Policy Forum: The Beckley Foundation’s Global Cannabis Commission Report

This is a recent article on the Beckley Foundation’s Global Cannabis Commission Report that appeared in Drugs and Alcohol Today. The original report was published in October 2008, and was presented in the House of Lords and at the UN High Level Segment in Vienna in March. It was very well received and has exerted considerable influence since.

This paper considers the findings of the Beckley Foundation’s Global Cannabis Commission Report (Room et al, 2008), an overview of the scientific literature on cannabis, detailing its potential harms and those caused by its prohibition. It moves on to consider the various strategies that different jurisdictions have adopted to deal with cannabis use, before moving beyond the Conventions, arguing that countries should have more autonomy to develop policy best suited to their individual circumstances.