Medisinale cannabis-gebruik : ʼn analise van beleidshervorming in Suid-Afrika, Uruguay en die Verenigde State van Amerika

Abstract

The international discourse about the regulation of cannabis has increased and intensified in recent years. Jurisdictions have increasingly amended their legislation permitting for the medical or therapeutic use of the plant. Numerous countries in North and South America enacted policies that enable patients to gain access to certain types of preparations that reduce pain, alleviate symptoms, or improve their overall quality of life. Nonetheless, although these experiences can be considered as progressive, not all regulatory regimes are equal, or have the same impact. This study aimed to enhance our comprehension of the state of reforms and their potential, in addition to offer some general recommendations in an attempt to improve public policies where legislation has already been transposed and apprise decision-making processes where such reform is still pending. Much as cannabis remains a prohibited substance internationally, in recent decades, a series of legislative, political and judicial processes in various parts of the world gave rise to various forms of legal regulatory regimes, sanctioning the medicinal and therapeutic use of the plant. Various factors were involved here, including the lack of ability of the international drug control regime to respond and accommodate appropriately to new evidence, the increase in availability of scientific evidence, the inception of a new public health paragon regarding drugs, the acquisition of alternative policies at a local level – sometimes sacrificing the international legal framework – and the growing acumen that the financial implications of the ‘war on drugs’ far outweigh its benefits. Regrettably, and despite the increasing number of regulatory experiences, the international community has not yet reached any consensus on how to proceed and continues to withstand any possibility of activating the institutional and legal mechanisms within the sphere of the United Nations to adapt the contemporary treaty framework to this new set of circumstance.

Whereas medicinal cannabis per se is not prohibited under the UN drug control conventions, the insertion thereof in Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs limits medical research and precise rules must be followed to allow for the medicinal and scientific use thereof. In addition, the absence of internationally sanctioned scientific consensus on medicinal cannabis is also a key issue, resulting in no standardised or consistent products being used internationally. As is the subject of discussion, all experiences are different, since no regional or international standards presently exist. This study highlights this diversity of experiences, directions and approaches from an international trade perspective. The purpose and intention of this analysis is to enhance our comprehension of the current state of international reforms and the valuable lessons to be learned from them for South-Africa.