Beckley Briefing Paper Number 17 - An Overview of Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate (Report of the Beckley foundation Global Cannabis Commission)

This BFDPP Briefing paper provides an overview of Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate, the Report of the Beckley Foundation Global Cannabis Commission. The report was produced after a group of international experts were commissioned to undertake a review of the current evidence regarding cannabis and its place in the international drug control system. The policy context of this undertaking lies in the UNGASS review of the performance of the international drug control system, which will result, at next year's Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), in a high level meeting at which ministers will agree on the future direction of drug control efforts. The objective of the Cannabis Commission was to provide a report that summarises the evidence relating to cannabis in a way that is useful and accessible for policy makers. As the Brief shows, the resultant Report discusses the drug's production, supply and consumption, its harms and its benefits, and the role of the present system of regulation in managing these elements. It concludes that current control regimes are either ineffective or inconsistent, and challenges policy makers to confront these realities, and agree a more rational way forward for international cannabis control.