Cannabis: Should we Decriminalise Argument?
Abstract
Addiction Research 1996, Vol. 4, No. 1. pp i-iii Reprints available directly from the publisher Photocopying permitted by license only 0 1996 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) Amsterdam B.V. Published in The Netherlands by Hanvood Academic Publishers GmbH Printed in Malaysia EDITORIAL CANNABIS: SHOULD WE DECRIMINALISE ARGUMENT? People keep asking for a debate on cannabis legalisation. Who are they asking? What are they waiting for? Whatâs stopping them? Hereâs one view on how to start. We are normally treated to lengthy and earnest lists of all the reasons why banning cannabis isnât succeeding in reducing or eliminating use, and why punishing users fails to deter them or others from continuing to use it. The implicit theme is that any rational person can see that continuing the blanket ban is irrational, and that an alternative is needed. Unhappily, this presumes that drug policy itself is rational, and that demonstrations of ineffectiveness-even counter-productiveness-will suffice to change it. It isnât, so it doesnât. Instead, drug policy-the drug âwarâ-is both a crusade and a folly. We seem to have an irrational crusade rather than a rational policy because drug policies are never judged by their effectiveness, only by how good they make the