In 1937, with the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act, the United
States effectively banned recreational and medicinal use of
cannabis.(1) Many nations followed suit and in 1961, through
the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, fifty-four
nations agreed to "[a]dopt such measures as may be necessary
to prevent the misuse of, and illicit traffic in the leaves
of the cannabis plant."(2) Despite such restrictive control,
cannabis has become the most widely used illicit drug in the
western world.
Since
the 1970s pressure has been building to move away from the
total prohibition of cannabis. Over the past century, numerous
reports from independent, government-sponsored commissions
have documented the drug's relative harmlessness and recommended
the elimination of criminal sanctions for consumption-related
offenses.(3) Opinion polls show growing support for cannabis
reform and scientific, medical and patient communities consistently
provide evidence of the drug's therapeutic potential. As the
public increasingly demands legal access to cannabis for both
medicinal and other responsible uses, policy makers are being
forced to consider how to regulate the drug.
Holland
has led the way in cannabis reform since it amended its Opium
Act in 1976 to distinguish among drugs according to levels
of risk. Identifying cannabis as a "soft drug,"
the Dutch government decided to treat possession and cultivation
of up to 30 grams as activities "not for prosecution,
detection or arrest." This policy of tolerance paved
the way for the "coffee shop system" of publicly
distributing both marijuana and hashish.
More
recently, in 1996 the voters of California passed Proposition
215, the Compassionate Use Act, so that sick and dying patients
could legally use marijuana for medicinal purposes. Cannabis
buyers' clubs, not unlike the Dutch hash coffee shops, have
emerged to provide marijuana to those with legitimate medical
need. Despite the federal government's ongoing efforts to
stymie Prop. 215 by shutting down the clubs, states continue
to consider similar ballot initiatives.
Cracks
in prohibitionist cannabis control systems constantly form.
These cracks take different shapes in different countries,
reflecting the diversity of political, social and cultural
conditions. As clinical trials get started in the United Kingdom,
as more Australian states lower penalties for personal possession
and use, and as more continental European countries choose
not to enforce criminal sanctions for personal possession,
alternative ways of regulating cannabis will continue to develop.
Whether individual governments choose to play a role in the
drug's responsible regulation remains to be seen.
Notes:
1.Medicinal use was still technically legal but the tax proved
to be prohibitive for most therapeutic uses.
2.Quoted
in Abel, Ernest L. Marihuana, the first twelve thousand years.
New York McGraw-Hill. 1982. p.254.
3.For
more information on these reports see Morgan, John P. Zimmer,
Lynn. Marijuana myths, marijuana facts A review of the scientific
evidence. New York: The Lindesmith Center. 1997. pp. 1-3.
