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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - More Harm than Good?
T2 - Cannabis, Harm and the Misuse of Drugs Act
AU - Potter, Gary
AU - Wells, Hattie
N1 - This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
PY - 2021/12/31
Y1 - 2021/12/31
N2 - Purpose: To consider the nature of cannabis-related harms under the United Kingdom’s Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA). Written for the specific context of this four-paper special section on 50 years of the MDA, it argues that the MDA may cause more harm than it prevents.Design/methodology/approach: An opinion piece offering a structured overview of cannabis-related harms under prohibition. It summarises existing evidence of the ways in which prohibition may exacerbate existing – and create new – harms related to the production, distribution, use and control of cannabis.Findings: The paper argues that prohibition of cannabis under the MDA may cause more harm than it prevents.Originality: It has long been argued that the MDA does not accurately or fairly reflect the harms of the substances it prohibits, and much existing research points to different ways in which drug prohibition can itself be harmful. The originality of this paper lies in bringing together these arguments and developing a framework for analysing the contribution of prohibition to drug-related harm.
AB - Purpose: To consider the nature of cannabis-related harms under the United Kingdom’s Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA). Written for the specific context of this four-paper special section on 50 years of the MDA, it argues that the MDA may cause more harm than it prevents.Design/methodology/approach: An opinion piece offering a structured overview of cannabis-related harms under prohibition. It summarises existing evidence of the ways in which prohibition may exacerbate existing – and create new – harms related to the production, distribution, use and control of cannabis.Findings: The paper argues that prohibition of cannabis under the MDA may cause more harm than it prevents.Originality: It has long been argued that the MDA does not accurately or fairly reflect the harms of the substances it prohibits, and much existing research points to different ways in which drug prohibition can itself be harmful. The originality of this paper lies in bringing together these arguments and developing a framework for analysing the contribution of prohibition to drug-related harm.
KW - Harm reduction
KW - Drug Policy
KW - Harm
KW - Cannabis
KW - Prohibition
KW - Misuse of Drugs Act
U2 - 10.1108/DAT-09-2021-0047
DO - 10.1108/DAT-09-2021-0047
M3 - Journal article
VL - 21
SP - 277
EP - 288
JO - Drugs and Alcohol Today
JF - Drugs and Alcohol Today
SN - 1745-9265
IS - 4
ER -