Growing Complexity in the Legal Variability of Cannabis Markets

Potter, Gary (2026) Growing Complexity in the Legal Variability of Cannabis Markets. In: Variably Legal Markets : Rethinking Markets and Crime. Routledge, London. ISBN 9780367186135 (In Press)

Abstract

Cannabis is most popular psychoactive substance among those prohibited by the international drug control regime. Yet, at least partly driven by the increased recognition that prohibitionist approaches to cannabis control cause more problems than they solve, cracks are appearing in the historic global consensus of prohibiting cannabis. Recent years have seen an increase in both the number of countries deviating from strict prohibition and the variety of policy approaches underpinning this deviation. As such, cannabis arguably has more variation in legality than any other controlled drug. The aim of this chapter is to explore this variation by outlining some of the key legal and policy deviations from prohibition and reflecting on the implications these have for the future of cannabis as a controlled substance.