In this video, Ivana Obradovic, OFDT Deputy Director, discusses the legalisation of cannabis, outlining its objectives and challenges in the United States and Canada.
Based on a research work coordinated by the OFDT, this issue of Tendances shows that cannabis regulation raised both traditional drug policy implementation challenges and unique challenges.
Based on a research work coordinated by the OFDT, this issue of Tendances describes the structure and methods of cannabis regulation from a public health perspective, comparing six jurisdictions in the United States (Washington State, Oregon, California) and Canada (British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec).
Among the range of cannabis regulatory systems introduced in North America, the example of British Columbia demonstrates a cautious regulatory approach, centred on the gradual introduction of cannabis on the market, which is designed to be reasonable and guided by a step-by-step evaluation of the reform.
Canada legalised cannabis for non-medical use in October 2018. While the federal government organises the production of cannabis, it has left it up to its 13 provinces and territories to define a distribution and retail model. Ontario, the most populous province and largest cannabis market in Canada, is at the forefront of this process.
Quebec was one of the most reluctant provinces when the federal government announced its decision to legalise cannabis for non-medical use.
How does the OFDT conduct surveys with its European partners?
Two major surveys, conducted every 4 years for the past 25 years in the adolescent population, allow for an international comparison of drug use.
This is a review and synthesis of the scientific literature on public health effects of liberalization of marijuana prohibition in the United States.
This report summarizes eight years of policy and public health knowledge since Colorado and Washington became the first states in the U.S. – and the first jurisdictions in the world – to begin to develop and implement policies around a commercial marketplace for marijuana.
This report analyzes the regulation of cannabis in Canada, as well as the political, economic and social impact of the policies adopted.
The international landscape is becoming more complex and polarised on legislative drug issues, as the last Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) has shown.
This briefing paper describes the regulatory models that have been implemented since 2014 in the American states that have legalised cannabis, highlighting their differences and similarities. It also discusses the reform processes and common features of states that have legalised cannabis for medical and recreational use.
Following Uruguay in 2013, Canada is the second country in the world - the first in G7 - that has officially legalised the production, distribution and possession of cannabis for recreational use.
The objective of this issue of Drugs, international challenges is to take stock of the relations sustained by drug control and development policies, initially returning to the concept of "alternative development" so as to clarify its intricacies and limitations.
Although cannabis is still prohibited at federal level, 8 American states and the District of Columbia have made unprecedented changes to their cannabis regulations with the legalisation of cultivation, sale, possession and use of cannabis for non-medical (i.e. recreational) purposes from the age of 21.
This briefing is structured in three parts. It first presents the international legislative framework established by the United Nations and the European Union and laid down in three treaties: the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (amended by the 1972 protocol), the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and…
The laws governing cannabis use, tolerated in some countries yet totally banned in others, vary significantly from one European Union country to another.
On 8 February 2011 in the Courneuve, a Paris suburb in the Seine-Saint Denis department, approximately 700 cannabis plants were discovered in a clandestine indoor plantation by the investigators of the OCRIEST (Central office on illegal immigration and employment) and the OCRTIS (Central office for the repression of drug-related offences).
In Europe, France and the Netherlands both stand for opposite models of drug policies as far as public opinion is concerned.