CANNABIS LAW REFORM leading the way towards more effective drug control and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals

As Cannabis activists we have discovered that the Cannabis conversation cuts through every line we have drawn in drug policy and is no longer simply about “to legalise or not to legalise”. Cannabis prohibition and the broader ‘war on drugs’ are policies that are a product of colonialism. This has led to a host of unintended negative consequences that are hampering development of evidence-based drug policy, fit for task in the 21st century.

At CND 65 our organisation hosted a side event “Making the Case for Evidence-Based Drug Policy” and this year’s event will expand the conversation to explore how the road towards evidence-based policy can also serve to resolve many of the hurdles faced by developing countries in the attainment of the SDGs.

What is at issue is herbal Cannabis. The current conversation is narrowly confined to pharmaceutical Cannabis without any consideration of the consequences for poorer countries with a legacy of the use, cultivation and trade in Cannabis. These are the countries that have been left behind as their former colonial masters relish the profits from high potency Cannabis that is grown indoors using excessive amounts of energy, for a market that is able to afford a pharmaceutical grade product that once grew in the wild in areas where, botanically, it was intended by nature, to grow. It was a diverse crop, a trusted and sustainable agriculture.

From environmental impact and drugs as a weapon of war, to member states’ compliance with the treaties, this side event will explore how the changing landscape of Cannabis law reform can guide the conversations around the most pressing issues of our time.

SPEAKERS:
Myrtle Clarke: MD at Fields of Green for ALL (Moderator)
Paul Michael Keichel: Earth Medicine & Human/Environmental Rights Lawyer; Litigator at Cullinan & Associates
Michael Krawitz: US Air Force veteran; Executive Director of Veterans for Medical Cannabis Access
Bryon Adinoff: MD Clinical Professor, Psychiatry-Residency; President, Doctors for Cannabis Regulation
Marin Krings: Climate Impact Storyteller; Author

Cannabis was finally rescheduled in 2020, on the recommendation of the WHO. Our allies were right there from the beginning and, although it created all sorts of nonsense around CBD, the Single Convention of 1961 remains unchanged (much like our own Drug & Drugs Trafficking Act of 1992). We have made significant progress through the rescheduling process and Cannabis continues to lead the way for more significant drug policy reform.

This will be Myrtle’s 6th CND and she is really looking forward to meeting up with all of our colleagues in person again. As we all know, there is much more progress in person.