Prohibition, regulation or laissez faire: The policy trade-offs of cannabis policy

Trade-offs are central to the cannabis policy debate. Prohibition and strict regulation may help reduce the physical, mental and social harms of cannabis consumption, but at the cost of increasing the harms from illegal markets and reducing consumption benefits. An economic model clarifies how these costs and benefits relate to policy and connects them to observable prices and tax-levels given the assumptions of the analysis. These model- based arguments are related to the ongoing academic policy debate.

Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - April 7, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Ole Rogeberg Source Type: research