When it comes to cannabis policies around the globe, there is no one-size-fits-all policy. With the exception of countries that completely prohibit cannabis in all of its forms, every country has a different approach to cannabis policies, laws, and in some cases, industry regulations.
As cannabis reform continues to sweep across the globe, it’s virtually guaranteed that the variety of cannabis laws and policy nuances will increase. Meanwhile, many cannabis enthusiasts and advocates will continue to categorize jurisdictions as either being decriminalized, medical, or ‘fully legalized.’
While those classifications may have been easy to apply in years past, emerging cannabis policies around the world are becoming much more difficult to fit into only three categories. That increasing difficulty often leads to confusion when a new jurisdiction reforms its cannabis laws, especially at a national level.
Are Decriminalization And Legalization Essentially The Same?
A debate is growing in cannabis community circles, especially among cannabis industry professionals, regarding what constitutes legalization. Many are arguing that unless cannabis sales are allowed, then cannabis is not truly legalized since sales are still prohibited.
In that scenario, people argue that cannabis is decriminalized because only the crime component was removed from the equation. Others argue that once penalties for cannabis are removed for individual consumers (cultivation included), that’s all it takes to officially declare that cannabis has been ‘legalized.’
Historically, decriminalization meant that there was no crime attached to cannabis; however, infraction fines could still apply. A current example of that form of cannabis policy is in Spain, where we are co-hosting the world’s largest cannabis superconference next month. In Spain, getting caught with a personal amount of cannabis carries a fine – no jail time.
Why Does Terminology Matter?
If you are involved with cannabis long enough, whether it’s as a consumer or a titan of industry or somewhere in between, you will eventually realize that there is differing terminology for all kinds of things in the cannabis world. Cannabis policy is no different in that regard.
What constitutes legalization to one person may be different than what constitutes legalization to another person. Going forward, policymakers and members of the media will need to be more descriptive regarding what type of actual reform is occurring. Be prepared for the term ‘non-commercial legalization’ to start popping up more often, as it more accurately describes a type of cannabis policy that is growing in popularity in some international jurisdictions.
The rise of non-commercial legalization’s popularity is born out of the effort gap between creating laws, rules, and regulations for a cannabis industry versus only addressing the criminal justice component. The latter is much easier to build a political coalition around since it involves far fewer details for lawmakers to disagree about, although the former is a major driving force for many lawmakers that want to boost the economies that they represent.
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