Hall Wayne D
School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Herston, Australia.
Drug Alcohol Rev. 2009 Mar;28(2):110-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-3362.2008.00039.x.
This paper outlines the major policy challenges in reducing cannabis-related harm in Australia. The first is uncertainty about the health effects of cannabis, especially in young people. The second is uncertainty about the extent and severity of harms attributed to cannabis prohibition by its critics. The paper summarises and briefly states the extent of these putative harms to the degree that the data allow. The third challenge is a consequence of the first two, and the very different weightings that proponents of more liberal or restrictive policies give to harms arising from cannabis use and those arising from prohibition, namely, strong disagreements within the community about how we should respond to cannabis use by young people. In the face of such disagreement the formulation of cannabis policy necessitates a political compromise. The compromise that has emerged is a continued prohibition of cannabis production, sale and use, combined with either civil penalties for use in some states and reduced penalties or diversion in others. It concludes with suggestions about what needs to be learned about the health effects of cannabis use and the costs and benefits of cannabis prohibition if we are to develop policies that are more effective in reducing harms caused by cannabis use.
本文概述了澳大利亚在减少与大麻相关危害方面面临的主要政策挑战。第一个挑战是大麻对健康影响的不确定性，尤其是对年轻人的影响。第二个挑战是批评大麻禁令的人所认为的禁令造成的危害程度和严重性的不确定性。本文在数据允许的范围内总结并简要说明了这些假定危害的程度。第三个挑战是前两个挑战的结果，以及支持更宽松或更严格政策的人对大麻使用造成的危害和禁令造成的危害给予的截然不同的权重，即社会内部对于我们应如何应对年轻人使用大麻存在强烈分歧。面对这种分歧，制定大麻政策需要政治妥协。已出现的妥协方案是继续禁止大麻生产、销售和使用，同时在一些州对使用大麻处以民事处罚，在其他州则减轻处罚或采用转处措施。文章最后提出了一些建议，即如果我们要制定出更有效地减少大麻使用所造成危害的政策，需要了解哪些关于大麻使用对健康的影响以及大麻禁令的成本和收益的信息。
