Illegal cannabis cultivation in Europe: new developments (original) (raw)

Cannabis production and markets in Europe

2012

This study brings together available evidence to provide a comprehensive analysis of cannabis production and markets across the EU. It combines information from EMCDDA routine reporting — data on patterns of prevalence and use, seizures, police reports, drug-law offences, cannabis potency and retail market prices — with literature on cannabis markets to create an in-depth analysis of the issue in a European context

Emerging Trends in Cannabis Cultivation – and the Way Forward

As demonstrated in a recent volume on this very issue, discussion over possible change in cannabis policy is happening across the world (Room et al. 2010). Over the past decades, several countries have seen changes to the traditional approaches of criminal prohibition of cannabis use. In the Netherlands and several US states, less punitive cannabis use control regimes were implemented in the late 1970s. More recently, reforms have been implemented or proposed in an increasing number of countries in the European Union, Oceania and the Americas. In February 2009, a Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, co-chaired by former presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, called for an examination of the decriminalization of possession of cannabis for personal use. Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador are expected to take new decriminalizing steps (Jenkins 2009). Most of these reforms seem to be occurring within the bounds set by the international drug control treaties, but several authors have also discussed measures which would in one way or another move beyond the limits of the current international drug control regime (see Room et al. 2010 for a comprehensive review). However, the global prohibitionist regime is probably not at immediate risk, and there are also some steps in the opposite direction. For example, Møller (2009) recently showed how the Danish government cracked down on the Christiania cannabis market in Copenhagen after years under a regime of relative tolerance. In 2009 the British government increased the severity of penalties available for cannabis possession, reversing an easing of penalties that occurred in 2004. Room et al. (2010) describe the heterogeneity and complexity of the alternative cannabis control regimes that have evolved in different countries in recent years, ranging from “depenalization” (i.e. prohibition with cautioning or diversion), “decriminalization” (prohibition with civil penalties) to “de facto legalization” (e.g. prohibition with an expediency principle) or “de jure legalization”, and the differences in how they might be enforced locally or regionally. But while a number of countries have implemented reform measures aimed at controlling the use of cannabis, fewer have addressed the issue of cannabis supply activities.

The globalisation of cannabis cultivation: a growing challenge

International Journal of Drug Policy, 2015

Global patterns of cannabis cultivation have followed a fascinating development, from highly concentrated production in certain developing countries to decentralized production in almost every country around the world (UNODC, 2014). Historically, the spread of cannabis cultivation across the globe reflected the industrial utility of hemp; the widespread use of cannabis as a recreational drug did not appear until much later (Abel, 1980; Booth, 2003). It is with the emergence of modern patterns of cannabis use in the developed world that we have seen major changes in patterns of cannabis pro-duction. As demand for cannabis increased globally, fuelled by the developments of the “counter-culture” of the 1960s and 1970s, so cultivation in the developing world began to take on new dimensions. Firstly, cultivation increased in many traditional growing regions as exportation to the consumer markets of the industrialized world became an attractive option. Secondly, in response to global demand, countries such as Morocco and Mexico became large-scale producers of cannabis and major suppliers to, respectively, European and American consumers, despite not having the traditions of cannabis cultivation found in Asia, the Middle-East or the Caribbean (Gooberman, 1974; UNODC, 2003; UNODC, 2005;Moreno, 1997).A third phase in the evolution of cannabis production has been the increase in cultivation across the industrialised world. From Europe to the Americas and Oceania, import substitution in the cannabis market has been noticed in almost every developed country (UNODC, 2014; Decorte, Potter, & Bouchard, 2011). Although some small-scale cultivation probably has almost as long a history as cannabis use in the west, widespread small-scale cultivation and larger-scale commercial production only begins to appear towards the end of the twentieth century. In some countries the levels of domestic cultivation have reached the stage where self-sufficiency in cannabis markets has largely been attained (Leggett, 2006; Bouchard, 2008; Jansen, 2002).

The case for small-scale domestic cannabis cultivation

International Journal of Drug Policy, 2010

The shift to (inter)regional production, trade and domestic cultivation has become an irreversible international trend. Until now, the focus of most empirical work has been on large-scale, commercially oriented and professionally organized segments of the cannabis industry, often based on police data and on the perspective of law enforcement agencies.