Cannabis policy options and the limits of science

Kings College London will host a lecture by Professor Peter Reuter of the School of Public Policy and Department of Criminology, University of Maryland.

The recent near passage of the cannabis legalisation initiative in California is just another indication of the active debate throughout the Western world about regulating cannabis. This lecture contributes to the discussion in two ways. First, it shows that, apart from the Dutch coffee shop regime, none of the efforts to depenalise or decriminalise cannabis use have had significant consequences for the legal risks faced by users. Thus the lack of increase in prevalence associated with these reforms provides little useful information for projecting legalisation. Second, the paper presents results of RAND analyses of the consequences of legalisation of the California market, showing the very high range of uncertainty in projections of consumption, health consequences and state revenues. The lecture concludes with some suggestions for making drug policy decisions in the face of weak science.

Monday March 28th at 1pm

Seminar Rooms A and B, Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Building, Institute of Psychiatry

If you are interested in attending this lecture please email here for more details.