Reuter: Nations Need to Regulate Marijuana

Drug policy experts led by Peter Reuter conclude in a new analysis that criminalization of marijuana has failed worldwide and called on governments to find new ways to manage supply of the drug, Reuters reported Jan. 26.

In a new book titled, “Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate,” Reuter and colleagues said that marijuana only has a modest negative impact on society, whereas marijuana prohibition has been an intrusive, socially divisive and expensive failure.

“What we really need is a safer was way in which people can buy the drug, rather than leaving it to an illegal market which is producing a drug that is strong and stronger,” Reuter said.

The book was published by the Oxford University Press and the Beckley Foundation, which favors drug-policy reform. The foundation sponsored a report on the same topic in 2008 (PDF).