International impacts of the U.S. trend toward legal marijuana

Summary

For decades, the United States has been a champion of the global drug control treaty system, which limits the use of marijuana exclusively to medical and scientific purposes, and obligates governments to punish and even criminalize recreational marijuana activity. But American attitudes toward marijuana policy are shifting: voters in Colorado and Washington approved ballot initiatives to legalize regulated recreational marijuana in 2012, and recent polls suggest that the majority of Americans think marijuana use should be legalized. How might a shift in American marijuana policies affect the prohibitionist drug treaty system? What debates are taking place in other countries over marijuana policy? Wells Bennett and John Walsh tackle these questions and more in their latest report, "Marijuana Legalization is an Opportunity to Modernize International Drug Treaties."

On October 17, in collaboration with the Washington Office on Latin America, Governance Studies at Brookings hosted a forum to discuss the international repercussions of the United States’ changing approach towards marijuana. A panel of experts considered the possible ramifications for other countries and the international drug control regime.

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