Inleiding en context
Goede morgen beste mensen, het is vandaag dinsdag 27 juni 2023. Ik begin met een toepasselijk liedje bij het onderwerp van de bijgesloten ´kennisparel´ van vandaag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6Le7luzv2Y Die ´kennisparel´ biedt een overzicht rond de stand-van-zaken van de cannabiswetgeving binnen Europa. Het rapport is geschreven voor een breed (beleid)publiek en is bedoeld om beknopte antwoorden te geven op enkele van de meest gestelde vragen in discussies over cannabiswetgeving. Eerder verstuurde ik deze ´kennisparels´ over aspecten van het gebruik van cannabis: 3;89;130;153;438;462;464; en 556, allemaal gratis te downloaden vanaf: https://prohic.nl/de-parels-van-jaap-de-waard/
Deze vragen zijn gegroepeerd in vijf delen: (1) Waarom is het definiëren van cannabis belangrijk? (2) Wat zijn de internationale verplichtingen van landen om cannabis te controleren? (3) Hoe reageren EU-landen op illegaal gebruik en levering van cannabis? (4) Is er een trend in de richting van cannabisregulering – en zo ja, waarom? (5) Welke wetten dekken medische en commerciële van cannabis afgeleide producten? Deze publicatie beantwoordt dus enkele van de meest gestelde vragen in de discussie over cannabiswetgeving. Hoewel de primaire focus ligt op het gebruik van cannabis voor recreatieve doeleinden is relevante wetgeving voor ander gebruik ook opgenomen. Hierbij moet gedacht worden aan medische en commerciële van cannabis afgeleide producten zoals cosmetica, gezondheidsproducten en voedingsmiddelen. Die relevante wet- en regelgeving is opgenomen om de noodzakelijke context te bieden voor de verschillende beleidsinitiatieven binnen Europa.
Een mededeling: Op 12 juli 2023 organiseert de Society of Evidence-based Policing (SEBP-NL) haar 2e online lunchlezing via Teams. Dit keer over: What works in het omgaan met geweld tegen werknemers met een publieke taak? Geïnteresseerde lezers verwijs ik naar bijgesloten uitnodiging waar alle logistieke zaken staan vermeld. Maar nu naar de ´kennisparel´ van vandaag.
Bron
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (June 2023). Cannabis laws in Europe: Questions and answers for policymaking. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 62 pp.
Samenvatting
Cannabis is Europe’s most commonly consumed illicit drug and also the substance associated with the most drug law offences in the region. It is conservatively estimated that over 27 % of all adults in the European Union (EU) aged 15–64 have used cannabis at least once during their lifetime, while nearly 20 % of those in the 15–24 age group are estimated to have used it in the last year. There were an estimated 1.5 million drug law offences reported in the European Union in 2020. With approximately 642 000 reported offences in 2020, cannabis accounted for more than three quarters of the use or possession offences in which the drug was known. About 93 000 cannabis supply offences were reported in 2020, accounting for over half of all drug supply offences.
While these figures give an indication of the scale of public health and criminal justice system challenges related to this drug, the estimated rates of use, size of the illegal market and nature of policy responses to cannabis vary considerably across countries in Europe. Rapid changes have been taking place in this field, including the creation of legal recreational cannabis markets in the Americas, and, in many parts of the world, the emergence of new forms of the drug and the introduction into commercial markets of products containing material that has been derived from the cannabis plant. These changes underline the importance of monitoring and evaluation data to understand the potential health and social impacts of these developments and to support evidence-based drug policymaking.
Since 2014, the supply and use of cannabis for recreational purposes, as opposed to medical or industrial purposes, have been legalised in many American states, as well as in Uruguay since 2012 and in Canada since 2018. This has led to an increase in media and public discussions about the laws and regulatory frameworks that prohibit or, under some circumstances, may permit cannabis use and supply in Europe. Policy models for cannabis supply adopted by jurisdictions in the Americas are diverse and include private commercial sales, state-managed sales, non-profit communal cultivation (such as cannabis social clubs) and personal cultivation, among other approaches. The impact of these regulatory models is being closely monitored, following concerns that they may lead to increases in cannabis use and related harms. Meanwhile, many in favour of legalisation have argued that a regulated supply of the drug may in fact mitigate some of the social and health harms related to cannabis use and illegal cannabis markets.
This is all happening at a time when scientific understanding regarding the effects of cannabis potency on mental health (e.g. psychosis, anxiety and cannabis use disorders) is still evolving. Overall, use of higher potency cannabis has been associated with an increased risk of mental health problems. At the same time reports continue to emerge regarding natural cannabis products purchased as illegal cannabis being adulterated with synthetic cannabinoids, some of which are highly potent and have been linked to poisonings and deaths.
Competing claims, in the context of policy changes that have occurred in various parts of the world on an issue about which the public and political debate is highly polarised, have underscored the importance of carefully considered and rigorously implemented policy evaluation frameworks. Such frameworks are crucial to informing evidence-based assessments that consider how well and to what extent a policy has been implemented, whether its objectives have been achieved and whether it has had any unintended effects.
In the European Union, important developments are also taking place in cannabis policy. In December 2021, Malta passed a law that permitted the limited growing of cannabis at home and in registered non-profit growing clubs, as well as its use in private homes. An Authority for Responsible Use of Cannabis to coordinate implementation has also been established. The system of limited cannabis distribution that has existed in the Netherlands since the 1970s has seen further developments, with the recent establishment of a ‘closed coffeeshop supply circuit’. This pilot project aims to assess the possibility of regulating a quality-controlled supply of cannabis to coffeeshops and to study the effects of such a regulated supply chain on crime, safety, public nuisance and public health. Currently, while sales of cannabis from coffeeshops are tolerated, the shops themselves must obtain their supplies from the illicit market.
Meanwhile, governments in Czechia, Germany, Luxembourg and the non-EU country Switzerland have announced plans for the regulated supply of cannabis for recreational use. Switzerland started pilot trials of legal cannabis sales in early 2023. Germany is planning to permit home growing and non-profit clubs, and Luxembourg is planning to permit home growing; both countries expect a system of sales to be developed later. Czechia has stated the intention to establish a regulated and taxed distribution system for recreational use.
The last decade has seen considerable research into potential medicinal uses of cannabis. Some cannabis-derived medicinal products are now authorised for specific therapeutic indications in the European Union. Programmes for permitting the medical use of cannabis preparations have also been implemented for certain medical conditions in some EU Member States. These programmes are usually highly controlled to reduce the risk of cannabis being diverted onto the illicit market.
Since 2016, there has been considerable commercial promotion of cannabis products that contain low amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the cannabinoid most associated with cannabis intoxication. In addition, products are being marketed that purportedly contain cannabidiol (CBD), a cannabinoid that is now promoted as having many potential health benefits, although for most conditions the currently available evidence base is limited, making it difficult to judge the veracity of these claims. The therapeutic use of cannabis preparations in state-approved programmes and the proliferation of commercial sales of low-THC cannabis products in some countries only serves to further complicate an already challenging policy landscape.
These developments have influenced action at the international level. A 2018 critical review by the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, focusing on cannabis and related substances and their effects, led to a vote in December 2020 at the United Nations (UN) Commission on Narcotic Drugs on the reclassification of these substances under international law. On the occasion of this vote, the EU Member States declared that ‘The EU stands together to support scientific progress in relation to cannabinoids, also with regard to possible medical use, while opposing the trivialisation of their non-medical use that represents a health risk’ (EEAS, 2020). While cannabis and related substances remain controlled under Schedule I of the 1961 Convention, one of the WHO’s recommendations on reclassification was approved, removing cannabis from Schedule IV of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. This schedule lists the drugs that are considered most dangerous and of little or no therapeutic benefit.
The speed and scale of cannabis policy change and the potential impact of these policies on public health and safety, has prompted the EMCDDA to publish this report, which outlines key issues related to cannabis legislation, including an overview of current policies and laws at the EU level and in individual Member States. The topic of synthetic cannabinoids, and in particular the rise in illicit marketing and use of these substances, is not addressed here, as it is covered in detail in a forthcoming module of the European Drug Markets Report.
The reader should note that while every effort has been made to ensure that the current report is accurate at the time of its drafting, this a highly dynamic area and it is possible that the situation may have changed by the time the document is released. While the primary focus of this report is on the use of cannabis for recreational purposes, relevant legislation for other uses is included in order to provide the necessary context for various policy initiatives. Written for a broad audience, the report aims to give brief answers to some of the more frequently asked questions raised in discussions about cannabis legislation. These have been grouped into five parts:
- Why is defining cannabis important?
- What are countries’ international obligations to control cannabis?
- How do EU countries respond to illegal use and supply of cannabis?
- Is there a trend towards cannabis regulation — and if so why?
- What laws cover medical and commercial cannabis-derived products?
Afsluitend
Alle beleidsbenaderingen van drugsbestrijding brengen zowel potentiële kosten als baten met zich mee. Het formuleren en begrijpen van hun belangrijkste doelstellingen, het dienovereenkomstig kwantificeren van de kosten en baten en het meten van veranderingen in de loop van de tijd vereist een robuust evaluatiekader, inclusief baselines. De bijgesloten ´kennisparel´ geeft daarom ook een overzicht van de elementen die nodig zijn om dit evaluatieproces te ondersteunen. Er is meer monitoring en onderzoek nodig om inzicht te krijgen in de impact van beleidsveranderingen rond cannabis op de volksgezondheid, criminaliteit en openbare veiligheid. Het is zaak om het Europese cannabisbeleid nauwlettend te blijven volgen. Hiermee kan vervolgens een beleid gevoerd worden op basis van feiten en degelijke kennis. Dat cannabisbeleid kan dan op een op evidentie gebaseerde wijze worden vorm gegeven. Kortom: noodzakelijk kennis voor beleid en praktijk.
