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Alternative to Contemporary Forms of Drug Control

NCJ Number
200786
Journal
Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 32 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2002 Pages: 709-720
Author(s)
Henning Schmidt-Semisch; Bettina Paul
Date Published
2002
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article profiles models of cannabis control from the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany.
Abstract
Drug policies typically assume that the substances under control cause direct harm or have the potential to cause harm to the individuals the laws are designed to protect. This article reviews the history of drug policy suggesting that illegal drug use is typically considered a culturally regulated phenomenon, an illness, and undesirable behavior, and/or a crime that must be punished. Contemporary German drug policy does not closely adhere to any of these models, and the Netherlands’s marijuana dispensing coffee shops and Switzerland’s treatment of cannabis as an illicit drug reflect polar opposites in terms of attitudes concerning marijuana dispensing and usage. This article presents Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein pharmacology model of marijuana, which calls for the decriminalization of cannabis, and details Germany’s alternative Genussmittel model which supports the dispensing of cannabis in the same manner in which foodstuffs are dispensed. References

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