Desecuritization of cannabis in the United States: drug policy reform from the ground-up

Abstract

They could have advocated for drugs to remain restricted to medical use with no security implications, but instead they went all the way to turn them into a security issue, something out of the ordinary and that must end. The institutional mechanisms that evolved over the following decades using the United Nations as a forum became focused on supply minimization and police enforcement as the means to achieve a drug-free world. As a consequence, military intervention, aerial spraying, border enforcement and criminalization of consumption were pursued as the goal to end drugs. Bureaucrats were hired to focus on supply; delegates attended international meetings to discuss supply; home governments then implemented supply-focused treaties and recommendations. An international machinery emerged, initially under the banner of the League of Nations and then transferred to the United Nations, to implement this treaty framework 7 .Countries like Colombia and Bolivia, for example, that have historical and cultural connection to cocoa leaves, were strongly reprimanded and treated as supply-countries. In the meantime, countries with previously low rates of illicit drug consumption began witnessing a rapid expansion in drug use. As they cast around for a method to deal with this, the US-led prohibitionist bloc appeared to offer the only coherent model ready for adoption. Following the American lead, and supported by the UN treaty framework and agencies, states uniformly moved towards the criminalization of use and doubled down on supply enforcement measures 8 . Analytical puzzle and theoretical positioningAfter years of that much engagement in the global prohibition, here lies the puzzle: the states in the United States are regulating and legalizing cannabis since 2012, after decades of instituting global prohibition, the US is locally permitting. Colorado and Washington State voted to legally regulate recreational cannabis production, supply and use, making them the first places in the country to do so. Advocates suggest that legalization reduces crime, raises tax revenue, lowers criminal justice expenditures, improves public health, increases traffic safety, and stimulates the economy. Critics argue that legalization spurs marijuana and other drugs, alcohol use, increases crime, diminishes traffic safety, harms public health, and lowers teen educational 7