Cannabis is by far the most widely used illicit drug in the United Kingdom, as in most other Western countries; and almost all of this use is for recreational rather than medical purposes. This has led some researchers to suggest that there may be a degree of ''''normalisation'''' of cannabis use occuring in Western cultures, as evidenced by wide-spread and increasing use particularly among young people. However, over recent years the issue of the
decriminalisation of cannabis has become a topical and much discussed issue. Numerous authors have sought to gain information on public opinion on the issues surrounding cannabis as well as more clinical studies aimed at determining the viability of medicinal use of marijuana and case studies focused on more specific issues related to use.
Maag (2003), reviewed three
reports commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (SFOPH) including a European comparative study, an overview of research in the United States of America and Australia and an evaluation of historical drug law in Italy. These reports were to provide critical assessment of the experience gained in other counties that have decriminalised cannabis use, in the wake of proposed revisions to the Swiss law on
narcotics - in relation to cannabis - in 2003. Were these changes in the Swiss Narcotics Act implemented
users would no longer be punished for use and would face
relaxed laws on cultivation, production and trafficking. Maag (2003) concluded that the empirical evidence presented in the reports did not suggest that decriminalisation of cannabis use promotes consumption of the drug and that "no systematic correlation exists between policies on penalties for cannabis use…and increase in use of the drug" (Maag, 2003, p. 280). In an attempt to reduce the prevalence of drug use in Italy, assumed to be due to their relaxed laws on cannabis (post 1960’s), sanctions on drug use were reintroduced in 1990, but this had no effect in controlling the rising number of drug users.
More abstracts about the Decriminalisation of cannabis use in Switzerland from an international perspective.