Cannapol

What is the issue?

While Uruguay, Canada and almost half of the states in the United States have legalised cannabis, the cannabis policy landscape has also been changing in Europe. Malta was the first member of the European Union (EU) to regulate cannabis, legislating non-profit cannabis social clubs, limited home cultivation and private use in 2021. In 2023, Luxembourg regulated limited home cultivation and personal use. In 2024, Germany regulated non-profit cannabis social clubs, limited home cultivation and personal use, with the intention of expanding to a retail supply model.

In general, the trend in the past 20 years in Europe has been to ease restrictions regarding cannabis possession and consumption for non-medical purposes, including plans (e.g. in Czechia) and pilots of regulating cannabis (e.g. in the Netherlands and non-EU Switzerland). In contrast, a small number of countries have increased their penalties for cannabis offences in recent years.

These developments, both for increasing and decreasing penalties for cannabis, allow researchers to investigate the effects of policy changes on various objectives, such as public health and safety. Policymakers in jurisdictions that have not yet implemented policy changes can learn from the experiences of countries that have, whether that is in the direction of increasing or decreasing penalties. To support decision-makers and planners in the EU with the design, implementation, and evaluation of national cannabis policies, the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) has commissioned a three-year project to produce a European cannabis policy toolkit – Cannapol.

How are we helping?

RAND Europe has partnered with the Trimbos Institute, a research institute focusing on addiction and mental health, to deliver this project. With this project, we aim to achieve five objectives:

1. Support the EUDA with the development of a medium to longer-term work plan to become more service-oriented in the cannabis policy field.
2. Develop an online registry of implementation experiences of countries that have changed their cannabis policies in recent years, making this information easily accessible to interested policymakers.
3. Provide policymakers with various tools and materials, which will allow them to understand options and challenges in translating specific cannabis policies into reality.
4. Produce a user-friendly Cannabis Indicator Database that allows policymakers and evaluators to assess the impact of specific policy changes.
5. Organise a masterclass for policymakers and other professionals who wish to develop or refine their skills in cannabis policy development and evaluation.

Cannapol will be carried out through a series of activities, including:

• The design and development of the Toolkit, and future planning of its maintenance
• Organisation of a masterclass for potential users
• Creation of a comprehensive database on implementation experiences of European countries that have already changed their cannabis policies
• Analysis of the various policy objectives and regulatory issues of cannabis policies, utilising logic models to display how different jurisdictions have and could reach their objectives
• Creation of a Cannabis Indicator Database and case studies to depict different jurisdictions’ experience with the selection and implementation of various indicators.

This project will contribute to the EUDA’s new mandate to strengthen the EU’s preparedness related to current and future drug problems.

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Collaborators

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