Cannabis Zero Is Not Possible

The case for a pragmatic, boring, and very Irish legalisation

Ones To Watch is a newsletter about the people and discussions shaping the European cannabis sector. Each update contains a brief note on some of the exciting entrepreneurs or most interesting topics I’ve uncovered on my journey.

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Cannabis reform is sweeping the world but Ireland is dragging its feet. 

As an Irishman who has been working in drug policy and the cannabis sector for most of the last decade, I’ve watched cannabis transition from the fringes to the mainstream of society. A once-maligned social problem has become an opportunity to rethink our policy priorities and attitudes towards risk. 

Cannabis is currently illegal in Ireland but youth access is ubiquitous, criminal gangs profit, and otherwise law-abiding citizens lose their freedoms to work, travel and lead a normal life if caught in possession of it.

As a nation, we’ve not quite found what makes us tick when it comes to cannabis – does it fill us with fear, joy or a bit of both? Sensible conversation on the topic is clouded with Americanisms, evangelists, and doom-mongers.

The reality of Ireland’s relationship to cannabis is borne out in the data.

A 2021 study by the EU into attitudes of Europeans towards tobacco and electronic cigarettes found that almost one in five Irish people had smoked cannabis over that past year. These numbers are remarkably high, and leave us with the question; what is the best policy solution for this situation?

Legalisation should not be seen as the dramatic overthrow of a conservative regime by a liberal one but as the progressive middle ground. It is a tool to solve the complex and competing priorities of the people who want more cannabis in society and those who don’t.

The biggest fallacy spouted by both proponents and opponents of legalisation is that there is a ‘perfect policy’ for issues as complex as this, but the pressing need to change the status quo is clear. 

Let’s welcome progressive North American policy examples but without the blinding idealism shared by many people working in the industry on that side of the Atlantic. As charming as the stories of societal reform and economic prosperity may be, we need a uniquely Irish solution – one that deals with genuine criticisms and local concerns head-on.

Irish psychiatrists warn about the risk of cannabis to adolescent minds. We hear you. Loud and clear. Restricting youth access and bolstering our mental health support services should be the ultimate priority of any policy we implement in Ireland.

Frustratingly these arguments contain 2 massive red herrings. Firstly, nobody is arguing for under 18 access to legal cannabis. Literally nobody. Secondly, the problems we are seeing today, real as they are, are happening under our current system, a system without legalisation.

This is a question of how we deal with something that is already happening, not about whether we should introduce cannabis into society for the first time. That ship sailed long ago.

To assume the ill-intention of one side is to fall at the first hurdle.

It is a mischaracterisation of legalisation advocates to suggest that they are complacent about the mental health of young people or that they don’t care about public health issues around cannabis. At the same time, there are many advocates who don’t acknowledge the harms associated with prolonged, habitual or underage cannabis use. If we accept either of these framings we’ll never have a sensible debate in this country.

Canada is the most widely touted example of cannabis legalisation, but what isn’t focussed on is just how Justin Trudeau’s government did it. 

A government task force, led by the former police chief of Toronto, travelled around the country speaking to doctors, mental health specialists, addiction services, police groups, and every possible stakeholder about what they wanted from legalisation. Their stated aim was ‘to keep cannabis out of the hands of youth and profits out of the hands of criminals’’ – rhetoric usually associated with those on the right.

The result was laws that dealt directly with many of the concerns around legalisation. Cannabis packaging was limited in the style of tobacco, with health warnings and advertising restrictions focused on limiting abuse potential. This was seen as a victory by public health advocates.

Notably, the new laws heavily criminalised those caught selling cannabis to ‘minors’, while allowing law-abiding Canadians to purchase cannabis in specialist shops. A 2021 study found that youth use was largely unchanged in the years after legalisation. Youth use has also not increased in Uruguay, the first country to legalise recreational cannabis.

Under the surface, most people want the same thing: safety and health for themselves and their loved ones. This is a strong foundation to build a consensus from as it is not a disagreement on moral values.

The case for boring, cautious and sympathetic legalisation

Today, Canadians that like cannabis and Canadians that don’t like cannabis continue to battle out their disagreements, but now they take place in online neighbourhood forums and through planning permission committees rather than in criminal courts. Restrictions on growing cannabis in rented apartments or smoking in public places give those who dislike cannabis a chance to remain totally removed from it.

The dull mundanity of this is part of the beauty of living in a democracy. I have a sneaky suspicion that we might even enjoy all the NIMBYism and heated local debates around where cannabis cultivation, retail and consumption can take place.

Let’s increase police budgets for targetting organised crime groups, lets aggressively police the sale of cannabis to children, let’s pump much-needed cash into our adolescent mental health services, but for the love of God let’s stop arresting the people consuming the cannabis.

In this new world, where the substance’s legal status would not be the core issue, let park keepers ban smoking in public parks, let landlords restrict growing on their private property, let publicans put up ‘no cannabis in the smoking area signs’, and let employers discipline staff who come to work under the influence.

If we’re worried about the political optics of reform, let’s take a leaf out of the book of Dutch and Swiss politicians and start with a pilot scheme or a tightly controlled legalisation experiment.

The last 2 years taught us that nothing is without risk and we need to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of the choices we make on a personal level. It is the job of policymakers to create frameworks that allow us to avoid danger and take calculated risks if we need/want to.

With cannabis legalisation, we have a real chance to move towards policies that are far more pragmatic and courageous than most of our European neighbours.

Cannabis zero strategies have failed, it’s time we began thinking about living with cannabis.