e.g. now the case may be closed.

Decriminalisation:  an offence is reclassified from criminal to non-criminal. It remains an offence and may be punished by the police or other agencies, rather than a court.

Legalisation:  there is a move from a prohibited behaviour (criminal or not) to a permitted behaviour. This is usually used to describe supply, rather than possession, of drugs.

Cannabis policy models in Europe

Personal possession

All EU Member States treat possession of cannabis for personal use as an offence. But over one third do not allow prison as a penalty for minor offences. In many of the countries where the law allows imprisonment for such cannabis possession, national guidelines advise against it. More details are available at Penalties at a glance.

Models of legal supply

No national government in Europe supports legalisation of cannabis sale for recreational use. And all countries have prison sentences for illegal supply. However, several draft laws have been proposed to national parliaments in the last few years. As well as some initiatives in regions or cities that were rejected at national level.

Coffeeshops

Buy Weed Online Marseille buy weed online with bitcoin in marseille. Order cannabis online marseille buy marijuana online in marseille. In the Netherlands, coffeeshops are outlets for the sale and (often on-site consumption) of cannabis, which started to appear in the 1970s. They are licensed by the municipality, and about two-thirds of Dutch municipalities do not allow them. There were 591 coffeeshops in 2014, with nearly one third in Amsterdam; numbers have been falling since 2000. Sale and personal possession is punishable by imprisonment under Dutch law, but coffeeshops are tolerated provided they adhere to strict criteria published in a directive of the public prosecutor. However, there is no toleration of production of the stock, creating a legal anomaly known in the Netherlands as the ‘back door problem’.

Cannabis social clubs

In a number of European countries, groups of users have formed ‘cannabis social clubs’. They claim that, in principle, if cultivation of one cannabis plant is tolerated for one person’s use, then 20 plants together might be tolerated for a club of 20 people. No national government in Europe accepts this. Though some regions in Spain have attempted to pass regulations to limit the proliferation of such clubs. In 2015, the Spanish Supreme Court clearly stated that ‘organised, institutionalised and persistent cultivation and distribution of cannabis among an association open to new members is considered drug trafficking’.

Young Europeans’ views on drug control

One of the few comparable surveys of the strength of public opinion in the European Union is the Flash Eurobarometer. Which interviews approximately 500 young people (aged 15–24) in each country. In 2011 and 2014, young people were asked for their opinions on drugs. More than half of the respondents were in favour of banning the sale of cannabis, rather than regulating it, but that proportion declined over the period, from 59 % to 53 %. Buy Weed Online Marseille buy weed online with bitcoin in marseille. Order cannabis online marseille buy marijuana online in marseille

Models For The Legal Supply of Cannabis: Recent Developments

The international legal framework on drug control is provided by three United Nations conventions. Which instruct countries to limit drug supply and use to medical and scientific purposes. Nevertheless, there is increasing debate over legalisation of drugs for non-medical purposes. And of cannabis in particular. Such proposals raise concerns over increases in use and harms and questions about the ways in which the distribution of cannabis for non-medical purposes could be carefully regulated to mitigate these. In the EU, a system of limited distribution has evolved in the Netherlands since the 1970s, with further developments in the last few years. Detailed proposals for non-medical cannabis regulation were initiated in two states in the United States and in Uruguay at the end of 2012, which entered into force in 2014, the year when two more US states and Washington DC voted to allow for the supply and distribution of the drug.

These are different models that are being closely observed to understand the advantages and disadvantages of a particular regulated system. In addition to these systems, the model of ‘cannabis social clubs’ has been increasingly mentioned in drug policy debates. Its advocates argue that policies of non-prosecution of individuals in some countries can be equally applied to registered groups of individuals, to effectively permit a closed production and distribution system. At present, the model is rejected by national authorities in Europe.

Coffee shops in the Netherlands: retail sale without production

In the Netherlands, the cultivation, supply and possession of cannabis are criminal offences, punishable with sentences including prison. However, a practice of tolerance, first set out in local guidelines in 1979, has evolved into the present-day concept of ‘coffee shops’, cannabis sales outlets licensed by the municipality. About two-thirds of municipalities do not allow coffee shops. And the number of coffee shops across the country is steadily decreasing. From 846 in 1999 to 614 in 2013. The sale of small quantities of cannabis to over-18s in coffee shops is tolerated in an attempt to keep adults who experiment with cannabis away from other, more dangerous, drugs.

The coffee shop may be closed down and the operator or owner may be prosecuted if he or she does not meet the Prosecutor General’s criteria.h Wich prohibit advertising, nuisance, sale to minors or non-residents, and sale of hard drugs or alcohol, and limits sales to 5 g per transaction. A scheme to convert coffee shops into closed clubs with registered members was trialled and then dropped in 2012, but from January 2013 coffee shops were restricted to residents of the Netherlands only, to be proven by identity card or residence permit. Nevertheless, implementation and enforcement of this rule varies by municipality. Buy Weed Online Marseille buy weed online with bitcoin in marseille. Order cannabis online marseille buy marijuana online in marseille

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A proposal to limit coffee shop sales to cannabis products with THC levels of under 15 % remains pending, as enforcement issues are addressed. No more than 5 g per person may be sold in any one transaction. And the coffee shop is not allowed to keep more than 500 g of cannabis in stock. Yet wholesale cultivation and distribution of cannabis is not tolerated in the Netherlands. Resulting in what is known as ‘the back-door problem’, i.e. drugs may be sold at the front but not supplied at the back. Although there have been many discussions on this inconsistency, to date no solution has been agreed. Alongside the coffee shop system, cultivation and possession of small amounts of cannabis (up to 5 g) for personal use will in principle not be prosecuted.

An evaluation of Dutch drug policy in 2009 found that the coffee shops were the main source of cannabis for users (but not the only source). The markets for soft and hard drugs remained separate, and adult cannabis use was relatively low compared to other European countries. However, underage use was high (whether due to coffee shops, greater acceptance of use, or other factors). There was serious nuisance from drug tourism, and the sector is increasingly commercialised and of interest to organised crime.

The most recent legal developments were partly in response to this evaluation. On 1 March 2015 a new article to the Opium Act came into force. Prohibiting activities that prepare or facilitate the illegal cultivation and trafficking of cannabis.

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