CANNABIS& SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Paving the way for the next decade in
Cannabis and hemp policy

FAAAT EDITIONSCannabis &Sustainable Development.
Paving the way for the next decadein Cannabis and hemp policies.
Recommendations for the implementation of Cannabis policies aligned with international Human Rights
standards, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 2016 UNGASS outcome document.

Authors:			
Kenzi Riboulet-Zemouli, Simon Anderfuhren-Biget Ph.D, Martin Díaz Velásquez
			and Michael Krawitz.
Contributors:		
			
			
			

Olivier Bertrand M.D, Michal Brožka, Amy Case King, Swami Chaitanya,
Genine Coleman, Chris Conrad, Julie P. Fry, Hanka Gabrielová,
Kristen Garringer, Farid Ghehiouèche, Chris Halmo, Daniela Kreher,
Marcin Krzyżkowiak, Hannes Lenhart and Kirstin Nevedal.

Graphic design:		

Marilyn Reina, Victor Aragon© FAAAT think & do tank, Vienna.
March 2019 | 3rd edition, augmented.
1st edition: Vienna, December 2018.
ISBN 979-10-97087-34-0 | EAN 9791097087340
Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo). Under theterms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided
the work is appropriately cited, as indicated below.
Suggested citation: Riboulet-Zemouli K, Anderfuhren-Biget S, Díaz Velásquez M and Krawitz M (2019),“Cannabis & Sustainable Development: Paving the way for the next decade in Cannabis and hemp policies.”
FAAAT think & do tank, Vienna, March 2019. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Available at: https://faaat.net/
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The views expressed in this report are those of the authors, not necessarily those of other contributors,
supporters of FAAAT. FAAAT think & do tank is a registered non-profit in Paris Prefecture (France), referenced
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Forewords..........................................................................................................................................................................................1
Preamble. ........................................................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................................................................5Definitions.........................................................................................................................................................................................6
Sustainable Development Goal 1.
Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere..............................................................................................................................8
Target 1.1............................................................................................................................................. 10
Target 1.2............................................................................................................................................. 10
Target 1.5............................................................................................................................................. 10
Target 1.4............................................................................................................................................. 13
Target 5.a............................................................................................................................................. 13
Target 1.a............................................................................................................................................. 15
Target 1.b............................................................................................................................................. 15

Sustainable Development Goal 2.
End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture........................ 18
Target 2.1............................................................................................................................................. 20
Target 2.2............................................................................................................................................. 20
Target 2.3............................................................................................................................................. 21
Target 2.4............................................................................................................................................. 21
Target 2.5............................................................................................................................................. 22
Target 15.6........................................................................................................................................... 22

Sustainable Development Goal 3.
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages..................................................................................... 26
Target 3.3............................................................................................................................................. 28
Target 3.4............................................................................................................................................. 30
Target 3.5............................................................................................................................................. 30
Target 3.a............................................................................................................................................. 30
Target 3.6............................................................................................................................................. 34
Target 3.d............................................................................................................................................. 36

Sustainable Development Goal 4.
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.............. 37
Target 4.4............................................................................................................................................. 39
Target 4.7............................................................................................................................................. 39

Sustainable Development Goal 5.
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls............................................................................................ 41
Target 5.1............................................................................................................................................. 43

Target 5.a............................................................................................................................................. 43

Sustainable Development Goal 7.
Ensure access to affordable, reliable and modern energy for all................................................................................... 45
Target 7.1............................................................................................................................................. 47
Target 7.2............................................................................................................................................. 47
Target 7.3............................................................................................................................................. 47
Target 7.a............................................................................................................................................. 47

Sustainable Development Goal 8.
Decent works & economic growth.......................................................................................................................................... 50
Target 8.2............................................................................................................................................. 52
Target 8.3............................................................................................................................................. 53
Target 8.5............................................................................................................................................. 53
Target 8.6............................................................................................................................................. 53
Target 9.2............................................................................................................................................. 53
Target 8.8............................................................................................................................................. 55
Target 16.2........................................................................................................................................... 55
Target 8.9............................................................................................................................................. 56
Target 12.b........................................................................................................................................... 56

Sustainable Development Goal 9.
Build resilient, inclusive and sustainable infrastructure, industry and innovation................................................... 59
Target 9.4............................................................................................................................................. 61
Target 9.5............................................................................................................................................. 61
Target 11.c........................................................................................................................................... 61

Sustainable Development Goal 10.
Reduce inequality within and among countries................................................................................................................... 63
Target 10.1........................................................................................................................................... 65
Target 10.2........................................................................................................................................... 65
Target 10.3........................................................................................................................................... 65
Target 16.b........................................................................................................................................... 66

Sustainable Development Goal 11.
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.......................................................... 71
Target 11.4........................................................................................................................................... 72
Target 11.a........................................................................................................................................... 72

Sustainable Development Goal 12.
Responsible consumption and production............................................................................................................................ 74
Target 12.2........................................................................................................................................... 75
Target 12.3........................................................................................................................................... 75
Target 12.5........................................................................................................................................... 75
Target 12.a........................................................................................................................................... 76

Sustainable Development Goal 13.
Combat climate change and its impacts............................................................................................................................... 77
Sustainable Development Goal 15.
Ecosystems & life on land.......................................................................................................................................................... 79
Target 15.1........................................................................................................................................... 81
Target 15.4........................................................................................................................................... 81
Target 15.3........................................................................................................................................... 82
Target 15.c........................................................................................................................................... 83

Sustainable Development Goal 16.
Peace, justice, human rights, rule of law, and strong institutions................................................................................. 85
Target 16.1........................................................................................................................................... 87
Target 16.4........................................................................................................................................... 87
Target 17.13......................................................................................................................................... 87
Target 16.3........................................................................................................................................... 88
Target 16.5........................................................................................................................................... 91
Target 16.6........................................................................................................................................... 91
Target 16.10......................................................................................................................................... 94
Target 17.6........................................................................................................................................... 94
Target 17.16......................................................................................................................................... 94

Sustainable Development Goal 17.
Partnerships for the Goals......................................................................................................................................................... 96
Target 17.3........................................................................................................................................... 98
Target 17.11......................................................................................................................................... 98
Target 17.14......................................................................................................................................... 99
Target 17.17....................................................................................................................................... 100

Acronyms & definitions............................................................................................................................................................101
References...................................................................................................................................................................................103

Paving the way for the next decade in Cannabis and hemp policies.

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Forewords.
« The Sustainable Development Goals offer an invaluable platform to help reshape the public policy agenda. By
placing people at the center of our efforts, those of us who occupy decision-making positions must criticallyanalyze the paths taken so far, and be ready to modify actions that have not achieved the expected results.
Policies that relate to drugs, in particular, have much to learn from the 2030 agenda. If something is to beconsidered problematic in this domain, it is not fundamentally in relation with the very substances, but rather in
relation with shortcomings and limitations in terms of sustainable human development that our societies suffer.
The tragedies caused by the lack of adequate and effective control of drug markets have increased social
suffering, especially in relatively less developed countries and regions.
That is the reason why sustainable development opportunities must be taken as a guidance to improve theperformance of drug policies. But this will not be possible without a strong public administration and efficientevidence-based public policies that, without repeating schemes worn out by the absence of results, take on thechallenge of incorporating a new focus.
For all these reasons, we commend the efforts that Civil Society is undertaking to achieve an effective politicalincidence of this agenda, and we gladly join in an open dialogue where diverse voices and visions can fit. »Diego Martín Olivera Couto,
Secretary-General,
National Drug Council,
Office of the Presidency of the Republic,
Oriental Republic of Uruguay.

The authors dedicate this report to Louis Armstrong and Joep Oomen. Each, in their own way, helped create
this revolution we are seeing the birth of today in Cannabis policy.

Paving the way for the next decade in Cannabis and hemp policies.

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Preamble.
Cannabis placement in international law was done in the absence of scientific evaluation and has provided thebasis for a morality drivin war on drugs for many decades. Among governments and non-state actors there
are relatively few who still deny the failure of drug prohibition, and even less that advocate for its continuation.
The World Health Organization backed and justified the severe status of control applied to the plant during
the design of modern international drug policy1 – yet recently invited the world to rethink the approach to
Cannabis by assessing it for the first time on the basis of evidence, and by recommending that international
control over the plant, its components, and its medical preparations be lowered2.
Cannabis policy reform helps create a model and forge the tools necessary to address the outdated or
missing evidence as well as scheduling issues for a wide array of plants, products, or substances liable togenerate harms or dependence in humans.
Because of its characteristics, widespread cultivation and use, and the diversity of its applications, theCannabis sativa L. plant and related policies directly pertain to at least 64 of the 169 targets among 15 out of
the 17 Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development3 (the Sustainable Development
Goals, or SDGs) adopted by a consensus of all Member States of the UN in 2015. This sustainable addressof Cannabis and Cannabis policy echoes 75 of the 104 operational recommendations of another document
adopted by global consensus one year later, the outcome document of the 30th special session of the UN
General Assembly4 on the world drug situation (UNGASS 2016) which noted that “efforts to achieve theSustainable Development Goals and to effectively address the world drug problem are complementary andmutually reinforcing”.
Surprisingly, this plant affects the SDGs both positively and negatively. And policies play a major role in theimpact of Cannabis on our societies.
The non psychoactivity-related uses of the Cannabis sativa L. plant – called “hemp”, “industrial hemp” or“industrial cannabis” in this context – have accompanied humankind over centuries, in particular for theprovision of food from the seed (Goals 1 & 2) and through the numerous products derived from its fiber,among which, efficient building materials can be locally sourced and produced. (Goals 9 & 11). More recently,
the plant has continued to be explored for the soil-cleaning property of its roots, contributing to clean waterand oceans (Goal 13). The significant biomass produced by the stems of cannabis has revealed itself to beboth a promising source of energy (Goal 7) and a renewable source of recyclable vegetal plastic (Goal 15), etc.
Yet, not only the non psychoactivity-related uses of Cannabis sativa L. can contribute to the efforts to meetthese Goals (1, 2, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 15); in addition, reforming the current repressive, prohibitive, andmarginalizing policies concerning the psychoactivity-related uses of Cannabis sativa L. is indispensable tomeet Goals 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13, 16 and 17.

1 Riboulet-Zemouli et al., 2019.
2 WHO, 2019.
3 UNGA, 2015; See also UN (s.d.): “SDGs Knowledge Platform” at sustainabledevelopment.un.org
4 UNGA, 2016; See also UNODC (s.d.): "UNGASS 2016 Good Practices Portal" at www.postungass2016.org

4Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

The psychoactivity-related uses of Cannabis sativa L. witnessed throughout History – are very diverse andinclude what is known as “therapeutic” or “medical use”, “recreational” or “adult use” as well as “religious” or“spiritual use”.
Overly restrictive public policies addressing the psychoactivity-related uses of the plant have hindered its
availability for medical purposes and prevented implementation of sensible regulation for non-medical use
applications. In many countries, and under the influence of international institutions, these policies eventually
took the form of a “War on Drugs” that targeted the cultivation/distribution of the Cannabis sativa L. plant(among others), its psychoactivity-related uses, and all related activities, with an objective of eradication.
These policies became warped into a destructive spiral – contemporarily proving to be a major historicalfailure in several capacities (e.g., policy, environment, economic and human cost, etc.)5.
This attempt to create a “drug-free world”6 through prohibition and proactive law enforcement, createda pretext for State violence while generating or reinforcing criminal groups, in particular in regions withhistorical presence of the Cannabis sativa L. plant. Non-democratic, repressive, and authoritarian approaches
to supply and demand reduction policies have systematized government corruption (Goal 16), increased
arrests and imprisonment rates (Goals 1, 11 and 1)), and augmented factors of social and health risks forpeople who use cannabis (Goals 1, 3 and 10) by hindering access to appropriate prevention and education
for safe consumption (Goals 4 & 12), ultimately generating innumerable human rights violations (Goal 16) inparticular among women (Goal 5), minorities (Goal 10), and the poorest (Goal 1).
All the individual and collective conditions targeted by these latter Goals are deeply affected, making it
impossible, in practice, to reach the Agenda by 2030 without adopting now radically different regulations of all
aspects and activities linked to the psychoactivity-related uses of the Cannabis plant.
When the XXIst Century was just around the corner citizens and social movements struggled to balance thepillars of the United Nations – peace, security and development – with ethics, sustainability and planetsensibility. Many anticipated the degradation of social, geopolitical, diplomatic or environmental contexts that
we are nowadays witnessing. But few were those who could have believed that the United Nations would hear
their call, make these concepts hers, and proactively promote sustainability. Similarly, decades of vigorousand narrow-minded approach to Cannabis by multilateral organizations have made many lose faith in theability of the United Nations to reconnect with realities of the ground and efficiently assess and address both
the good as well as the bad sides of Cannabis and Cannabis policies. The authors of this document tend to
think that the period from 2015-2020 is pivotal (with the SDGs, the UNGASS and the WHO reviews) that willcall for intense involvement and cooperation at all levels to transform our world for 2030, and instigate peace,security and development in harmony with the ethnosphere with the help of sound ethical and sustainable
Cannabis policy reforms.

5 Rolles et al., 2016.
6 UNGA, 1998.

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Introduction.
The reformist trends in Cannabis policy globally is an ongoing movement unlikely to be stopped. A deficit of
democratic monitoring of the generalization of legal Cannabis markets could represent a threat for affected
populations and public health. Ethics are needed. A renewed interest and takeover of the topic Cannabis by all
categories of the population are urgent.
A one-size-fits-all policy seems neither desirable nor possible, both for geographical imperatives and forthe diversity of uses and products of the plant. This makes consensual policy models (exportable andgeneralizable) difficult to emerge.
Rather than trying to solve the equation of the perfect Cannabis policy and its infinite variables, a morefeasible approach would be to step aside, list all the different public policies that affect, or are involved with
Cannabis, and address them individually. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Goals is
but a perfect tool for this purpose.
This discussion paper highlights important research and experiential outcomes from scholars, civil society
organizations, affected populations, and market stakeholders. It seeks to show the potential of the Cannabis
plant in appropriately regulated settings as transformative for our societies – so long as ethical practices andsustainable approaches are kept central.
This document is not intended to be an exhaustive guide. It is designed as a valuable resource to contribute topost-prohibition studies, and help understand, from diverse public policy perspectives, the links between thepolicies of Cannabis and the Sustainable Development Goals, and the impact of the former on the latter.

6

Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Definitions.
Addressing such a complex issue requires the recollection of basic concepts and definitions.
Cannabis sativa L. is the botanical name of a plant belonging to the family Cannabaceae. Modern research
has shown that the genus Cannabis is mono-specific (i.e, within the genus “Cannabis”, the only existing
species is “sativa”). According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), while Cannabis iscommonly designated by different subspecies names (e.g., “indica”, “ruderalis”, “spontanea”, “kafiristanica”),“the chemical and morphological distinctions by which cannabis has been divided into these subspecies areoften not readily discernible, appear to be environmentally modifiable, and vary in a continuous fashion. For
most purposes, it suffices to apply the name Cannabis sativa to all cannabis plants encountered.”7
Hemp is the English vernacular name historically given to Cannabis sativa L.8. Nowadays, its meaning has
evolved, to mean crops explicitly grown for purposes other than the psychoactive ones, such as clothing fiber,
paper, fuel, building material from the fiber, or food and oil from the seeds. The dissociation of “hemp” frompsychoactivity-related Cannabis is purely artificial and terminological. Nevertheless, States have adopted
various cutting points to distinguish legal and illegal Cannabis according to THC content (e.g., 0.2%, 0.3%,
0.6%, 1%).
The dried parthenocarpic fruits (i.e., fruits not wearing seed) of the female Cannabis sativa plant are known bydozens of different names (with significant geographical variations) for being the part of the plant that containthe highest concentration of phytocannabinoids, molecules that have innumerable pharmacological effects
on animals (including human beings). Phytocannabinoids are only one among diverse classes of organic
compounds with pharmacological effects of the plant. They are much more specific to Cannabis sativa L. thanto any other plant.
It was only in the late 1990s that research started to reveal the mechanisms of action of thesephytocannabinoids, responsible for the unique and characteristic psychoactive effects of the Cannabis sativa
L. plant. Cannabinoids – not only phytocannabinoids (from ancient Green φυτόν (phutón), “plant”; phytocannabinoids are cannabinoids present in plants) but also endocannabinoids (from ancient Greek ἔνδον(éndon), “inner”, “internal”; endo-cannanbinoids are endogenous, internal to human body) activate specificneuronal receptors in the human body9; and these receptors form the endocannabinoid system, involved inmaintaining the body’s homeostasis10. Chemist have nowadays created artificial molecules that enter in thesame chemical family and activate the human endocannabinoid system: they are called neocannabinoids(from νέος (néos), “new”, “young”) and can only obtained by chemical synthesis.

7 UNODC, 2009.
8 Hazekamp et al., 2016
9 Hanuš et al., 2016
10 Komorowski et al., 2007

Paving the way for the next decade in Cannabis and hemp policies.

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Δ9-THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is the cannabinoid identified as being primarily responsible for theunique pharmacological effects of Cannabis, including the so-called “high”, but also an important part ofthe medical effects associated with the plant. While being the primary psychoactive constituent present in
Cannabis sativa plants, its effects are modulated by complex pharmacological interactions with more than
150 other cannabinoids thus far identified. Other well-known cannabinoid, CBD, however, does not provoke the“recreational” effect of ∆9-THC.

Sustainable Development Goal 1.
Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere.

NO POVERTY

End poverty in all its forms everywhere.

Paving the way for the next decade in Cannabis and hemp policies.

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GOAL 1: KEY POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONSThe Cannabis market is to a large extent
dominated by local cultivation and consumption.
Yet, Cannabis crops grown mostly by small foodproducers and family farmers are largely curtailed
and exploited by Drug Trafficking Organizations.

Imprisonment often means the removal of a family
or community member expected to contribute to theeconomic stability of the group. Alternatives to prison
should be systematized in the case of petty Cannabis
and drug policy offences.

There are traditional local implantation of thesecrops in many regions, and all major illicit Cannabisproducing areas are in developing countries. Policies
should ensure legal international trade benefits the
populations that have been growing Cannabis forgenerations.

Criminal records (which stigmatize and undermine
the offenders’ ability to reintegrate appropriately into
society, and collaterally affects labour, family, andeducation) should be erased.

Legally regulating psychoactivity-related
Cannabis are a direct way to economically empower
populations living in situations of poverty. Policy
reform should target vulnerable populations alreadyinvolved in illicit Cannabis-related activities andprioritize their inclusion in regulated markets.
Reasonable redistribution of the profits: The
high number of middlemen between growers
and consumers is a characteristic element ofillicit Cannabis markets – policy reforms should
reduce their number, or reduce middlemen’s profits
compared to those of growers and retailers.
Diversification in the type of Cannabis products
manufactured (health-related products, food, energy,
bioplastics, textile, etc.) should be seeked to reduce
farmers’ vulnerability to market price variations, andcontribute to local or self-sufficiency,.
Cannabis and hemp crops regulation programs
should be embedded within regional, national, andlocal agricultural strategies.

Crop eradication policies should be urgently
discontinued, as they destruct farmers’ sole means ofsurvival and push them further into poverty. Related
practices such as land seizure, crop fumigations
and other indiscriminate mass-eradication methods
must be stopped. New policies should repair asset
forfeiture, seizure of Cannabis farmers’ land, and set
up procedures of property claim and restitution.
Policy reforms should consider legal Cannabis
production as an outcome of Alternative
Development programs and strategies: Insteadof replacing Cannabis plants with other crops, AD
policies could focus on training and assisting farmers
in their transition from illegal to legal Cannabis
production settings.
It is crucial to proactively preserve the traditions
associated with the long-established cultivation ofCannabis while granting fair access to international
regulated markets.
Implementation of intellectual property
protections such as geographic indicators topreserve, enhance, and valorize traditional knowledge
and products, and to ensure fair and non-relocatableeconomic opportunities for the populations
concerned, is desirable.

10

Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Target 1.1
By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently
measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day.

Target 1.2
By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of
all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.

Target 1.5
By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations
and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme eventsand other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters.

Accelerate climate action for all Sustainable Development Goals.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
3- supply(b)

5- trends(v)

6- cooperation(d)

7- development(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l)Paving the way for the next decade in Cannabis and hemp policies.

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A multifactorial approach is needed to tackle poverty, and systemic changes are inevitably required. In thatregard, national laws legally regulating psychoactivity-related Cannabis are a direct but unexplored way toeconomically empower populations living in situations of poverty, and give everyone a chance to live in dignity.
The UNODC acknowledges that “the cannabis market [...] is to a large extent dominated by local cultivationand consumption”11. This includes, of course, a remarkable number of persons cultivating the plant for theirconsumption. However, the vast majority of Cannabis growers worldwide do cultivate it as an economical andincome-generating activity.
Populations in impoverished rural areas of peripheral countries are often the most vulnerable. Among them,
many have been involved in the (illicit) production of Cannabis, because of traditional local implantation ofthese crops, for lack of employment or a possible alternative legal activity, or by coercion in areas of conflict.
There, Cannabis crops grown mostly by small food producers and family farmers are largely curtailed andexploited by Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs).
Similarly, in urban areas, including in developed countries, people involved in illegal retail markets often
belong to minorities, vulnerable groups, and/or the youth.

Agriculture to reduce poverty.
Tilting the balance of illicit profits in favour of the poorest in the supply chain.
A public policy reform targeting vulnerable populations already involved in illicit Cannabis-related activities,
to prioritize their inclusion in a regulated market, is one way to explore directly impacting and increasing thequality of life for those populations, while providing them with fair economic and employment opportunities,
contributing to push the global poverty curve to a tipping point.
In complement, socially just regulations focusing on reducing the high number of middlemen between
growers and consumers (a characteristic element of illicit Cannabis markets) – or on reducing middlemen’s
profits compared to those of producers – would significantly increase resources for peasants, small-scale andfamily farmers, as well as for populations involved in the illicit retail markets.
Such a reasonable redistribution of the profits generated, to the bottom of the pyramidal structure of
Cannabis markets hierarchy would significantly reduce poverty. It would also help end situations of labour
exploitation of adults, children and young people, thus aligning with Goal 8.
A collateral output could be an increased capacity of farmers to invest in the diversification, mechanizationof their farms, leading to increases in product quality, sustainability, and production patterns. Importantly,
diversification in the type of Cannabis products manufactured (health-related products, food, energy,
bioplastics, textile, etc.) can reduce farmers’ vulnerability to market price variations.
These benefits, however, imply a democratic and transparent monitoring of crops and the technical training of
11 UNODC, 2011.

12

Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

the populations involved. Only embedding Cannabis crop regulation programs within regional, national, andlocal agricultural strategies can lead to these benefits.

Normalizing hemp fields in agricultural strategies worldwide.
Cannabis fields, in particular for non psychoactivity-related outcomes, have been a common site of humancivilization over the past centuries12, and a traditional farm crop of fiber and edible seed, used for selfsufficiency, economic growth and development. Where Cannabis cultivation is not traditional, it is also
possible to consider introducing annually renewable non psychoactivity-related Cannabis production for fiber,
paper13, fuel, and edible seeds. Again, normalizing hemp crops within national agricultural strategies is a way
to revitalize underdeveloped rural economies, by reducing the need for imported commodities.

A prohibition fuelling poverty
In itself, restrictive and punitive enforcement of Cannabis control policies has contributed to – if not
created – situations of impoverishment for people engaged in Cannabis-related illicit activities. The UNGASS
201614 recognized that “criminal justice and socioeconomic-related factors [...] may facilitate, drive, enable
and perpetuate organized crime and drug-related crime”15 and also called to “[intensify] efforts in thecontext of long-term and sustainable development programmes to address the most pressing drug-relatedsocioeconomic factors, including unemployment and social marginalization, conducive to their subsequent
exploitation by criminal organizations involved in drug-related crime.”16 There seem to be a consensus to
put an end to the vicious circle of prohibitive Cannabis and drug policies that fuel poverty, poverty fuelinginvolvement in DTOs, which fuel the reinforcement of harsher prohibitive policies… And the UNGASS 2016
consensus is right in pointing sustainable development programs as an appropriate way to counter thatnegative trend.

Eliminating criminal justice-related poverty.
An alarming number of prison sentences for offences related to Cannabis possession17, often resulting fromgeographic-, age-, or ethnic-profiled police controls, always disproportionate in light of the damage causedby the offender to society (personal possession, use, or even petty & non-violent trafficking, do not provoke
other harms than the ones to the very offender, and therefore cannot justify prison sentences), point out topossible systematic violations of human rights (in particular the right to privacy, the right not to be subject tocruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, etc.) and individual freedoms. It affects to a greater extent specificgroups (e.g., women, young people, migrants, native communities, LGBTIQ, people who use other drugs thanCannabis, etc.)18.
12 Smith-Heisters, 2008.
13 Dewey and Merrill, 1916.
14 UNGA, 2016.
15 ibid., see 3 (b)16 ibid., see 5 (v)
17 GCDP, 2014.
18 See Goals 10 and 16.

Paving the way for the next decade in Cannabis and hemp policies.

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The lack of alternatives to imprisonment, in particular of young people, often means the removal of a family
or community member expected to contribute to the economic stability of the group.
Even without going to jail, the consequences of a single arrest for Cannabis-related offenses may prevent
affected persons from acquiring skills that could have contributed to improving their standard of living. In
particular, having a criminal record – a standard output of police controls – can stigmatize and undermine
the offenders’ ability to reintegrate appropriately into society. It also collaterally affects labour, family, andeducation. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), “discrimination, a lack ofinvestment in health and social welfare, and laws criminalizing the use or possession of small amounts ofdrugs for personal use impede access to basic services such as housing, education or health care including
treatment”19 – fuelling poverty.
Ending such a vicious circle induced by prohibitionist policies could contribute to reducing an importantnumber of factors contributing to poverty.

Target 1.4
By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and thevulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access tobasic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property,
inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial
services, including microfinance.
Target 5.aUndertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as wellas access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property,
financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance withnational laws.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document

19 UNDP, 2015.

3- supply(b)

4- rights(d) (g)6- cooperation(d)

7- development(a) (b) (d) (j) (h)14Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Similarly to other controlled plants (e.g., poppy, coca), Cannabis is often produced in “isolated areas of theworld, where the state’s presence tends to be limited to law enforcement interventions to destroy illegal
crops and arrest farmers engaged in their cultivation. Many of these areas are also plagued by high levels of
inequality and unequal access to land tenure. The destruction of farmers’ sole means of survival does little
more than push them further into poverty.”20 Women often have an important role in these communities – andsuffer a disproportionate impact of law enforcement.
During the last decades, the lack of favourable public policies – limited only to repressive law enforcement,sustained counter-narcotic approaches, and crop-eradication – have caused the rights to the enjoyment ofownership and economic resources to be stripped away from vulnerable populations involved in Cannabis
cultivation or production.
Among others, some major elements hampering the fulfillment of target 1.4 are:•Seizures of farmers’ properties as a result of “supply reduction” operations and policies, whichannihilate ownership and control over land. Family farmers’ property titles, which have sometimes
taken generations to secure are forfeit in one day;•

In some countries, discriminatory laws prevent those who have criminal records related to Cannabis
policy infringement from purchasing properties;•

Ground and aerial crop fumigations and other indiscriminate mass-eradication methods severely
diminish natural resources and disrupt ecosystems. Future capacity of soils to produce viablecrops, of any kind, is undermined (see more in 2.4), thus depriving populations of a central source ofincome: agriculture;•

Control of Cannabis market by DTOs deepens the infrastructure and technology breaches in areas
under these organizations’ control.

Meeting targets 1.4 and 5.A means reforming policies that include asset forfeiture, seizure of Cannabis
farmers’ land, and to set up procedures of property claim and land restitution.

20 GCDP, 2018.

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15

Target 1.a
Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources,
including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide
adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least
developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty inall its dimensions.

Target 1.bCreate sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international
levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, tosupport accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
3- supply(b) (d)4- rights(i)

6- cooperation(a) (d) (e)7- development(b) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l)Mobilizing resources.
According to the list established by the US administration21, all major illicit Cannabis-producing countries aredeveloping countries. Historians have pointed out that this state of fact might be related to the concomitanceof decolonisation with the definition of the international drug control system22.
As such, there is particular potential for a legally regulated Cannabis industry to contribute to economic
growth worldwide. In developing countries, such a market can significantly change the game, helping people
find employment or starting businesses and incentivized trade across borders that will increase the economic
mobility of global citizens.

21 CIA, 2018.
22 Bewley-Taylor et al., 2014

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Cooperating for development.
Future legally regulated Cannabis markets should ensure that international trade benefits the populations
that have been growing it for generations and territories for which this crop has historically constituted partof the income.
Recent developments in the Global South (such as Lesotho23, Thailand24, Colombia25, three countries
with a tradition of psychoactivity-related Cannabis cultivation) show that countries are ready to allow thedevelopment of a locally regulated cultivation of Cannabis for medical purposes. Too often these reforms
only cover the production for purposes of export to reformed jurisdictions or countries where medical useof Cannabis and Cannabis-based medicines is allowed, while reforms should focus on local and regional
demands.
Special care should be taken when undertaking such reforms: Only granting licenses to foreign-owned
corporations risks undermining local development by hampering the integration into legal markets of thegrowers that were already producing Cannabis for the illicit market.
Furthermore, the granting of licenses for the production of psychoactivity-related Cannabis for medical
purposes should always go accompanied with the set up of the whole system provided for in the International
Drug Control Conventions: a national agency, and licenses for the manufacture, dispensation, prescription(when relevant), and use within the borders of the country.
A careful approach to legal regulations should be adopted, taking stock of the newly recognized Rights of
Peasants and people working in rural areas26, and using existing instruments of international cooperation,such as Alternative Development.

Rethinking Alternative Development in the context of regulated markets.
International cooperation in the field of development and poverty-reduction among Cannabis-producing
cultivating communities have always been focused on, and conditioned by, goals of crop-eradicationand crop-replacement. These programs, called “Alternative Development” (AD), are described as a way to“encourage producers of drug crops to shift to remunerative alternative crops such as cacao or coffee. When
properly implemented, alternative development can help farmers involved in illicit crops make the transition to
livelihoods not related to drugs”27.
Unfortunately, the concept and practices implied by AD have shown their limited efficiency, often lacking
clear strategies built and agreed with the farmers, minimal program funding, and ultimately met little
acceptance because of the close association of AD programs and military eradication procedures28. Thesebarriers are starting to be overcome in some countries where humane and horizontal approaches to AD
23 Tharoor, 2018.
24 Kaweewit, 2018.
25 Congreso de la República de Colombia, 2016; Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social de Colombia, 2017.
26 HRC, 2018.
27 OAS, 2013.
28 Alimi, 2018.

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programs have managed to reduce the cultivation of opium poppy. A major element that seems to make
Alternative Development programs structurally non-viable on a large scale: sustained demand continuously
drives the development of production, and the so-called “balloon effect”29, the observation that pushing down
cultivation in one region causes it to bulge somewhere else30.
In light of the recent developments in international trade in Cannabis plant derivatives, contemporary policies
could consider legal Cannabis production as an outcome of AD programs and strategies: Instead of replacing
Cannabis plants with other crops, Alternative Development could focus on training and assisting farmers
in their transition to legal settings. It is both feasible and desirable to help a sustainable transition of
populations involved in illicit trafficking by helping farmers to adapt soils, buy new seeds, or learn improved
and sustainable practices.
Comparatively, such a review of AD programs would provoke less opposition by populations, highlight andadd value to their traditional knowledge and empower them. Fewer resources would be needed, allowing
reallocation of part of the resources to interrelated needs (e.g., infrastructures, education, and the presence of
public services).
This approach could prevent farmers historically involved in Cannabis cultivation from being excluded
from legally regulated international markets. In that direction, Turkey undertook opium policy reforms that
could inspire: Its licensing system has maintained the 70000 to 100000 small-scale opium poppy farmers(cultivating an average 0.4 hectares per person)31 whose production (of morphine, among others) is legallysold and used in healthcare settings worldwide, instead of fuelling illicit trade in opioids.

Protecting traditional Cannabis-related knowledge and know-hows.
On these issues, sound policy frameworks and pro-poor development strategies cannot be deployed without
proper protection of traditional Cannabis farmers from the threats that global markets can represent in thecontext of a rapid post-prohibition transition. It is crucial to proactively preserve the traditions associatedwith the long-established cultivation of Cannabis while granting fair access to international regulated
markets. Countries such as Afghanistan, Colombia, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Lebanon,
Lesotho, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and others are areas where Cannabis has
an extensive historical presence. Not only do endemic plant cultivars/chemovars (often called “landrace
strains”) distinguish these regions, but specific cultivation, processing, extraction, or manufacturing
practices are also constituents of these traditional knowledge and cultural expressions.
Public policies should consider tools, such as protected geographic indicators to preserve, enhance, andvalorize traditional knowledge and products, and to ensure fair and non-relocatable economic opportunities
for the populations concerned.

29 UNODC, 2008.
30 The Economist, 2013.
31 Rolles, 2016.

ZERO HUNGER

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promotesustainable agriculture.

Sustainable Development Goal 2.
End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainableagriculture.

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GOAL 2: KEY POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONSCenturies of history showed it, and contemporary
research demonstrated it: Cannabis seeds are afunctional valuable and healthy food resource.
Besides traditional ways of eating Cannabis seeds
products, high nutritional value should lead to seedderived products being considered as important
agents in the fight against malnutrition.
Non-psychoactivity related Cannabis crops are aperfect candidate to contribute to increased valueadded and productivity in agricultural production. For
instance, substituting cotton with non psychoactivityrelated Cannabis crops can increase productivity
while drastically reducing water consumption for
irrigation.
Local “hemp seed” production for seeds can help
securing continued, cheap, equilibrated and essential
food supply in impoverished areas.
The high biomass production of Cannabis has
multiple advantages for to increasing efficiency andincome, while reducing costs for farmers (carbon
sequestration, weed control, but also recycling ofwaste and overproduction). Excess of plant biomass
can be turned into biochar to fertilize soils, bioplastic
materials or biofuel.
Increases focus should be placed on studying
the promising mechanisms of the Cannabis plant forphytoremediation and cleaning of soils contaminatedwith hazardous elements.
Countries should firmly implement non
psychoactivity-related Cannabis policies relying on
the total exemption from international drug control
measures of the 1961 Single Convention.

Genetic resources and associated traditional
knowledge on the Cannabis plant are invaluableassets determining the global food security,especially in the context of threats to biodiversity,
climate change and the expanding global population.
The rich international protections for traditional
medicine, knowledge and cultural expressions
must urgently apply to legacy Cannabis growers
communities.
Community-led initiatives to support and preserve
genetic diversity, as well as knowledge and knowhow regarding the Cannabis plant should be publicly
supported.
Stakeholder-driven approach to preserve genetic
resources and enhance communities’ accession
to legally regulated markets (such as Appellationsof Origin) should be supported and promoted, inparticular in peripheral and developing countries.
Laws restricting non psychoactivity-related
Cannabis cultivation to a list of selected registered“varieties” cause concern over the preservation of,and communities’ rights over, genetic resources,
practices, and knowledge associated with traditional(unregistered) cultivars/chemovars. It is also abarrier to innovation, research, and developmentof genetics of interest. Hemp crops should be
differentiated from psychoactivity-related crops using
the ratio methodology proposed by UNODC.

20

Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Target 2.1
By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poorand people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious andsufficient food all year round.

Target 2.2
By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, theinternationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5
years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant
and lactating women and older persons.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
3- supply(b)

6- cooperation(d)

The seeds of Cannabis sativa L. have been used as nutrition for thousands of years32 on all continents33.
Although the Cannabis seed has lost its place in our meals over the course of the XXth Century due to theoverall reduction of Cannabis cultivation for all purposes on the coattails of prohibitionist policies, a comeback of “hemp seed” in various forms of food products and supplements has taken place. Research has
identified so-called “hemp seed oil” as a functional food, while animal studies demonstrate the long-standing
utility of the Cannabis seed as a valuable and healthy34 food resource.
Cannabis seeds are generally composed of about 30% oil and 25% protein, with considerable amountsof dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals. The “hemp seed oil” obtained by mechanical extraction, contains
over 80% polyunsaturated fatty acids, being exceptionally rich linoleic acid (omega-6) and alpha-linolenicacid (omega-3) with an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio considered optimal for human health35. The biologicalmetabolites of the two essential fatty acids, gamma-linolenic acid and stearidonic acid are also present36.
Besides the traditional ways of consumption (seeds used raw or roasted, pressed as oils or ground as flour;
flowers used raw or in milk, teas, etc.), the high nutritional value of Cannabis seeds allow for fast mass scale
distribution of “hemp seed”-derived products to fight malnutrition37.
32 Schluttenhofer and Yuan, 2017.
33 See the example of South Africa: Coogan, 2016.
34 See also Target 3.4, section on “hemp and NCDs”.
35 INFMP, 2017.
36 Callaway, 2004.
37 New Indian Express, 2018.

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While value-added and productivity in general agriculture are relatively low compared to other sectors,
incorporating “hemp” could increase productivity in that segment. For instance, the Cannabis plant produces
twice as much fiber per acre as cotton and does not require irrigation. Substituting cotton with non
psychoactivity-related Cannabis crops would help increase productivity while drastically reducing water
consumption for irrigation. The cultivation of Cannabis for non psychoactivity-related purposes is alreadyeconomically advantageous in a short-term perspective, allowing for non psychoactivity-related Cannabis
crops to be a tool for programs of agricultural transition.
In peripheral and developing countries, a monitored transition to legal settings (as set out under Goal 1) would
allow illegal Cannabis growers to diversify their production and to locally supply Cannabis seeds-based
products, thus securing an essential food supply in impoverished areas.
Target 2.3
By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale
food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers,
pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land,
other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets
and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment.
Target 2.4
By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient
agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help
maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climatechange, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that
progressively improve land and soil quality.

Accelerate climate action for all Sustainable Development Goals.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
3- supply
3 (b) (d)4- rights(i)

6- cooperation(d)

7- development(b) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l)22

Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Taking advantage of the multiple uses of the plant.
The multiplicity of uses of the Cannabis plant allows, besides a diversification of finished products, torationalize plant wastes and overstock, in particular, to implement sustainable crop management practices
that increase vegetation production, reduce costs, build and maintain the quality of soils, and avoid the use ofagrochemicals.
The high biomass production of the Cannabis plant sequesters carbon, helps control weeds, and added
back into the soil can help build and improve the soil. Waste and overproduction can be turned into bedding
and fodder for farm animals, helping to increase efficiency and income, while reducing costs for the farmer.
Excess of plant biomass can be turned into biochar using a kiln and added back into the soil improving
nutrient and water retention while giving more surface area for microbial growth38.

Protecting the ecosystem with the Cannabis plant & policy reforms.
Chemical eradication programs launched in the name of reducing the supply of Cannabis plants have left
farmable land arid and poisonous. Putting an end to such practices is the first step to recovery of agricultural
productivity of all types of crops. Increased research also tends to show the benefits of the Cannabis plant forphytoremediation (i.e., cleaning up of soils, air, or water contaminated with hazardous contaminants)39.
Target 2.5
By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants andfarmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including
through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at thenational, regional and international levels, and promote access to and fair andequitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources
and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed.
Target 15.6
Promote fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilizationof genetic resources and promote appropriate access to such resources, asinternationally agreed.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
4- rights(i)
38 Amaducci et al., 2017.
39 More details and references under Target 15.3

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Encouraging the global discontinuation of the cultivation of a plant with such ethnobotanical importanceis by far the least possible sustainable decision to take. Yet it has been an underlying goal of international
drug control, in particular since the late 1980s, when the word “eradication” appeared in international fora,
resolutions, and Treaties40. Although the international drug system theoretically exempts all Cannabis plants
grown for non psychoactivity-related purposes, the difficult implementation of such policies (due to the lackof botanical distinction between “hemp” and Cannabis for psychoactivity-related purposes) has lead to adramatic decrease in the world production of “hemp”, since the adoption of the 1961 Convention on narcotic
drugs (see graph below41). This context has also dramatically impacted the biodiversity of Cannabis42.
Countries should firmly implement “hemp” policies relying on the total exemption from international drug
control measures planned in the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs43.

Supporting community-based seed banks and initiatives to safeguard genetics.
According to Javaid Akhter Bhat from Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology,“Plant genetic resource and associated traditional knowledge are the invaluable assets determining the
global food security especially with expanding global population and climate change. They provide important
genes/alleles governing resistance to biotic and abiotic stress that are usually available in wild species
and landraces. A number of activities such as increasing population growth, urbanization, clearing of land,
overgrazing, the cutting and smoldering of forests, indiscriminate use of fertilizers and pesticides, loss ofhabitat, climate change, war, and civil strife have impacted negatively that destroyed natural habitats and40 “Each Party shall take appropriate measures to prevent illicit cultivation of and to eradicate plants containing narcotic or psychotropic
substances, such as opium poppy, coca bush and cannabis plants, cultivated illicitly in its territory.” (UNODC, 2013. 1988 Convention,
Article 14(2)).
41 FAO, 2018.
42 Clarke and Merlin, 2013.
43 UNODC, 2013. See Article 28.

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

threatened the genetic diversity of crop species as well as associated traditional knowledge. The plant genetic
diversity has become highly vulnerable to “genetic erosion,” and traditional knowledge too faces serious
levels of erosion. In addition, the plant genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge are subjected
to misuse and misappropriation known as “biopiracy.” Therefore, to address these complex issues of plant
genetic resources and traditional knowledge, a number of international instruments/policies have beendeveloped over the years in the form of treaties, conventions, agreements, etc., to promote conservation andaccess of plant genetic resources and traditional knowledge. These policies also promote benefit sharing
arising out of the utilization of these resources as well as prevent the misuse of plant genetic resources andtraditional knowledge through intellectual property protection.”
This evidently includes Cannabis, in the case of which the above-mentioned threats are aggravated bydecades of prohibition. The new international policy context favourable to the protection of genetic
resources, the rights of peasants44, the rights of indigenous people, traditional knowledge (TK), traditional
medicine (T&CM), and traditional cultural expressions needs to apply urgently to traditional Cannabis
growers and their communities.
Facing both anthropogenic and policy threats, farmers and Cannabis growers have organized globally inreaction to, in particular, the attempts of “eradication”. They increased knowledge and know-how regarding
the botany and genetics of the Cannabis plant, and even created seed banks, contributing to the preservation
and research on the plant’s genetic diversity.
In the State of California, at a critical moment in the development of its Cannabis policy regulations, farmers
and policymakers are working to secure a statutory program which safeguards communities’ genetic
diversity and traditional knowledge with rigorous intellectual property protections. Such a stakeholderdriven approach to genetic resources could lead to the development of labels such as Appellations of Origin(AO)45 and set a precedent that could have significant repercussions throughout the world, including those inperipheral and developing countries.
Appellation of Origin applied to legacy Cannabis-producing regions fulfills the need to match Cannabis
with the new framework of international legal instruments on genetic resources, the rights of peasants,
traditional medicine, TK and cultural expressions – while expanding public access to associated production
supply, including pharmaceutical preparations with verifiable production and product quality standards.
Other initiatives from civil society and the private sector have emerged, such as an archival record of existing
Cannabis cultivars/chemovars46, with the double aim to fill in gaps of the historic record and to preserve thegenetic integrity of these cultivars/chemovars beyond the current trend of patenting Cannabis genetics en
masse. Such initiatives should be supported internationally, even by countries that are still under prohibitive
laws, in order to avoid excluding themselves from the benefits yielded by the development of Cannabis-related
patent in the future.

44 Human Rights Council, 2018.
45 The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) defines Appellations of Origin as “the geographical denomination of a country,
region, or locality, which serves to designate a product originating therein, the quality or characteristics of which are due exclusively or
essentially to the geographical environment, including natural and human factors.” in WIPO, s.d.
46 See: Open Cannabis Project at opencannabisproject.org

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Ending registers of chemovars and restrictions over cultivation of Cannabis for food purposes.
To differentiate the psychoactivity-related from non psychoactivity-related Cannabis crops, decision-makers
have generally chosen between three options: extending the prohibition to all types, limiting the maximum
allowed percentage of ∆9-THC in the plant’s products, or restricting “hemp” cultivation to a list of selected
cultivars/chemovars. This latter method of allowing only registered strains to be cultivated, implemented
in China, Canada, or the European Union47, is an issue causing concern over the preservation of, andcommunities’ rights over, genetic resources, practices, and knowledge associated with unregistered plant
chemovars. It is also a barrier to innovation, research, and development of genetics of interest.
Likewise, is is important to note that there is no scientific evidence whatsoever showing that chemovars low
in ∆9-THC produce better quality nor quantity of seed or fiber than the higher ∆9-THC plant chemovars. Hemp
crops should be differentiated from psychoactivity-related crops using the ratio methodology proposed by
the UNODC, which describes a “simple way of distinguishing between drug-type and fibre-type cannabis is byusing the ratio of the main cannabinoids, THC, CBN and CBD”48:

47 European Commission, 2019.
48 UNODC, 2009 p. 20, section 3.15 “Drug-type versus fibre-type cannabis.” See also: De Meijer et al., 1992.

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Sustainable Development Goal 3.
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

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GOAL 3: KEY POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Herbal Cannabis and compounded
phytocannabinoid pharmaceuticals contribute to
the diversity and thoroughness of contemporary
medical practitioners’ toolkits, in particular facing
non-communicable diseases. It is vital to foster
independent publicly-funded research.

a reduction in overall prevalence of opioid use
disorders, healthcare systems should consider
Cannabis as a therapeutic adjunct or complement to
opioid prescription treatments – in particular in thecontext of the “synthetic opioids crisis” – as well as
in illicit opioid use substitution therapies.

Promising therapeutic potential has been pointed
out, to combat nausea, vomiting, anorexia, cachexia,
spasticity, Tourette’s syndrome and other movement
disorders, inflammatory bowel disease and irritablebowel syndrome, pain, pruritus, glaucoma, some
sorts of epilepsy, asthma, sleep disorders, opioid
dependency and withdrawal, some psychiatric
symptoms, hyperactivity, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease,autoimmune diseases, inflammation and allergies.
Healthcare systems should provide immediate
compassionate access to patients in these medical
conditions, and undertake proper policy regulations
to provide safe and legal medical access to a variety
of formulations of Cannabis and cannabinoids.

There is also preliminary evidence supporting
beneficial effect of Cannabis in benzodiazepine
use reduction or alcohol use disorder withdrawal,
while it has been shown that high prevalence ofCannabis use is statistically associated with low
rates of premature deaths. These element should beconsidered in the design of public health strategies
on non-communicable diseases.

Although Cannabis use can eventually generate
health hazards, overall use disorders rate are
relatively low, and serious adverse events are rare.
Prevention and education to safe, empowered andsensible consumption patterns and methods are theonly tools known for reducing adverse effects andpotential harms.
Herbal Cannabis should be further explored
tools for nicotine cessation strategies, in particular
low-THC herbal Cannabis, in countries where “joints”
commonly include tobacco.
Because prescription herbal Cannabis andcannabinoids are always associated with a decreasein the prescription of opioid painkillers, and because
the degree of access to Cannabis and cannabinoids
for medical purposes positively correlates with

Food and food-products made from Cannabis
seeds are rich in protein, essential amino acids,
glutamic acid, and supply the exact ratio of essential
fatty acids omega-6 and omega-3 the human bodyrequires. They should be considered, for instance, toreplace animal-proteins.
There are real risks related to the presence of
impurities and adulterants in herbal Cannabis,
resin, extracts or other products manufactured inillegal settings. There is urgent need for increased
pharmacovigilance, normalization of Cannabis
product production and testing options (forconsumers), efficient share and use of collected databy local health and social workers, and training inharm reduction interventions are necessary.
Driving motor vehicles on the basis of simple
presence of cannabinoids should cease to becriminalized. Bioassays must be abandoned, andpolice forces trained to carry out psychometrictests; administrative sanctions could apply only inthe cases of actual impaired driving, on the basis of
psychometric tests.

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Target 3.3
By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected
tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and othercommunicable diseases.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
1- demand(i) (o)2- availability(a) (b) (d) (e)6- cooperation(d)Cannabis and its derivatives as pharmaceutical products, and cannabinoids as components of medical
preparations, have shown to be essential elements that contribute to the diversity and thoroughness ofmodern medical practitioners’ toolkits.
The current status of scheduling and international control over Cannabis products (expected to change
soon49) has discouraged, if not directly impeded, scientific research on the medical potential of Cannabis andphytocannabinoids – particularly because publicly funded research has focused primarily only on its “abusepotential”.

Cannabis medicines for people living with HIV/AIDS.
There exists a great body of observational studies, reports and experiences showing the benefit of cannabis
for those living with AIDS, and clinical studies have started to appear, quickly evidencing some therapeutic
applications of phytocannabinoids. Since 1985, dronabinol (an alternative name for ∆9-THC, a naturally
occurring cannabinoid in the plant50) has received approval for the treatment of anorexia associated withweight loss in patients with AIDS and nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy in patients
who have failed to respond adequately to conventional antiemetic treatments51. It has been one of the firstrecognized medical applications of a Cannabis derivative since the World Health Organization (WHO) declaredin 1954 that “there should be an extension of efforts towards the abolition of cannabis from all legitimate
medical practice”52.
Beyond nausea, vomiting and anorexia, other research, contemplated by the WHO in their scientificassessment of Cannabis, covers pathologies and symptoms, such as: cachexia, spasticity, Tourette’s
syndrome and other movement disorders, inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome, pain,
pruritus, glaucoma, epilepsy, asthma, sleeping disorders, dependency and withdrawal, psychiatric symptoms,
49 Riboulet-Zemouli, 2019.
50 Ibid., for the clarifications about naturally occurring “dronabinol”.
51 Insys Therapeutics, 1985.
52 Riboulet-Zemouli et al., 2018.

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hyperactivity, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune diseases, inflammation to name the most documented
ones53. The European Union drugs agency recognized in December 2018 that, although evidence was missing,
the potential benefits of Cannabis-based and cannabinoid medicines were relevant for “Nausea and vomiting
associated with cancer chemotherapy”, as an “Appetite stimulant in patients with AIDS-related wasting”, for“Muscle spasm in patients with multiple sclerosis”, “CNCP, including neuropathic pain”, “Palliative care forcancer”, “Intractable childhood epilepsy”, and “other medical uses, such as sleep disorders, anxiety disorders,
depression, degenerative neurological disorders, and inflammatory bowel disease”54, and recently, the WHO
declared that a “number of countries have explored potential therapeutic applications of cannabis-derived
products or cannabis-based medicines. This interest has resulted in a rapid rise in quality scientific work on
the medical use of cannabis-derived products, and there is evidence that these products can have effective
therapeutic applications.”55
Given this growing evidence, it is vital to foster independent research by promoting public investment. But
in the meantime, healthcare systems should provide immediate compassionate access to patients in these
medical conditions, and undertake proper policy regulations to provide safe and legal medical access to avariety of formulations of Cannabis and cannabinoids.

53 National Academies of Sciences Engineering Medicine, 2017.
54 EMCDDA, 2018(2).
55 WHO, 2018.

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Target 3.4
By 2030, reduce by one-third premature mortality from non-communicablediseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health andwell-being.

Target 3.5
Strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including
narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol.

Target 3.aStrengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries, as appropriate.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
1- demand(i) (o)2- availability(a) (d) (e)6- cooperation(d)

Besides the positive applications of Cannabis and Cannabis-based medicines for the treatment of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and in the relief of NCDs’ symptoms, achieving targets 3.4 and 3.5 also intends toaddress and reduce Cannabis products-use disorders and use-related harms.

Management of Cannabis use disorders for health.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) counted between 165 and 234 million people using
psychoactivity-related Cannabis products worldwide56.
Use disorders are estimated to affect 9% of adult people who use herbal Cannabis during their lifetime57.
Although data is difficult to aggregate, it is interesting to compare these numbers to those referring to lifetime
56 UNODC, 2018(1).
57 Hall and Pacula, 2010; Anthony, 2006.

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users of tobacco (32% for nicotine), heroin (23%, cocaine (17%) and alcohol (15%)58. Positive public healthoutcomes have been achieved in terms of prevalence of use and use disorders related to tobacco and alcohol,
but only thanks to public health evidence-based approaches (mainly prevention, quality controls, and nonstigmatizing healthcare systems).
Regular adult Cannabis use has moderate outputs on individual health. These are subtle, and extremely rarely,
fatal. According to the European Monitoring Center on Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) the “shortterm health risks associated with the medical use of cannabis and cannabinoids, as reported in trials, weresimilar to those of other commonly used medicines and related to symptoms such as dizziness, dry mouth,
disorientation, nausea, euphoria, confusion and somnolence. Serious adverse events were rare.”59
Tackling Cannabis use disorders and adverse effects is possible and is a key element to contribute to bettermental health and well-being for all. And so far, prevention and education to safe, empowered and sensible
consumption patterns and methods are the only tools known for reducing adverse effects and potential
harms60.
In the last 30 years, harm reduction has positioned itself as an efficient method to tackle chronic drug-related
use disorders61. Driven by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, physicians and peer user groups have developed strategies
aimed at minimizing the consequent adverse, individual, public health, and social consequences of drug use
disorders. Harm reduction covers appropriate therapy programmes, thoughtful consumption devices andequipment, analysis of the products composition, potency, and contaminants, and other similar interventions
that prioritize health determinants and well-being over substance use withdrawal. A complete spectrum of
harm reduction practices, tools, and commodities are nowadays mainstream in healthcare systems, althoughinsufficient. Yet, Cannabis-related use has also been a focus of harm-reductionists, and strategies to tackle
Cannabis product-related abuse and dependence exist.62
Most developments of harm reduction practices has happened at the community-level, while national policies
and strategies were focusing on “drug supply reduction” over individual and public health approaches. Healthoriented programs and strategies were mostly taking the form of coercive or compulsory treatment, aimed
at reaching abstinence. These State-led approaches have shown their inefficiency at preventing the use,
addressing use disorders, and in reducing harms of substances.
Today’s lege artis good practices clearly orient health action on drugs and Cannabis towards education,
prevention, and harm reduction, in particular through information on composition, the presence ofcontaminants, and titration (e.g., product analysis), but also with education and assistance to safe routes ofadministration routes (e.g., vaporization). Public policies should take stock of the achievements of locallydesigned and implemented harm reduction programs, and increase funding and technical support for healthand social care professionals.

58 Anthony et al., 1994.
59 EMCDDA, 2018(2). See “summary”, page 16.
60 See Goal 4.
61 Harm Reduction International, s.d.
62 Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy, 2018; International

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Cannabis to tackle NCD-related premature deaths.
Epidemiological research suggests that the use of Cannabis psychoactive products may decrease premature
deaths. The prevalence of Cannabis use is indeed statistically associated with reduced rates of obesity,
diabetes mellitus, mortality from traumatic brain injury, driving fatalities, use of alcohol, use of prescription
medicines, and opioid overdose-related deaths63. Although these are not conclusive studies, modern
research indicates pathways for Cannabis and cannabinoid medicines to contribute to the prevention of noncommunicable diseases-related deaths.
Medical research has increased interest in evaluating the potential of Cannabis-based medicines forwidespread NCDs, such as asthma and respiratory diseases, alcohol use disorder withdrawal, or the
reduction in benzodiazepine use64. The study of CB1 and CB2 receptors65 in the human body’s immune
system cells is starting to show the way endocannabinoids function as immunomodulators. This knowledge
provides an opening for cannabinoids as promisingly useful therapeutic agents66 to combat oxidativeassociated diseases, cerebrovascular accidents, such as thromboembolic or hemorrhagic stroke, autoimmune
diseases (Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes), free radical diseases, inflammatory diseases, lupus,
cataract formation, gastric ulcers, and neoplasia among others.
Harm reduction approaches have also been shown to reduce risk factors for a number of NCDs. Recent
studies have focused on the possible properties of cannabidiol (or “CBD”, one of the naturally-occurringcannabinoids of the Cannabis plant) as an intervention tool for substance use disorders67.

Balancing negative and positive effects of cannabinoids in the treatment of cancers.
Evidence shows that the use of Cannabis products themselves do not increase lung, head, or neck cancers68;
however, consumption patterns (i.e., mixed with tobacco) can be a factor of increased risk of cancer. Such a
threat can be tackled with appropriate harm reduction and education to safe and healthy uses and routes ofadministration69. Beyond this minor direct incidence of the use of Cannabis on cancers70, there is “a wealth of
preclinical literature [demonstrating] that cannabinoids reduce cancer cell proliferation, inducing apoptosis inthese cells, as well as inhibiting cancer cell migration and angiogenesis in numerous cancer cell types”71.

63 Bradford et al., 2018; and Wen and Hockenberry, 2018.
64 Purcell et al., 2019.
65 “The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a widespread neuromodulatory system that plays important roles in central nervous system(CNS) development, synaptic plasticity, and the response to endogenous and environmental insults. The ECS is comprised of cannabinoid
receptors, endogenous cannabinoids (endocannabinoids), and the enzymes responsible for the synthesis and degradation of the endocannabinoids. The most abundant cannabinoid receptor is the CB1 cannabinoid receptors, however CB2 cannabinoid receptors, transient
receptor potential (TRP) channels, and peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPAR’s) are also engaged by some cannabinoids.
Exogenous cannabinoids, such as tetrahydrocannabinol, produce their biological effects through their interactions with cannabinoid
receptors” (Lu and Mackie, 2016).
66 Samson et al., 2003.
67 Prud’homme et al., 2015.
68 Arnold, 2018.
69 See above under “Management of Cannabis use disorders for health”, and under Goal 4.
70 McAllister, 2015. See also Technion (s.n).
71 Arnold, 2018.

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33

Furthermore, Cannabis-based medicines can be seen as a reinforcing complement in traditional cancer
treatment72.

Exploring the potential of Cannabis in opioid use withdrawal and substitution therapies.
Increased research has shown that Cannabis and cannabinoids interact with opioid receptors in a mannerthat can be understood, monitored, and integrated into treatment designs. Places with a historical overview ofthe legal uses of Cannabis products for medical purposes bring interesting data from pharmacovigilance andepidemiology studies: The increased availability of prescription
Prescription herbal Cannabis and cannabinoids are always associated with a decrease in the prescription of
opioid painkillers73. Furthermore, the degree of access to Cannabis and cannabinoids for medical purposes
seems to be positively correlated with the reduction of opioid use disorders74.
This can bring added therapeutic value in prescription drug programs for pain75, allowing opioid-cannabinoid
intermixed treatments and reducing the adversity of opioid use disorders. Cannabinoids could also becontemplated in illicit opioid use substitution therapies, in association with conventional pharmaceutical tools.

Fighting tobacco and nicotine use disorders: modulating herbal Cannabis use disorders.
Dried flowers & fruits of psychoactivity-related Cannabis (known as “buds”, “flowers” or “herbal Cannabis”)
with low levels of ∆9-THC are sold legally in a number of countries, including in some jurisdictions where
the possession or use of Cannabis-based products is theoretically prohibited. In Switzerland, these herbal
Cannabis products – sold as tobacco substitutes76 – are used by regular cannabis consumers to mitigate their
THC intake77. Cannabis-based products are indeed promising tools for tobacco cessation strategies78.
In addition to low-THC herbal Cannabis, which is promoted as a tobacco-replacement in mixed tobacco-herbal
Cannabis joint cigarettes (a common practice in some parts of the world, like Northern-Africa and Europe),
so-called “e-liquids” containing CBD, for use in electronic cigarettes, might help mitigate the craving effects
associated with tobacco dependence, while diverting users from combustion as a route of intake.
There are also pathways to using low-∆9-THC and/or high-CBD Cannabis products as substitution tools to
address high-∆9-THC herbal Cannabis use disorders.
These are important elements which are key to implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control.

72 See also under target 3.3.
73 Lucas, 2012; Bradford et al., 2018; and Wen and Hockenberry, 2018.
74 Powell et al., 2018.
75 Boehnke et al., 2016 pp. 739-744.
76 Swiss Confederation, 2018.
77 Zobel et al., 2019.
78 Bouso, s.d.

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Rethinking home-growing as a positive behavioural therapy.
In every case of the potential use of Cannabis products for substitution strategies – and potentially beyond,such as for elderly79 – modern treatments can enhance positive effects through a holistic approach that relieson the concept of “therapeutic horticulture”80 considering plants from cultivation to consumption as a nonpharmacological therapeutic agent. This approach sees gardening as an evidence-based81 way to positively
affect a range of problems, including reducing aggression, lowering levels of cortisol, reducing anxiety or
depression, improving concentration and self-esteem.

“Hemp” Cannabis vs NCDs.
Food and food products made from Cannabis seeds supply the exact ratio of essential fatty acids omega-6
and omega-3 the human body requires82 as well as provide essential amino acids in the form of Edestin
protein, a molecule similar to the human body’s globular proteins found in blood plasma, which is easily
digestible, and that produces antibodies which are vital to maintaining a healthy immune system. Cannabis
seed protein also contains a favorable amount of glutamic acid, a neurotransmitter that helps people deal withpsychological stress.

Target 3.6
By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic
accidents.

The relation of Cannabis and cannabinoids with road traffic accidents is difficult to establish83, due to thedifficulty in determining whether people are under the influence at the moment of the traffic accident: Most
data refer to people having consumed Cannabis products prior to the accident, not necessarily being under the
influence.
In studies of non-fatal collisions, and when levels involved are below 5 nanograms of ∆9-THC per milliliter ofblood, most case-control studies revealed no increase, if not a decrease of the risks of having a road traffic
accident84. And indeed, the well-known empirically safe patterns of driving by people who use Cannabis
products adds to the difficulty of weighing the pros and cons.
79 See the video of the conference “Case Study - Cannabis & Elderly People: Harm Reduction, Hospice & Palliative Care” from the International Cannabis Policy Conference (2018): youtu.be/RXtl1yhSXZE
80 American Horticultural Therapy Association, 2013.
81 Van Den Berg, 2005.
82 See also Goal 2.
83 Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, 2017.
84 Ramaekers et al., 2002; Meulemans et al., 1996; Marquet et al., 1998; Movig et al., 2004; and Waller et al., 1997; as referenced by
Bertrand, 2018.

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The analysis of data over 22 years has shown that laws permitting medical cannabis do not have a significant
effect on the number of people who use Cannabis products involved in fatal road traffic accidents85.
A recent meta-analysis86 and national data on road accidents87, which included a comparison on the notionof recent consumption (either by blood test or by self-report), concluded that the added risk of having an
accident is 1.92 for Cannabis products, compared to 8.5 for alcohol, 3 for the use of mobile phone whiledriving, and 2 for benzodiazepines88.
Yet, Norwegian researshers found that people who use Cannabis are “far more likely to have lost their rightto drive than those in treatment for alcohol problems.”89 Trace amounts of cannabinoids in blood are typicallydetectable for 1 to 2 days after the moment of consumption, although there are reports where detection was
still positive after 25 days90. In urine, ∆9-THC is detectable during between 3 and 30 days after the momentof consumption91. In a review of presence of cannabinoids in human oral fluids (saliva), it was found that
detection was possible from 1 to 3 days after the moment of consumption for occasional users, and between
1 to 29 days for regular users92.
However, not only the machines used for saliva testing are woefully unreliable93 and unpredictable94, but theuse of drug saliva tests by law enforcement cause serious concerns in terms of discrimination95: Saliva tests
used for Cannabis often entail administrative or penal consequences when the mere presence of cannabinoids
is detected96 – while there is an evidence-based threshold for alcohol, below which drivers are not considered“under the influence”97. In other jurisdictions, arbitrary thresholds lacking any base of evidence are used todetermine when penal sanctions should apply, although these thresholds are unrelated with the effect of the
product98. As traces of cannabinoids can be present for several weeks, drivers can be tested positive evenafter the effects of the product have stopped for days99.
In addition, Martinez Óro and Romaní Alfonso (2016, p. 39) note that “in cases of accidents, liability is
attributed without any doubt to the driver under the effects of a controlled substance. Demonstrating to theinsurers that the main cause were climatic factors or third parties, and not drugs, represents a titanic task.”
Evidence-based policies should be applied in all cases. And laws proven to be discriminative should
be repealed. Driving motor vehicles on the basis of simple presence of cannabinoids should cease to
85 Sevigny, 2018.
86 Asbridge et al., 2012.
87 Laumon et al., 2005; Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale, 2001.
88 Thomas, 1998. See also Sevigny 2018, Asbridge et al. 2012, Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale, 2001.
89 Nafstad, 2019.
90 Verstraete, 2004.
91 Moeller et al., 2016.
92 Lee and Huestis, 2013; and Verstraete, 2004.
93 Samyn and Van Haeren, 2000.
94 Logan et al., 2014.
95 Brotons, 2018.
96 Although Karschner (2009) explains in the conclusion of their research that “These findings also may impact the implementation of
per se limits in driving under the influence of drugs legislation.”
97 Martínez Oró and Romaní Alfonso, 2016 p. 39.
98 Karschner et al., 2009.
99 Cifuentes, 2017.

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

be criminalized. But given the impossibility of determining thresholds incompatible with driving from themeasurement of THC levels in the blood, and given the lack of clear causal connection between Cannabis use
and road traffic accidents and fatalities, Bertrand (2018) recommends to “abandon bioassays, and train police
forces to carry out psychometric tests to determine the cases of impaired driving” and to only punish withadministrative sanctions “impaired driving (on the basis of psychometric tests).”100
Target 3.dStrengthen the capacity of all countries, in particular developing countries, forearly warning, risk reduction and management of national and global healthrisks.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
1- demand(o)

3- supply(h)

6- cooperation(d)

Early warning alerts for health-related risk reduction matters under illegal Cannabis markets. Risks of
impurities, contaminants and adulteration of herbal Cannabis (as well as resin, extracts or other products
manufactured in illegal settings) is real. International institutions have documented Cannabis resin sold in
the illicit market as containing harmful contaminants from 1953101 to present102. The variety and variability of
cutting agents used in Cannabis resin constitutes a major health risk and hazard. Feedbacks from “users andcannabis watchers often mention the presence, sometimes in large quantities, of soil, henna, paraffin wax,
bee wax, rosin, glue, flour, liquorice, milk powder, coffee, used motor oil, animal excrement, or even medical
drugs”103, and are supported by the results of the British Cannabis Resin Impurities Survey Project (CRISP)104,
which found that resin seized often showed very high levels of contaminants, sometimes up to 80% of theweight of the product.
Increased pharmacovigilance, normalization of Cannabis product production and testing analysis (both by
relevant public authorities and by civil society and the private sector), efficient share and use of collected
data by local health and social workers, and training in harm reduction interventions are necessary steps tostrengthen countries’ early warning and risk reduction systems facing drug use-related hazards.

100 Bertrand, 2018. See under section “Les recommandations politiques NORML France”
101 UNODC, 1953.
102 EMCDDA, 2012.
103 Chouvy, 2016.
104 “Cannabis Resin Impurities Survey Project conducted preliminary research in 2001 on five samples of Moroccan ‘soap-bar’ resin provided by Customs & Excise. It was found that the psychoactive adulterants included glue (benzene and toluene), ketamine, caffeine, andaspirin – while other additives, varying in toxicity, included liquorice, milk powder, boot polish, beeswax, turpentine, henna, vinyl, motor oil,dyes, pine resin, animal shit, soil, and phenols” (Montgomery, 2002).

QUALITY EDUCATION

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all.

Sustainable Development Goal 4.
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all.

38

Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

GOAL 4: KEY POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
The barriers to research and the lack ofknowledge-sharing that prohibition has resulted
in numerous gaps in ethnobotanical, health andsafe consumption knowledge, that public policies
should seek to promote prevention and education
on Cannabis products use that is grounded inevidence-based information, non-judgmental, open tointeractive dialogue, meaningfully inclusive, deliveredby trained facilitators or peers, that includes harm
reduction, and that pays attention to overlapping
issues of racism, social justice, and stigma.
Evidence-based and peer-led education andprevention in primary schools is necessary to help
young people make smarter, more informed choices
on Cannabis products use later on.
Governments should shift public spendingon drugs, from law enforcement to health (inparticular harm reduction, prevention, and education
programs).

The knowledge gap on the professions required
to operate in legally regulated Cannabis markets(biosciences, horticultural, agronomics, consumers
good fabrication, sales, etc.) should benefit fromthe financial resources created by Cannabis market
regulations, to fund professionals’ training, as well as
cultural and environmental education.
A way to provide opportunities for youth andadults with efficient, but unrecognized technicaland entrepreneurship skills related to Cannabis:
funding educational programs that target young
adults already involved in illegal Cannabis-related
activities (in particular cultivation, processing, andretail) to enhance existing skills while dignifying andpreserving traditional knowledge.

Paving the way for the next decade in Cannabis and hemp policies.

39

Target 4.4
By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who haverelevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment,
decent jobs and entrepreneurship.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
3- supply(b)

7- development(h) (j)

The increased financial resources introduced by Cannabis market regulations can be partly redirected
towards the training of the professionals required to operate in regulated markets (biosciences, horticultural,agronomics, consumers good fabrication, sales, etc.). They can also be shunted to cultural and environmental
education. Such educational programs, targeting young adults already involved in illegal Cannabis-related
activities (in particular cultivation, processing, and retail), would enhance existing skills while dignifying andpreserving TK. These are ways to provide opportunities for legal employment outcomes for youth and adults
with efficient, but unrecognized technical and entrepreneurship skills.

Target 4.7
By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed
to promote sustainable development, including, among others, througheducation for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, humanrights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence,
global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s
contribution to sustainable development.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
1- demand(a) (c) (d) (e) (h) (g) (i) (o) (q)4- rights(f)

6- cooperation(d)

7- development(h) (j)40

Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

A non-stigmatizing, non-discriminatory, evidence-informed, and realistic address of the effects ofpsychoactive plants, products, and substances, such as Cannabis – although absolutely necessary105– is nearly impossible in a prohibitionist setting. Evidence-based and peer-led education and prevention
in primary schools helps empower young people to make smarter, more informed choices on drug andpsychoactive products use later on106.
Increasing the creation and dissemination of all knowledge concerning the Cannabis plant would contributeto the appreciation of cultural diversity and the preservation of ethnobotanical knowledge, facilitating a cultureof sustainable development. Increased research and non-stigmatizing, non-discriminatory, evidence-informed,
and unbiased prevention and education are also urgently needed for quality modern education programs andsystems.
Ethnobotanical knowledge and information about Cannabis have been minimal during the last decades.
This is related to the barriers preventing research and the lack of knowledge-sharing the international drug
control system has caused, but also partly due to stigmatization and criminalization, which have promoted
bias and legitimated misinformation. These factors have impeded the dissemination of harm reduction
information related to the use of products derived from the Cannabis plant. A comprehensive compilationof efficient contemporary education and prevention for Cannabis use, focused on the youth, defined theprinciples that should guide education programs on Cannabis use: grounded in evidence-based information;
non-judgmental, open dialogue that uses interactive approaches; meaningfully inclusive; delivered by atrained facilitator or by a peer; an education started earlier, with age-appropriate content; supportive to open
parent-child communication; including harm reduction; tailored to the specific context; and paying attention
to overlapping issues of racism, social justice, and stigma107. These approaches can be promoted by publichealth policies108, and even meet with the international WHO guidelines for prevention and primary care109.
However, harm reduction and honest, evidence-based prevention are the only public policy tools that haveshown efficiency in mitigating the adverse public health effects of Cannabis products use. Because inalmost every country, “spending on drug control exceeds investment in harm reduction”110 and prevention, it
is urgent that authorities start shifting their drug and Cannabis policy budgets towards an increase in publicfunding for education, prevention and harm reduction programs.
Many young people grow up in areas where DTOs are actively implemented, and economic activity is centeredaround illicit crops, mainly Cannabis. Proposing alternative legally regulated livelihoods associated with thisplant could greatly contribute to the promotion of a culture of peace, non-violence, and the rule of law111.

105 Werb and Maghsoudi, 2015.
106 Peyraube, 2015.
107 See Goal 4; and Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy, 2018; Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (s.d);
Werb and Maghsoudi, 2015.
108 Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (s.d).
109 See Díaz Velásquez et al., 2016, pp. 95-101
110 Harm Reduction International, s.n.
111 Romani Gerner, 2017.

GENDER EQUALITY

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Sustainable Development Goal 5.
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

42

Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

GOAL 5: KEY POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Decriminalization of petty, non-violent Cannabisrelated offences is key to protecting women, that are
the focus of criminal prosecution, and systematicallyface disproportionate penalties, and degradantconditions of incarceration.
Specific criminal justice measures targeting
women (e.g., withdrawal of child custody, hamperingof the exercise of family rights) must be abolishedwithout delay.
National and local health systems andprogrammes should pay specific attention to thespecificities of female Cannabis use, and genderspecific differences in health prevention, primarycare and treatment approaches, as gender conditions
are recognized as a problematic barrier in accessing
healthcare systems.

The differential impact of the Cannabis-related
problems and policies on women calls for thedesign, development, and implementation of specificframeworks to promote, enforce, and monitor
gender equality and non-discrimination. Policies
and strategies regarding Cannabis products use &health should adopt woman-specific approaches,
and include and consult with women and affected
populations at all levels.
Female leadership in the legal Cannabis industry
is superior to that of other market sectors, which
deserves monitoring and encouragement.
Policies that include asset forfeiture and seizureof a Cannabis farmers’ land must be repealed, as
they predominantly and disproportionately affectwomen.

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Target 5.1
End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.

Target 5.aUndertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as wellas access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property,
financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance withnational laws.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
1- demand(d) (k)6- cooperation(d)

3- supply(b)

4- rights(b) (d) (g) (n)7- development(h) (j)

Women are disproportionately affected – and impoverished – by prohibitive and repressive Cannabis anddrug control policies112, suffering particularly from discriminatory policies by law enforcement and an
overwhelmingly harsh judicial system113. Since women are often a primary financial contributor to families andcommunities, the consequences of such policies affect the community as a whole.

Discrimination against women in law enforcement and criminal justice settings.
Women, particularly young women, when involved in illicit activities related to Cannabis, are the focus of
criminal prosecution, and systematic disproportionate penalties and conditions of incarceration. In thelast decade, the number of women imprisoned for non-violent drug-related misdemeanours has alarmingly
increased. In Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Peru, well over 60 % of the country’s female prison population
is incarcerated for drug-related crimes114, while it reaches 45% in some European countries such as Spain115.
Most of these sentences relate to Cannabis.
112 UN Women, 2014.
113 WOLA, 2016.
114 WOLA & TNI, 2011.
115 Iakobashvili, 2012.

44

Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

In some countries, specific criminal justice measures targeting women, such as the withdrawal of childcustody or the hampering of the exercise of family rights, occur – with devastating consequences forfamilies and communities.
Female involvement in illicit Cannabis-related activities also encapsulates negative collateral outputs116.
According to UNODC, “some women involved in trafficking in drugs are victims of trafficking in persons,
including trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation. Women’s participation in the drug supply chain
can often be attributed to vulnerability and oppression, where they are forced to act out of fear”117.

Discrimination against women in health care settings.
Gender conditions are a problematic barrier for access to healthcare systems. These gender conditions
vary significantly according to regions and social contexts118. Likewise, gender differences both in the use of
Cannabis products and in correlated use disorders have been established119. This requires specific attention
be given to the gender-specific differences in health prevention, primary care and treatment approaches.
In addition, the differential impact of the Cannabis-related problems and policies on women makes theseparticularly needed in the design, development, and implementation of a framework to promote, enforce,and monitor gender equality and non-discrimination. International, national, and local strategies regarding
Cannabis products use & health not only should adopt woman-specific approaches, but also consider womenand affected populations’ involvement at all levels.

Promoting a gender-sensitive model for legal Cannabis markets.
More and more women are claiming their place in the emerging Cannabis legal private sector, especially in thescientific and therapeutic segments. Female leadership in this industry has made its way through, and today,
women are beginning to be leaders in this field. Bias in favour of men is not as marked as in other sectors:
in the United States of America, women represented 27% of executives in the Cannabis market in 2017,
surpassing the average 23% of women in executive positions in other economic sectors120. This trend should
be monitored and further studied.

Providing equal rights and access to ownership and control over land.
Similar to what is explained under target 1.4, achieving Goal 5 implies the repeal of policies that include
provisions for asset forfeiture and seizure of a Cannabis farmers’ land – where women have a predominantrole and suffer from disproportionately repressive outcomes.
While women are often responsible for the cultivation of illicit crops, they are likely not land owners since lessthan 20% of women in the world are land owners.
116 Ochoa and Chulver, 2019.
117 UNODC, 2018(2)118 WHO, 2007.
119 Sherman et al., 2016.
120 McVey, 2017.

AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

Sustainable Development Goal 7.
Ensure access to affordable, reliable and modern energy for all.

46

Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

GOAL 7: KEY POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
The capacities of Cannabis fibers for bothproduction and storage of energy can help ensuresustainable, reliable, and green energy for all, while
decreasing dependency on fossil resources.

Market development of carbon nanosheetsfor electrodes made out from residual wastes ofCannabis plants, that outperform standard graphenebased supercapacitors, should be encouraged.

Indoor Cannabis cultivation using artificial light,
heat, ventilation, humidity systems, automation,and irrigation are fruit of prohibitive policies: legal
regulations should seek to incentivize greenhouseor outdoor methods of cultivation that have lessdetrimental impact on the environment, and have an
extremely low carbon footprint.

Incentives to sustainable cultivation patterns
should be mainstreamed in Cannabis-related policy
reforms, and include tools such as standardization,
incentives of professional field-bodies able to edit
peer guidelines, limitation of the rate of indoor
cultivation authorized per business, or application ofa carbon-tax model to indoor Cannabis cultivation
facilities.

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Target 7.1
By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy
services.

Target 7.2
By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global
energy mix.

Target 7.3
By 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency.

Target 7.a
By 2030, enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean
energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency
and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment inenergy infrastructure and clean energy technology.

Accelerate climate action for all Sustainable Development Goals.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
4- rights(i)

6- cooperation(d)

7- development
(j)

48

Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Non psychoactivity-related derivatives of Cannabis are worthy of inclusion to reach SDG 7, as the plant can
provide both production and storage of energy. Beyond ensuring sustainable, reliable, and green energy
for all, energy-producing and -storing crops such as Cannabis are key to decreasing dependency on fossil
resources, to mitigate climate change.

Locally producing & storing energy with Cannabis plant biomass.
A high biomass yield coupled with a low-cost feedstock, ease of cultivation, and the suitability of adding
Cannabis into existing crop rotations, characterize “hemp” as a renewable option for the production of
biofuels121. Energy access is better ensured when produced domestically or locally. More local Cannabisbiomass power plant supplies, using crop wastes, could significantly contribute to the universality of accessyear-round and the affordability of prices.
Recent research has shown that the residual wastes of Cannabis plants can also be turned into carbon
nanosheets that have shown remarkable efficiency to produce electrodes, outperforming standard graphenebased supercapacitors122.

Making psychoactivity-related Cannabis crops sustainable and energy-saving.
Illegal Cannabis cultivation has created the phenomenon of indoor cultivation, using artificial light, heat,ventilation, humidity systems, automation, irrigation, etc. While this method of cultivation has an extremely
detrimental impact on the environment, regular methods of cultivation (in particular outdoor andgreenhouses) have an extremely low carbon footprint.
Aside from the production of standardized Cannabis-based medicine wherein a fully controlled growing
environment is a prerequisite, legal regulations seem to bring a trend towards the abandonment of
warehouse-type Cannabis cultivation in favour of greenhouses123. Growers are viewing greenhouses as an
economical solution (production costs are cut by 30% compared to indoor cultivation) and public authorities
are sometimes encouraging emerging legal Cannabis markets to adopt sustainable production patterns
to reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint124. Regulating Cannabis policies and promoting
natural sunlight as the primary lighting source rather than electrical sources is key to rationalizing energy
consumption and waste.
Warehouse indoor cultivation of Cannabis sativa L. initially appeared as a strategy for growers to avoid
flagging and eradication of their plantations. Today, indoor cultivation is widely spread, in particular indeveloped countries – there is no other crop being so extensively cultivated away from the sunlight.
Indoor Cannabis cultivation – which basically consists of creating an environment similar to natural growing
conditions for the plants, maintaining high-intensity lighting levels and controlling other parameters, such as

121 Rehman et al., 2013.
122 Wang et al., 2013.
123 Cannabis Business Times, 2018.
124 Denver Department of Public Health & Environment, 2018(1).

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humidity, temperature or air pressure125 – is exceptionally harmful to the environment and energy-wasting.
“Indoor cannabis cultivation uses the largest amount of energy when compared to any other production
method, and creates the largest associated carbon footprint”126. Estimations made in California, United Statesindicate that indoor cultivation accounts for about 3% of the State’s electricity use, generating an average of 4
kilograms of CO2 per gram of cannabis cultivated indoor127.
In Colorado, another state in the same country, the legal regulation of production processes has resulted in
an increase in Cannabis cultivation outdoors or in greenhouses. Across this country, in three years, indoor
cultivation decreased from 80% to 65%, to the benefit of the less energy-intensive growing practices (e.g.,
outdoor and greenhouse cultivation)128. Local authorities have created incentives for legal Cannabis cultivationcompanies to adapt their production methods, including workshops on natural sunlight cultivation methods,
publication of guidelines, and elements of sound and sustainable practices, etc.129.
Such incentives to enable sustainable cultivation patterns should be mainstreamed in Cannabis-related
policy reforms to ensure efficiency and sustainability of crops while contributing to meeting Goal 7. Policies
should contemplate tools, such as standardization, the incentives of professional field-bodies, the limitationof the rate of indoor cultivation authorized per business, or the application of a carbon-tax model to indoor
Cannabis cultivation facilities.

125 Johnson and Miller, 2011.
126 Denver Department of Public Health & Environment, 2018(2)127 Mills, 2012; Ponce, 2018.
128 Cannabis Business Time, 2018. Page 5.
129 Denver Department of Public Health & Environment, 2018(1&2).

DECENT WORK AND ECONOMICGROWTH

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full andproductive employment and decent work for all.
Sustainable Development Goal 8.
Decent works & economic growth.

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51

GOAL 8: KEY POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONSWorking in illegal settings is inherently unsafe,
unsecure and never as decent as working in legally
regulated settings. Lack of regulatory protections,workplace safety oversight and insurance, but also
constant pressure and treats from DTOs and law
enforcement agencies, make labour in illicit settings a
preliminary and central target of policy reforms.

Legally regulated Cannabis cultivation, manufacture,and trade are suitable to village-development and local
employment of women and youth, as most jobs in the
sector are capable of being performed by young people,
or by people with disabilities. It is also suitable for cities
or suburbs where job opportunities are scarce in middleand high-income countries.

Forced or compulsory labour in relation with illegal
Cannabis-related activities should be targeted withpriority, in particular as it relates to exploitation or
human trafficking.

The cultivation of Cannabis to tackle depopulationin remote villages is currently implemented, andencourages people to engage in long-term jobs in therural Cannabis production sector. Such programmes
should be encouraged as experimentations to foster
rural development.

Criminalising and judicialization of people who
use Cannabis contributes to increasing stigma
and marginalisation, acting as a barrier to job andemployment.

Governments should assist and monitor thetransition of populations previously involved in Cannabis
cultivation, from an illicit to a regulated and taxed
All forecasts on the development of legally regulated
market, and take particular care in ensuring that legal
markets for Cannabis show the expected positive impact
regulations benefit the people that are reliant on thison job and employment.
income. Opportunity must be seize to help small-scale
farmers transition to legal settings, ensuring that
Large legal Cannabis industries develop newtechnologies for cultivation, fertilization, processing, and opportunities are also given to small and medium-scale
manufacturing of the plant. Small-scale cultivators tend operations.
to focus on regenerative agricultural methodologies,
Authorities must ensure that financial and insurance
increases in productivity and sustainability and reduction
services are not denied to legal Cannabis-relatedof their environmental impact. Both are needed inoperations.
legally regulated settings. Public policies should adopt
social and sound tax policies that are differentiative,
Cannabis has a long historical relationship within order to foster local investment and ownership overtravels, travelers, and tourism, and the plant magnifies
legal Cannabis operations for all.
the development of tourism, particularly in regions where
its use or cultivation are traditional. Yet uncontrolled
In all cases (even for larger businesses) taxes waged
or unregulated tourism can cause social dislocation,
on Cannabis businesses should be reasonable andloss of cultural heritage, economic dependence or
proportionate, for legal market to compete prices of theecological degradation. Sustainable tourism guidelines
illegal market.
and indicators should be contemplated, and multimodal
tourism (combining agro-tourism, eco-tourism,
Cannabis policies should encourage thetherapeutic/health tourism) should be preferred.
diversification of Cannabis farms production, relying
also on non psychoactivity-related purposes derived
Local communities in traditional areas of cultivationfrom the plant, to propose products such as clothing,would benefit from the potential of Appellations of Origin
cosmetics, paper, food, beer, biofuels, animal bedding,to promote sustainable tourism, increase job creation,building materials, insulation, car moldings, and othercommunity ownership, and promote while preserving
consumer and industrial products.
local cultures, knowledge, and products.

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Target 8.2
Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification,technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on highvalue-added and labour-intensive sectors.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
6- cooperation(d)

7- development(h) (i) (j) (k) (l)All Cannabis crops (both small-scale and large industrial scale operations) are labour-intensive. While large
legal Cannabis industries are developing new technologies for cultivation, fertilization, processing, andmanufacturing of the plant, small-scale cultivators tend to focus on regenerative agricultural methodologies
enabling them to increase productivity and sustainability while reducing their environmental impact.
In the United States of America, forecasts show that legal Cannabis industries could produce between $21
and $48 billion in 2022130. Such growth of the market is an important factor that is expected to have a positive
impact on investment and employment, among others. Financial speculation related to the emerging Cannabis
industries should be monitored to ensure that profits are reinvested in the economy. Public policies should
adopt social and sound tax policies that can be differentiative to foster local investment and ownership overlegal Cannabis operations. In all cases, even for larger facilities, the taxes waged on Cannabis businesses
should be reasonable, otherwise legal businesses will hardly competing the underground market in terms ofprice point131.
Diversification is a key word for future Cannabis farmers, as diversity is what most characterizes the
Cannabis plant, its possible uses, and the populations that make use of it. An increased use of Cannabis fornon psychoactivity-related purposes can have positive economic consequences, as hundreds of potential
products – including high-value-added products – derived from the plant have been identified, such as
clothing, cosmetics, lotions, shampoos, soaps, paper, food, feed, beer, biofuels, animal bedding, building
materials, insulation, car moldings, among many other consumer and industrial products.

130 Arc View Group, 2018; New Frontier Data, 2018.
131 “Although tax revenues climbed throughout 2018 [...] the totals reflected a state government caught off-guard by a resilient underground market” (Marijuana Business Daily, 2019)

Paving the way for the next decade in Cannabis and hemp policies.

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Target 8.3
Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities,
decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, andencourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sizedenterprises, including through access to financial services.

Target 8.5
By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all
women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities,
and equal pay for work of equal value.

Target 8.6
By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment,
education or training.

Target 9.2
Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly
raise industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product, in line withnational circumstances, and double its share in least developed countries.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
5- trends(u) (v) (x) (y)6- cooperation(d)

7- development(h) (i) (j) (k) (l)Legal Cannabis markets create job opportunities, promote innovation of new products (in particular, withdiversified crops merging Cannabis cultivation for both psychoactivity-related and non psychoactivity-related
purposes), and can encourage the growth of locally owned businesses of all sizes if socially sustainable
policies are implemented. During the year after US state of Colorado regulated adult use sales, the legal
Cannabis-related sector created 18,000 full-time equivalent job positions in-state and a US$2.4 billion

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

economic revenue132. In Uruguay, it was estimated that the different legal operations generated the equivalentof US$22 million, with unaffected prevalence rates133, making likely that this amount was directly takenfrom the margins of profit of DTOs134. Cannabis cultivation, manufacture, and trade are suitable to villagedevelopment and local employment of women and youth, as most jobs in the sector are capable of being
performed by young people, or by people with disabilities. Policies are key.
This is not only valid for Cannabis farmers, as “even in middle- and high-income countries, in cities orsuburbs where job opportunities are scarce and social cohesion is weak, drug trafficking and dealing may
represent attractive opportunities in the absence of better alternatives in the legal economy”135.
Meanwhile, the evidence that “criminalising people who use drugs merely increases stigma andmarginalisation, acting as a barrier to education, employment, health and social services” still stands
unaddressed136.
In developed countries, a large number of youth are unemployed and live outside of urban settlements –which adds difficulty when looking for job or education opportunities. In Poland, young people are forced
to move to cities to overcome these issues137. In Spain where the same problems exist, the adversities ofpost-2008 economic crisis led villages to launch calls for the cultivation of Cannabis as a measure to tackle
their depopulation, with the aim to mobilize people to stay and engage in long-term jobs in the local sector of
Cannabis production138.
Assisting and monitoring the transition of populations involved in Cannabis cultivation from an illicit market
to a regulated and taxed market is key to achieving Goal 8. Authorities should take particular care in ensuringthat legal regulations of local or international trade in Cannabis-based products benefit the populations thatare reliant on this income, and seize the opportunity to help small-scale farmers transition to legal settings139.
Regulating authorities should also ensure that financial services are not denied to legal Cannabis-related
operations140, and that equal opportunities are given to small and medium-scale operations rather than
exclusively to large corporate companies.

132 Marijuana Policy Group, 2016.
133 According to Musto and Robaina (2018), the trends in increased use of Cannabis in Uruguay, observed since 2001, was affected in aminor extent by policy reforms. These findings confirm those of the European Monitoring Center on Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA, 2018(1), p. 22) according to which policy changes, either towards more repressive or more permissive enforcement, do not affectconsumption rates.
134 Instituto de Regulación y Control del Cannabis, 2019.
135 OAS, 2013.
136 GCDP, 2018. p 5. See more under Goal 10 and 16.
137 Ministerstwo Rodziny, Pracy i Polityki Społecznej; Departament Rynku Pracy, 2014.
138 In 2012, the village of Rasquera (Catalonia, Spain) voted locally at 56% in favour of a city-led licit Cannabis cultivation (Villarreal,2012), and in Santa Cruz de los Cañamos, a village which historic symbol includes a leaf of the Cannabis plant, a project is currently ongoing to grow hemp against depopulation (Castilla-La Mancha Media, 2018)
139 Bramall, 2018.
140 Unlike what happened in Uruguay, for instance, where pharmacies were denied access to their bank accounts and threatened forlegally selling Cannabis-based products. (Martínez, 2016)

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Target 8.8
Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for
all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, andthose in precarious employment.

Target 16.2
End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against andtorture of children.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
4- rights(d)5- trends(u) (v) (x) (y)6- cooperation(d)

7- development(h) (i) (j) (k) (l)Working in illegal settings is inherently less safe, secure and decent than working in legally regulated
settings. Not only the absolute lack of regulatory protections, workplace safety oversight and insurance, butalso constant pressure and treats from DTOs and law enforcement agencies, make labour in illicit settings bea critical element in achieving Goal 8.
The involvement in illicit drug- and Cannabis-related activities is a major source of lack of labour rights, when
not direct exploitation, forced, or compulsory labour, or human trafficking141. Children and youth are not left
apart142 – they are known to be particularly vulnerable to forced recruitment for “illicit activities, in particular
for the production and trafficking of drugs”143.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) finds that “forced labour is [...] organized [...] around international
criminal gangs who find the trafficking of humans to be less dangerous than trafficking of drugs. Much forced
labour involves underground or illegal activities and is otherwise hidden from public view”144.
141 Shelley, 2012; and Levy-Pounds, 2009.
142 Bulman, 2017.
143 ILO, 1999.
144 ILO, 2001.

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Although there is a shortage of data on this topic, forced, or compulsory labour in relation with illegal
Cannabis-related activities controlled by DTOs is starting to be studied. In Ireland, researchers found thatthe lack of data on the trafficking in human beings for purposes of illicit Cannabis cultivation, and the lackof awareness by authorities, was leading potential victims to be prosecuted, convicted, or imprisoned foroffences they may have been forced to commit145.

Target 8.9
By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism thatcreates jobs and promotes local culture and products.

Target 12.b
Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts
for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture andproducts.

Accelerate climate action for all Sustainable Development Goals.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
4- rights(a) (i)145 Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, 2014.

6- cooperation(d)

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57

Repression rather than diminishing traffic displaces it and increases its levels of associated violence. For
that reason, policy reforms seem rather the only way to offer labour rights to people involved in Cannabis
cultivation, processing, or trade and to put an end to exploitation and compulsory labour.
Cannabis has a long historical relationship with travels, travelers, and tourism146. Besides a decrease in
Cannabis-related tourism conveyed by the progressive implementation of the international drug control
Treaties – in particular, the 1961 Convention provision for eliminating all non-medical traditional uses within
25 years147 – travels motivated by personal, cultural or therapeutic interest in Cannabis has persisted. Under
the impulsion of the ongoing processes of policy reforms worldwide, this sector is currently experiencing
unprecedented opportunities148 of developing in legal and sustainable settings.
Tourism by itself is already “one of the world’s fastest growing industries and is a major source of income
for many countries. Being a people-oriented industry, tourism also provides many jobs which have helped
revitalise local economies.”149 Cannabis magnifies the development of tourism, particularly in regions where
its use or cultivation are traditional.
Yet, like other forms of development, uncontrolled or unregulated tourism “can also cause its share of
problems, such as social dislocation, loss of cultural heritage, economic dependence and ecologicaldegradation”150, and Cannabis-related tourism can be a source of added trouble for local populations151, inparticular when clear policy regulations are missing152.
The importance of Cannabis in the choice of a destination for travel is an element that should not be
overlooked. Two main elements drive the choice of a destination for travelers interested in Cannabis153:
non-repressive Cannabis policies or recent policy normalization processes (like in the Netherlands154, or in
the US states of Washington and Colorado155, where legal adult use policies have led to a boost in sometourism sectors) or known traditions and culture around the Cannabis plant (a “quest for authenticity”, valid in
Morocco156, India157, Jamaica158, but also California159, Barcelona160, etc.).
CARICOM, a multilateral organization grouping 15 Caribbean countries – that all have an important historicityof Cannabis – declares that “the region’s already established and developing tourism economy can be
146 Liechty, 2018; Veverka, 2010.
147 UNODC, 2013. See Article 49, Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961.
148 Kovacevich, 2018.
149 UNESCO, s.d.
150 ibid.
151 See the case of Cannabis-related tourism in the Dutch “coffeeshops”, that challenged policies and led to a re-examination of theauthorization of sales of herbal Cannabis to tourists, in BBC, 2011 and Sifaneck et Kaplan, 1995. For the cases of the villages of Malana
and Shringa Rishi in India, which restricted access to tourists, afraid of losing local culture’s particularities, see Lonelyplanet, 2017 andhillpost.in, 2017.
152 Márquez Daniel, 2016.
153 Belhassen et al., 2007.
154 Amsterdam Tourist Information, 2007(1&2).
155 Kang et al., 2016; and Kang, 2018.
156 Agence France Presse, 2017.
157 Butler, 2017; and Dutta, 2017.
158 Caribbean Council, 2018; and Curated Caribbean, s.n.
159 Meisel, 2017.
160 Pauné and Ferro, 2014.

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

leveraged further by a cannabis industry located in safe and secure environments. Cannabis can beproduced for export as well as for local healing and can be the foundation for a new and vibrant wellness
tourism industry”161. While noting the “potential for the use of [Cannabis] for developing the medical […] andrecreational [Cannabis] tourism markets” they note that “[all] of these policy decisions will require targeted
law reform. For example, the amended Jamaica law 2015 does not fully liberalise the tourist market. Rather, it
requires visitors to obtain a special permission to access [Cannabis].”162
National and local policies that contemplate creating AO163 for regulated Cannabis markets could also takeadvantage of AO’s potential to promote sustainable tourism, increase job creation, community ownership,
and promote local cultures, knowledge, and products.
Local communities in traditional areas of cultivation, which by nature are rural and face challenges for
economic development and integration, would primarily benefit from such programs of intellectual property
protection. The recognition and value added for local products, cultivation practices, and chemovars164 canmeaningfully contribute to meeting target 8.9 by strengthening the competitiveness of a region in the tourism
sector, while achieving the broader Sustainable Development Agenda. Indeed, it is already documented for
products other than Cannabis that AO intellectual property protections – and resultant market recognition ofa region – “have enormous assets in relation to the positive repercussions they generate in the economy as awhole (job creation, opportunities in other sectors such as tourism, brake the rural exodus), the protection ofenvironment, gender issues, preservation of traditional knowledge and biodiversity, etc.”165 Finally, the potential
for combining agro-tourism, eco-tourism, and therapeutic or health tourism would likely abound in a Cannabis
producing region with an Appellation of Origin system in place.
Public policy reforms of Cannabis should integrate sustainable tourism indicators166 in the design andmonitoring of policy impacts and consider valorizing regions of tradition as potential fuel for tourism andprotecting them as a potential target for mass-tourism.

161 CARICOM, 2018, p. 5.
162 ibid., pp. 54-55
163 Stoa, 2017; see also WIPO, s.d.
164 Malsbury, 2016.
165 Office Marocain de la Propriété Industrielle et Commerciale, s.d.
166 Tanguay et al., 2013.

INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND
INFRASTRUCTURE

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainableindustrialization and foster innovation.
Sustainable Development Goal 9.
Build resilient, inclusive and sustainable infrastructure, industry and innovation.

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

GOAL 9: KEY POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Non psychoactivity-related products of the
Cannabis plant have proven to efficiently replace
synthetic or petroleum-based materials, being highperformance and environmentally-friendly.
Authorities should foster the use of building
materials such as “hempcrete” (Cannabis fiber-madeconcrete) and seed-pressed oils (used for paints
and sealants), and consider using these materials
locally to incentivize “kilometre zero” markets forinfrastructure construction and rehabilitation.

Biocomposites made of Cannabis fibers(polypropylene, polyethylene, polyester) are resistant,durable, cost-effective, and for these reasons alreadywidely used commercially (for furniture, roofing
shingles, bioplastic, cars package trays, automotion
door panels, etc). That material is key to building
resilient and environment-friendly infrastructures andindustries.
As Cannabis sequesters important quantities
of carbon dioxide during its growth, the territorial
repartition of these crops can help existing
geoengineering strategies to overcome the adverse
impacts of climate change and foster climate
resilience.

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Target 9.4
By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make themsustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption ofclean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes, withall countries taking action in accordance with their respective capabilities
Target 9.5
Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities ofindustrial sectors in all countries, in particular developing countries, including,by 2030, encouraging innovation and substantially increasing the number of
research and development workers per 1 million people and public and private
research and development spending.

Target 11.c
Support least developed countries, including through financial and technicalassistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local
materials.

Accelerate climate action for all Sustainable Development Goals.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
6- cooperation(d)

7- development(h) (i) (j) (k) (l)As explained under Goal 1 and 2, the so-called “hemp”-type chemovars of Cannabis (plants grown for non
psychoactivity-related purposes) have multiple derived marketable products. Among these, a series of building
materials can be manufactured from the fibers of the stalk of the Cannabis plant.

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Products of the Cannabis plant have proven to efficiently replace synthetic or petroleum-based materials,
providing high performance and environmentally-friendly products. Among these, the most notable productsthat can contribute to upgrading infrastructures and making them sustainable, efficient, and clean are:•Concrete: Cannabis fiber-made concrete (“hempcrete167”), a mixture of the plant’s hurds and lime
used either directly for construction, or insulation purposes. Lime and hurds chemically react andbind the mixture together, which continues to solidify over time, ensuring a strong and resistantmaterial168.

•

Industrial oils: Oil pressed from the seeds of the Cannabis plant are ideal to use for manufacturing
paints and sealants. Its superior performance – devoid of volatile organic compounds or hazardous
air pollutants – provides high protection from the inside out, for wood sealants, in particular.

•

Plastic and composites: Biocomposites made with part of Cannabis fibers are being developed fora range of products (polypropylene, polyethylene, polyester) allowing interior or exterior uses of thematerial. Biocomposites containing Cannabis fibers are resistant, durable, and cost-effective. The
material is already used commercially for products, such as furniture, roofing shingles, or bioplastic
for the car industry169 (in particular, for cars package trays, door panels, window pillars, or luggage
racks).

•

The carbon sequestration and storage properties of Cannabis fiber-based bioplastics andbiocomposites through photosynthesis is a remarkable additional advantage of Cannabis-based
building for infrastructure sustainability170.

It should be noted that, in addition, the Cannabis plant also sequesters carbon dioxide during its growth phase(each kilogram of hemp sequesters about 1.8 to 2 kilograms of carbon dioxide171), constituting an excellent
geoengineering strategy to overcome the adverse impacts of climate change, foster climate resilience and low
greenhouse gas emissions in a manner that does not threaten food production.
Public policies should seek to foster local production and supply of these materials locally to create“kilometre zero” markets for infrastructure construction and rehabilitation materials.

167 Piot et al., 2017.
168 Chaban, 2015.
169 Shahzad, 2012.
170 Pervaiz and Sain, 2002.
171 ibid. and Tarun, 2018.

REDUCED INEQUALITIESReduce inequality within and among countries.

Sustainable Development Goal 10.
Reduce inequality within and among countries.

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

GOAL 10: KEY POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Goal 10 will never be met as long as Cannabis
and other drug use, possession, and other related
activities continue to be judicialized and as long as
users, possessors, or other affected people continue
to be criminalized, stigmatized, and undermined intheir rights.
The “drug courts” system that justifies a systemof exceptionality, an expeditious justice, and acontinued unjustified judicialization, and that
reaffirms criminal justice as central in the public
policy response to health-related hazards, should be
discontinued.
Sustainable Cannabis policies should addressequality of opportunities and non-discrimination:
not restricting access to legal markets for people
with prior drug-related convictions, and addressing
barriers to entry into the legally regulated Cannabis
industry for communities who have been harmed themost by the prohibitionist policies.
Populations affected by human rights violations
should be granted their right to remedy andreparation, through programs for equity andinclusiveness in legally regulated Cannabis markets,and through amnesty and definitive expungement ofhistorically unjust convictions.

Because the overwhelming majority of thoseaccused or convicted for Cannabis-related offences
are part of ethnic minorities, migrants, foreign
national, asylum seekers or people in irregularsituation, indigenous and native populations, sociallymarginalized people and young people, Cannabis
policy reforms need mechanisms targeted at thesegroups, and needs to monitor the impact of reforms
undertaken on these populations.
There is a need to superpose various models of
production, supply, and access: Home growing andCannabis peers clubs (to respect the right to privacy
and freedom of association); specific supply for
medical access (to leave no one behind); for-profit
adult use market. Multimodal regulation is needed,
as recreational demand risks overwhelming a
monomodal regulation model.

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Target 10.1
By 2030, progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40
per cent of the population at a rate higher than the national average.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
3- supply(b) (d)4- rights(a) (i)6- cooperation(d)

7- development(b) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l)Taking into account the specificities of the Cannabis plant, its markets, and its ethnobotany, and integrating
the elements stated under Goals 1 to 9 of this report into national Cannabis policy reform is necessary toachieve rapid income growth for the poor.
With more complex products and means of production, added burdens of standardisation, compliance,
licensing, product testing, packaging, overhead and insurance costs, traditional growers might face difficulties
in accessing legally regulated markets – calling for specific protections and accompaniment in the transition.
These could rely on the example of Cannabis social club-type models or on intellectual property protections.

Target 10.2
By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusionof all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or
economic or other status.

Target 10.3
Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including
by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting
appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard.

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

Target 16.b
Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable
development.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
1- demand(d)

3- supply(b)

4- rights(a) (b) (h) (i)5- trends(u) (v) (x) (y)6- cooperation(a) (d)7- development(h)

As already mentioned, discrimination in policies and practices often disproportionately affect persons
arrested or charged for Cannabis-related offences and are even more disproportionately concerning women,
youth, and minorities. Furthermore, people with a criminal record in relation with “drug offences” – even for
low-level, non-violent offenses – or people with a history of incarceration face serious disadvantages whenaccessing employment, housing, health, safety, and welfare assistance.
In its Basis for a theory of imputation in criminal law, Hassemer explains that one of the “characteristics ofmodern criminal Justice is the exacerbation of the idea of preventive justice” which “makes always moredifficult to ensure the principle of equality and equal treatment”, citing drug policies as the best representative
example172.
Laws that prohibit and criminalize personal use and possession of Cannabis and other plants, products, or
substances declared illegal, as well as petty non-violent offences related to Cannabis or other drugs, areclearly discriminatory laws. This opinion is shared by 12 United Nations entities (that address the topics ofhealth, Human Rights, AIDS, refugees, migrations, children, alimentation, development, populations, women,
labour, education, science, and culture) that made a call to “[review] and [repeal] punitive laws that havebeen proven to have negative health outcomes and that counter established public health evidence. These
include laws that criminalize or otherwise prohibit [...] drug use or possession of drugs for personal use”. They
recalled that a central principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to “ensure that no one isleft behind” and to “reach the furthest behind first”173.
The “drug courts” system, a supposed alternative to incarceration that “have been described as being a formof collaboration between criminal justice and public health” which turn out to be a “quasi-compulsory”174 have
172 Hassemer, 1994 p. 21 (translated by the authors).
173 United Nations, 2018.
174 Rahman and Crofts, 2013.

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been actively implemented in recent years all around the world175. Yet, drug courts are in fact not than muchof an alternative, but rather a reinforcing mechanism of discrimination (in particular against women176) thatjustifies a system of exceptionality, an expeditious justice, and a continued unjustified judicialization of people
who use or possess Cannabis or other drugs for their own use, reaffirming criminal Justice as central in the
public policy response to health-related hazards of controlled drugs177.
Goal 10 will never be met as long as Cannabis and other drug use, possession, and other related activities
continue to be judicialized and as long as users, possessors, or other affected people continue to becriminalized, stigmatized, and undermined in their right to privacy178.

A post-prohibition rooted in human rights.
Recently, three different Supreme judicial Courts in three different continent (Mexico179, Georgia180 and South
Africa181) recognized that the right to privacy and the right to the free development of the personality are
violated by laws that prohibit the possession, use or cultivation of Cannabis for personal use by adults.
Reforming these public policies – backed by the international drug control Treaty system – and ending thesepractices is urgent to scale-up the rights and inclusion of the populations left to illicit Cannabis markets,and offer them the possibility to positively participate in the prosperity and development of their societies,
enabling them the right to access healthcare and treatment, ownership over land, transport or communication
tools, and savings.

Repairing the errors of the prohibition decades.
A review of equity and discriminations in Cannabis policies made by the Californian Bureau of Cannabis
Control in 2008 identified “common barriers to entry into the cannabis industry including unavailability ofreal estate within areas eligible for permitting; unavailability of startup capital and banking infrastructure;unavailability of skills training to develop industry-specific knowledge; prior drug-related convictions [...]
among affected communities.”182
Addressing equality of opportunities and non-discrimination means targeting those who have been harmed
the most by the prohibitionist policies of the past with specific inclusiveness and equity programs: those
populations should have priority in benefiting from legal regulations. Because Cannabis policies have beenrecognized to often violate fundamental rights, people affected should be granted their right to remedy andreparation in the case of gross human rights violations183, which concretely includes the right to cessation
175 e.g. in Australia (Birgden, 2008), France (Mission Interministérielle de Lutte contre les Drogues et les Conduites Addictives, 2015),
Pakistan (Rahman and Crofts, 2013), USA (Hennessy and Pallone, 2001), Venezuela (Rosales et al., 2008, p. 57.)
176 Giacomello, 2018.
177 ibid.; and Guzmán Rodríguez, 2012.
178 EMCDDA, 2019.
179 Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, 2018; and Embury-Dennis, 2018.
180 Constitutional Court of Georgia/საქართველოს საკონსტიტუციო სასამართლო, 2018.
181 Constitutional Court of South Africa, 2018(1&2).
182 Bureau of Cannabis Control, 2018.
183 Ghehiouèche and Riboulet-Zemouli, 2018.

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and guarantees of non-repetition, the right to an investigation and to truth, and the right to obtain reparation,compensation or rehabilitation184.
In Canada, the entry in vigor of Cannabis adult use legal regulations was accompanied by the announce ofsteps toward the pardon of non-violent convictions for Cannabis possession185. In the US jurisdictions thathave regulated adult use or decriminalized possession/use, there have been tendencies in both directions: In
some States like Oregon186 or Maryland187, new policies maintained the human rights violations of previous
policies, and added infringement to the rights of people convicted for past Cannabis-related offences, bynegating their right to remedy and reparation (in these States, people with previous conviction for Cannabisrelated offenses are not allowed to enter the legal industry or work for legal cannabis entities). In other
US jurisdictions like Alaska188 and California189, however, steps have been taken to grant reparation andrehabilitation to people victims of previous illicit Cannabis-related activity, or people imprisoned.
Decision-makers must definitely take stock of the alleged human right violations generated by the Cannabis
policies that they repeal, and continue working on the numerous proposals for equity and inclusiveness inlegally regulated Cannabis policies190. Governments must foster the insertion of affected populations in thelegal Cannabis market as a solution for post-incarceration reinsertion.
In addition, systematic State-led human rights violations and historically unjust convictions justify therecourse to retroactive laws or amnesty mechanisms to expunge in a real, permanent and non cancelable
way convictions for previously illegal drug offences.

Eliminating policy-related disproportion of outcomes.
Excepted in rare – and always importantly publicized – exceptions, there are very little key DTO leadersfacing criminal Justice or serving condemnatory sentences. To the contrary, a sort of selectivity of the law
enforcement and penal systems seem to have tended to disproportionately affect petty, non-violent Cannabis
law offenders, small-scale sellers, and consumers191.
184 Droege, 2018.
185 The Canadian government announced in October 2018 and tabled in March 2019 a legislation to speed-up the pardon process for
those with a criminal record for minor Cannabis-related offences. However, civil society stakeholders that ask for policies addressing
the “500,000 Canadians who have their lives impacted by a criminal record for simple non-violent cannabis possession convictions”(Campaign for Cannabis Amnesty, 2018) note with concern that “while a positive development, pardons do not go far enough” because “afuture government could retract pardons for simple possession en masse” because “expungement differs from a pardon in that it treatsa conviction as never having been entered, permanently deleting it from criminal justice records” while a pardon “maintains the record of
the conviction” (Kates and Hrick, 2018).
186 Oregon Liquor Control Commission, 2014, Section 29(2); Oregon Retailers of Cannabis Association, 2019.
187 Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, 2015.
188 Alaska House Finance Committee, 2018.
189 State of California, 2018; Center for the Study of Cannabis and Social Policy, s.d.
190 See Bureau of Cannabis Control, 2018. Other important proposals going in the same direction included in the “Cannabis Equity Report” were recommended to the Mayor of San Francisco (City & County of San Francisco, 2017), e.g. to “inform eligibility criteria with data,
set tiered eligibility criteria to allow most affected groups to receive higher-value benefits, while extending some benefits to a wider range
of applicants impacted by the War on Drugs”, “promote equitable employment opportunities at all cannabis businesses, especially forformerly-incarcerated individuals and those living in neighborhoods impacted by the War on Drugs” and “hold streamlined expungement
events for citizens convicted of eligible cannabis offenses.”
191 In Latin America, WOLA & TNI, 2011 (p. 6) note that “most of the persons in prison for drug offenses are there for minor offenses, yet
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In addition, the overwhelming majority of those accused or convicted for Cannabis and drug-related offences(trends are similar for all controlled plants, products and substances, and criminal justice does not make any
distinction regarding the type of drug, no more than regarding the extent of the defendant’s activities in caseof petty traffic192) turns out to be members of ethnic minorities193, migrants, foreign national, asylum seekers
or people in irregular situation194, indigenous and native populations195, socially marginalized people196 and theyouth197. Cannabis policy reforms need mechanisms to monitor their impact on these groups of populations.
Cannabis use by ethnic group, in the past 12 months (2001-2010)198

Sources: National Household Survey on Drug Abuse and Health, 2001-2010.

Arrest rates for possession of Cannabis by ethnic group (2001-2010)199

Source: FBI/Uniform Crime Reporting Program; U.S. Census.

192 According to WOLA & TNI, 2011 (p. 5): “in general the legislation does not distinguish between levels of involvement in the business– treating street sellers and transporters on par with large-scale drug traffickers, and failing to distinguish between violent and nonviolent
offenses. Many persons are sentenced to maximum penalties, and many others, even without having committed serious or violent crimes,
end up in maximum-security prisons. Nor are distinctions made regarding the particular type of substance or the risk to health it poses
when it comes to pursuing, arresting, and prosecuting a person, such that a person selling cannabis may end up with the same sentence
as a person selling cocaine.”
193 Most documented cases come from North America, where discriminations essentially concern African-American, Latin-Americanand indigenous populations (See for the USA: ACLU, 2013; Drug Policy Alliance, 2015; Harris et al., 2009; Levy-Pounds, 2009; McElrath etal., 2016; Wacquant, 2010; and forCanada: Rankin and Contenta, 2017)
194 Nafstad, 2019, p. 8.
195 Weatherburn et al., 2003; and Villaveces Izquierdo, 2008.
196 Díaz Velásquez et al., 2016.
197 Brusco, 2016; Cano Menoni, 2014; and Saintout, 2014.
198 Extracted from ACLU, 2013, p. 66.
199 ibid., p. 48.

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Leaving no-one behind, transitioning without social divide.
In parallel with the illicit market, and partly as an answer to its risks and harms (adulteration of products,
violence or unsafe settings, threats of penal consequences, price, etc.) people who use Cannabis have found
an original but ancient method of supply: home cultivation.
In some cities (like in Spain, Belgium or Uruguay200), the obstacles to self cultivation in urban and periurban areas led home growers to join and create non-for-profit entities – organized as insular societies,
but respecting local laws on non-profit entities – behind which the activities of shared cultivation were
undertaken201, protected by the freedom of association202. Called “Cannabis social clubs203” these peer-led
non-for-profit operations are described like “an innovative and original human-scale model for cannabis
regulation204” where the limited profits generated by limited scope and mandatory membership impedes theentities from becoming too-large operations. Rarely overpassing a couple of hundred members, Cannabis
social clubs redirect their profits to the costs of production, rent, insurance, commodities, and wages forpeople in charge of cultivation205.
While Cannabis policy reform is often seen as a choice between different options, incompatibles one withthe other206, it is not only possible to superpose various models207 of production, supply, and access: it isabsolutely necessary. In properly-regulated policy landscape, home growing and Cannabis peers clubs shouldbe allowed, to respect the right to privacy and freedom of association of people. Specific supply models for
medical uses should be sought, in parallel of a needed for-profit adult use market, without which all otheroptions risk being overwhelmed by covered up recreational demand

200 Pardal et al., 2018.
201 Jansseune et al., 2019.
202 Marks, 2019 pp. 6-7.
203 ENCOD, 2011.
204 Ghehioueche and Riboulet-Zemouli, 2016.
205 Decorte, 2016.
206 Caulkins et al., 2015.
207 See for example the legal regulations enforced in Uruguay (Instituto de Regulación y Control del Cannabis, 2019; and Martínez, 2016)
where several ways of production (home growing, peer clubs and licenced crops) and access (clubs, pharmacies) have been successfully
implemented.

SUSTAINABLE CITIES ANDCOMMUNITIESMake cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Sustainable Development Goal 11.
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

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Target 11.4
Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural
heritage.

Target 11.a
Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban,
per-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development
planning.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
3- supply(b) (d)4- rights(a) (d) (i)6- cooperation(a)

7- development(h) (i) (j) (k) (l)The legal production and distribution of Cannabis provides the opportunity to implement public policies
that promote employment throughout the production and distribution chains at the local level prioritizing
individuals with a past record of non-violent Cannabis-related offences. Promoting integration, inclusion,
drawing on local knowledge and expertise. Regulating existing crops can result in increased income for the
area208, leading to greater regional development.
The late development under prohibition of small-scale Cannabis farmers in countries with the strongest
largest demand, particularly in peri-urban and rural areas, should also be seen as a way to establish
sustainable links between cities and suburban settlements, and could facilitate community empowermentwith practical models of ethnosphere preservation and sustainable agricultural practices, which could include
the production of fiber, seed, and their derivatives.

208 McSweeney et al., 2017.

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Incentives for locally-oriented Cannabis markets that empower communities, as described under the previous
Goals, are key for the protection of the cultural and natural heritage of traditional rural Cannabis-producing
regions. Reforming Cannabis policies in tandem with the development of AO or geographical indicators
for Cannabis products have the potential to provide legal support and protection of intellectual property,
which includes elements of both cultural and natural heritage. TK and cultural practices related to Cannabis
cultivation and medicinal preparations and practices would fall under these protections as would genetic
materials (chemovars which have been developed and bred by local communities with unique chemotypic
expressions).

RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND
PRODUCTION
Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Sustainable Development Goal 12.
Responsible consumption and production.

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Target 12.2
By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural
resources.

Accelerate climate action for all Sustainable Development Goals.

The alternative that Cannabis for non psychoactivity-related purposes represents, for paper, plastic, biofuel,building materials, and clothes, should be taken into consideration while developing strategies to manage andreduce the use of fossil fuel and other non-renewable resources. Furthermore, the benefit of Cannabis policy
regulation to fight illicit cultivation-led deforestation is yet another element to consider209.

Target 12.3
By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels
and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including postharvest losses.

Target 12.5
By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction,
recycling and reuse.

Almost all byproducts and wastes from the Cannabis plant can be reused or recycled, and arebiodegradable210.
Developing countries should be supported by the mechanisms of international cooperation for the professional
209 McSweeney et al., 2014; See also Goal 15.
210 See more under Goals 2 and 9.

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Target 12.aSupport developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technologicalcapacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption andproduction.

training of social and health care professionals in order to mainstream evidence-based and honest education to
Cannabis use and related harms, and to orientate people who use Cannabis towards an approach of sustainableconsumption focused on reducing potential harms and empowering informed Cannabis consumer choices211.

211 See more under Goals 3 and 4.

CLIMATE ACTION

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Sustainable Development Goal 13.
Combat climate change and its impacts.

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If we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change,
with disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us” Antonio Guterres, UN
Secretary-General212.
Although there is no specific target of Goal 13 to which Cannabis directly relates, this report refers to thatplant and its policies as an important lever for climate action in the context of Sustainable Development Goals
1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15 and 17. If the plant fails to fit the SDG Targets, it answers the call to accelerate climate
action for all Goals, and answer the Sustainable Development Agenda’s mandate “to protect the planet fromdegradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural
resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present andfuture generations.”213
A working ethnobotanical relationship with Cannabis sativa is necessary to build green and resilient societies.
Many findings presented in this report show that the Cannabis plant and sustainable policy reforms provide a
toolkit to help mitigating climate change, and tackling its effects.
Cannabis and its policies might not be at the core of multilateral action on climate change, yet they are
an influencing factor on multiple climate and climate change outcomes, either positively in the case of
the plant’s potential (e.g., uses of the plant for the numerous non psychoactivity-related purposes, soil
phytoremediation...) or negatively in the case of failed policies (e.g., deforestation caused by illicit crops
driven by DTOs, indoor cultivation...).
Cannabis and its policies might not save the world. Yet they deserve to play a role in transforming our planet
and its inhabitants.

212 UNSG, 2018.
213 UNGA, 2015.

LIFE ON LAND

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,
sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse
land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

Sustainable Development
Goal 15.
Ecosystems & life on land.

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GOAL 15: KEY POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
While it is unlikely that drug trafficking
organizations include environmental outputs in theirstrategies, legal standards and regulations must lay
the framework for legal farmers to do so.
Standards-based regulated geographic indication
systems and Appellations of Origin support bestpractices and environmental protections, market
viability of small-scale craft production, rural
economic development and environmental health,among others. They should be considered a primary
tool with which to navigate the sustainable andglobal expansion of regulated Cannabis crops in rural
areas.

Cannabis is best planted with a wide range ofother plants, which fosters biodiversity and enhances
flowering Cannabis to become a source of pollen forforaging bees. Agricultural policies and programs
should encourage crop diversification not only within
the genus Cannabis, but also with other crops.
Research and development on the potential
of Cannabis crops in phytoremediation andphytoextraction for contaminated land and water
should be encouraged.
Specific provisions in international legal
instruments on intellectual property might benecessary in order to provide effective protection ofCannabis-related traditional knowledge, traditional
cultural expressions and genetic resources.

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Target 15.1
By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use ofterrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particularforests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations underinternational agreements.

Target 15.4
By 2030, ensure the conservation of mountain ecosystems, including theirbiodiversity, in order to enhance their capacity to provide benefits that are
essential for sustainable development.

Accelerate climate action for all Sustainable Development Goals.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
3- supply(a) (d)4- rights(a) (i)6- cooperation(d)

The necessity for Cannabis growers to hide their crops from the scrutiny of authorities has resulted in adispersion (and thus expansion) of illegal cultivation in hidden areas previously preserved from humanfootprint. In Morocco, clearing of forests for illegal Cannabis cultivation and cutting for firewood accounted
for almost 90% of the deforestation214. In the USA, significant areas of protected national parks have beentaken over by DTOs to cultivate Cannabis215. According to the Alternative World Drug Report216, in Mexico’s
Sierra Madre Occidental region, “one of the most prolific opium and cannabis producing regions in the world”,
the “displacement of drug producers to this area has fuelled widespread deforestation, jeopardising the 200
species of oak tree and the habitats of numerous rare bird species – such as the thick-billed parrot – foundin the region. Such deforestation is not limited to the area cultivated for illicit crops. Rather, in addition to this214 Grovel, 1996; and UNODC, 2003.
215 Wood, 2003.
216 Rolles et al., 2016, p. 136.

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land, drug producers also clear forest for subsistence crops, cattle pastures, housing, transport routes and insome cases, for airstrips. As a result of this, several acres of forest are often clearcut to produce just one acreof drug crop.”
Enforcement-led approaches to Cannabis control pretended to minimize the ecological damage thatillegal cultivation causes to the environment. Yet, they have rather “magnified these harms, transferring
environmental costs to ever more remote, ecologically sensitive areas”.
It is indeed unlikely that DTOs would include environmental outputs in their strategies. Only legal rules andregulations can lay the framework for legal farmers to do so. “Left in the hands of unscrupulous criminals,
drug production will continue to be conducted covertly, leading to the dangerous disposal of chemical waste,
and damage to sensitive and important ecosystems.”217
Standards-based regulated geographic indication systems and AOs support best practices andenvironmental protections, market viability of small-scale craft production, rural economic development,
environmental health, community identity, and other regionally stabilizing benefits pertinent to the
Sustainable Development Agenda. Given the widespread establishment of pre-regulatory producing regionsof Cannabis for both psychoactivity and non psychoactivity-related purposes throughout the world, and AOs
should be considered a primary tool with which to navigate the sustainable and global expansion of regulated
Cannabis crops in rural areas.
Cannabis is best planted with diverse other companion plants, which enhances biodiversity. Moreover,during time periods with a dearth of pollinator-friendly crop plants in the region, flowering “hemp” becomesa potentially valuable source of pollen for foraging bees218. Agricultural policies and programs should
encourage crop diversification not only within the genus Cannabis, but also with other crops.

Target 15.3
By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including
land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve aland degradation-neutral world.

While the area of arable land contaminated by anthropogenic-derived pollutants continually increases, thepotential for the use of Cannabis crops in phytoremediation programs for contaminated land is being underclose scrutiny by the scientific community219 for its potential benefits for trace element phytoextraction
in contaminated soils and water. Studies have focused on the cultivation of Cannabis in heavy metals217 ibid. p. 138
218 Colorado State University, s.d.; O'Brien and Arathi, 2019.
219 Ahmad et al., 2015.

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contaminated soils220 for instance for the production of “biodiesel”221. In a study comparing Cannabis withthree other plants, “hemp [...] showed the best phytoextraction potential for [lead]”, and there are somementions that Ukraine's Institute of Bast Crops undertook cultivation of Cannabis to remove hazardous
contaminants in soils of the Chernobyl area222.

Target 15.c
Promote fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilizationof genetic resources and promote appropriate access to such resources, asinternationally agreed.

Perelmuter (2011) relates that seeds have played a central role in agricultural production, for their role in plant
reproduction and dissemination – and for their important nutrition intake in the case of Cannabis and manyother crops. Historically considered as “common goods”, “peasant and indigenous communities have freely
collected, stored, conserved and exchanged seeds, maintaining a control over them”223 since the emergence ofsedentary agriculture.
Yet the commodification of seeds results in the deprivation of that characteristic of “common good”, to thedetriment of phyto-genetic diversity. “Technical changes in the seeds that facilitate their appropriation” aswell as “transformations in the legal framework of intellectual property that imply a tendency for farmers to
become simple lessees of germplasms”224 are two major threats to fair and equitable sharing of benefits
identified by Perelmuter225.
But Cannabis makes the case for hope. Duvall226 analyzes about South Africa that “actions that social
movements, especially indigenous and peasants, give around continuing to consider seeds as common goods
extends to territories with traditional use of Cannabis” which is key to counter “the overwhelming force ofcapital in its attempt to appropriate the seeds.” Civil society responses to these threats227, in the form of seedbanks, plant genetics catalogues and other initiatives, have created the foundation of a strategy to tackle
undue appropriation of Cannabis-related natural resources.

220 Linger et al., 2001.
221 Gangrong et al., 2010.
222 Charkowski, 1998.
223 Perelmuter, 2011. Translation by the authors.
224 Ibid., p. 10 “La conversión de las semillas en mercancías.”225 See also Target 2.5 under “Supporting community-based seed banks and initiatives to safeguard genetics.”
226 Duvall, 2016.
227 See also Target 2.5.

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While legally regulated Cannabis cultivation offers communities a way to exit illegal market-related activities,
and provides opportunities for them to develop sustainable standards of cultivation and manufacture, themobilization of civil society’s movements will not be sufficient and will need support: Cannabis cultivation
should be harmonized within the existing international legal instruments protection and safeguard
plants genetic resources, and promoting equitable sharing of benefits arising from natural resources –including the intellectual property protections such as AO or geographical indications for herbal Cannabis,
psychoactivity-related derivatives or “hemp” products mentioned earlier. But specific provisions might
be necessary to protect populations with historicity in the cultivation of that plant, and in that sense theIntergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge andFolklore of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) should take action to provide effective
protection of TK, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources related to Cannabis sativa L.

PEACE, JUSTICE AND
STRONG INSTITUTIONS

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide
access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Sustainable Development Goal 16.
Peace, justice, human rights, rule of law, and strong institutions.

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GOAL 16: KEY POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Prohibitive Cannabis policies have massively
undermined economic, social, cultural, civil, politicalhuman rights.
Policies must stop criminalizing people who
use Cannabis products and other drugs, andproportionality must be applied to penal andadministrative sanctions.
Cannabis “supply reduction” has been almost
exclusively focused on customs, police, or evenmilitary operations, fuelling violence among criminalgroups and escalating State brutality. Public space
and institutions should be demilitarized and public
safety forces must urgently be trained to embed
Human Rights principles in their daily practice.
Multilateral support against corruption andimpunity.
Developing legal market regulations for the
Cannabis plant and its derivatives is a way to address
the enormous profits of drug trafficking organizations
and their capacity of corruption among politicians,
public institutions and economic stakeholders.

To discourage and discontinue illegal cultivation,
small-scale farmers must be offered viable
opportunities in the legal economy. Social integrationin legally regulated markets of people currently
involved in illicit trafficking in Cannabis products is
key.
Failure of mass media to differentiate
between regular adult use and abuse, as well as
acknowledging the particularities of religious or
medical uses, should be addressed.
Fear, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatments, arbitrary detention, the use of lethal
force, and arbitrary executions are all symbols of
the failure of governments to address the issuesof illicit drug trafficking while respecting the ruleof law. These must cease immediately and instead
be replaced with a call for legal measures ofinvestigation, truth, justice and if relevant remedy andreparations.

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Target 16.1
Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.

Target 16.4
By 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen therecovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime.

Target 17.13
Enhance global macroeconomic stability, including through policy
coordination and policy coherence.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
3- supply(a) (b) (d) (e) (g) (i) (j) (k) (l) (m) (o) (p) (q) (r) (s) (t)5- rights(p) (r)6- cooperation(a) (b) (d) (e)4- rights(a) (d) (f) (i) (k) (l) (o)7- cooperation(a) (h) (l)Since the adoption of the Single Convention in 1961, and even more vigorously since the 1988 Convention
setting the stage for the "war on drugs", Cannabis “supply reduction” measures have been almost exclusively
focused on law enforcement, customs, police, or even military operations, fuelling DTOs violence228 andmultiplying State violence.
Between 2006 and 2009, Mexico increased its offensive against DTOs in the country229. Federal police forces
tripled and 45,000 military troops joined the “counter-narcotics” offensive230. During this period, violent

228 Felbab-Brown, 2012; and UNODC, 2008.
229 Health Poverty Action, 2015.
230 Keefer and Loayza, 2010.

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deaths increased from around 3,000 in 2007 to more than 15,000 in 2010231. This data does not only relate to
Cannabis, but gives an idea of the impact repressive and law enforcement-focused approaches have had on
violence and violent deaths, particularly in producing and transit countries. “Countries where the drug trade
has been met with a militarized drug policy have often experienced a rise in other crimes, including extortionand kidnapping, which criminal organizations use as additional sources of income”232.
According to the Organization of American States, “illicit drug production and trafficking may produce what
has been called negative forms of social integration – relationships of loyalty, reciprocity, and a strong senseof belonging and recognition, but based on crime and violence”233. Therefore, social integration of people
currently involved in illicit trafficking in Cannabis products is key to decreasing levels of violence globally.
Nowadays this violent illegal market – much more controlled by DTOs than by the United Nations drug control
programme – is estimated by UNODC to be worth “US$320- billion as a conservative estimate, accounting fora minimum of 50% of the value of global illicit financial flows”234. Legal regulation of Cannabis markets that
disrupt DTOs’ high profits might be an efficient way to help reduce their capacity for generating violence andother social nuisances.

Target 16.3
Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure
equal access to justice for all.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
1- demand(d) (f) (l) (o)3- supply(a) (b) (c) (d)4- rights(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l)(m) (n) (o)5- trends(u) (v) (x) (y)6- cooperation(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)7- development(a) (h)231 The Guardian, 2011. Access directly the spreadsheet with governmental data at: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16W7tmmQMPTt7gZI4yTPvMOrOwY-lXw1H9BgxiGUV75g
232 International Peace Institute, 2018; and Werb et al., 2011.
233 OAS, 2013.
234 Health Poverty Action, 2015; see also UNODC, 2011.

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Criminal justice systems that enforce discriminatory laws235, by nature, undermine fair justice236 systems andequal rights. Policies on Cannabis and other drugs (often similar) that criminalise people who use drugs andrelated activities, “merely [increase] stigma and marginalisation, acting as a barrier to education, employment,
health and social services, and even the right to vote (for example in the United States)"237.
The UNODC recognized negative consequences of current international drug and Cannabis policies238,
among which “the criminalization and marginalization of people who use drugs, often amplified throughthe use of the criminal justice system to address drug use and minor possession”. The UNDP precisesthat “increasing evidence demonstrates additional harmful effects of drug control policies and related law
enforcement practices on development outcomes, particularly [...] governance and the rule of law”239.

Repealing policies that systematize human rights violations.
In areas of illegal production, traffic, or transit of Cannabis products, it has become evident that “social
cohesion is eroded when criminal activity becomes more ‘normal’ as the illegal drug economy spreads, andwhen violating the rule of law in the implementation of drug control policies also becomes more ‘normal’”240.
The Organization of American States recognized that “in order to discourage illegal cultivation, small-scale
farmers must have viable opportunities in the legal economy. Young people in search of a sense of belonging
and identity must find hope that they can become contributing members of society. In order for the drug trade
not to become a life choice, all citizens should be able to identify with a culture that values human rights,
dignity, and equal opportunities – a culture that respects and actively promotes the rule of law”241.
The illegality of Cannabis products artificially inflated their prices – and profits for DTOs – and is often used
to finance other illicit activities. Developing market regulations of the Cannabis plant and its derivatives isa way to address the enormous profits of DTOs and their capacity for corrupting public institutions andeconomic agents. Cannabis and broader drug control policy reforms are critical to reducing bribery andcorruption at all levels and developing transparent and accountable institutions and administrations.
Possession laws are not the only way that legal systems violate human rights and contribute to the violence
that accompanies the “War on Drugs”242. There are judicial systems in which guilt is assumed for any typeof possession (e.g., Singapore, Malaysia, France). In some legal systems, authorities are empowered todetain suspected traffickers for sixty days without even a guarantee of appearing before a court243. In many
countries, the high number of Cannabis and drug-related offences led to establishing systems of immediate
235 Among others, international human rights legal instruments protecting against discrimination include: the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights of 1948 (Articles 2 and 7), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 (Articles 2 (1) and 26), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 (Articles 2(2) and 3), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women of 1979 (Article 2) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 (Article 2).
236 UNDP 2015. See also Goal 10.
237 GCDP, 2018.
238 UNODC, 2008.
239 UNDP, 2015 p. 12.
240 OAS, 2013.
241 ibid.
242 Deane, 2018.
243 Transform Drug Policy Foundation, 2015.

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summons and other sorts of expeditive and summary trials244 that clearly undermine the right to defense245
and has a disproportionate impact on foreigners246.
It has been recognized that many drug-control laws, and their enforcement policies easily deviate to forms of
torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments247, arbitrary detention248 and even sometimes the use of
lethal force, and arbitrary executions249. In China for instance, the death penalty is applied routinely in an effort
to stop drug trafficking250. The laws that sustain the absurd “War on Drugs” are a paradigmatic example of
Human Rights violations throughout all levels of the police and justice systems.
Failure of mass media to differentiate between regular adult use (“recreational consumption”) andproblematic use (“abuse”) in certain cultures has played an important role in the criminalization of the useof Cannabis – which can amount to not only human, but also civil, political and cultural rights violations forsome populations251.
In certain religions and rites, so-called “entheogenic plants”252 are fundamental and have been used
traditionally for centuries for religious purposes253. The 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs binded
ratifying countries to eliminate traditional religious uses of Cannabis within a period of twenty-five years. Yet,this measure clearly contradicts international law254 on the protection of traditional religious practices, and therights of indigenous people255.
In Mexico, complaints to Human Rights agencies for abuses perpetrated by military and police forces haveincreased about 900% since the 1980s. Mass massacres happen, not only by the hand of DTOs, but also
by that of police or military forces in cases related to drug trafficking256. Systematic State-led violences areendemic in transit regions257.

244 Molin and Sayn, 2015.
245 Chevrier, 2018.
246 Léonard, 2010.
247 Human Rights Council, 2013, pp. 9-10; and Transform Drug Policy Foundation, 2015, pp. 5-6.
248 United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, 2016.
249 United Nations Special Rapporteurs on summary executions, Christof Heyns, and on torture, Juan E. Méndez, remind (United Nations
High Commissioner on Human Rights, 2015) that “Executions for drug crimes amount to a violation of international law and are unlawful
killings.” See also: United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, 2018.
250 Ying, 2012.
251 Barrett, 2018, pp. 10-13.
252 Entheogenic plants are raw botanicals or preparations that induce any type of spiritual experience (See: Evans Schultes andHofmann, 2001).
253 Tupper and Labate, 2012.
254 Pfeiffer, 2013,
255 International Drug Policy Consortium, 2012, Chapter 4.4.
256 Transform Drug Policy Foundation, 2015.
257 Díaz Velásquez et al., 2016, p. 17.

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Target 16.5
Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms.

Target 16.6
Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
1- demand(d)

3- supply(a) (b) (d) (e) (g) (i) (j) (k) (l)(m) (o) (p) (q) (r) (s) (t)4- rights(a) (b) (d) (f) (h) (i) (k) (l) (o)5- trends(p) (r) (u) (v) (w) (x) (y)6- cooperation(a) (b) (d) (e)7- development(a) (h) (l)The enormous profits258 and absence of taxation of DTOs has allowed them to easily and systematically “payoff judges, police, politicians, and other officials using their vast drug profits” as in Mexico259. “DTOs created a
network of corruption that ensured distribution rights, market access, and even official government protection
for drug traffickers in exchange for lucrative bribes.” Operations of infiltration and monitoring of DTOs areimportant point of contact with small and medium-level law enforcement and military officers, who are also acentral target of DTOs corruption, aside Government officials260.
One of the most obvious evidence of DTO-governments associations is the lack of prosecutions (or nonmeaningful prosecutions) of high-ranking government officials corrupted by DTOs, something that is

258 UNODC, 2011.
259 Shirk, 2011.
260 Health Poverty Action, 2015.

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documented in all continents (e.g., Afghanistan261, El Salvador262, Germany263, North-Macedonia264, France265,
Morocco266, Mexico267, Nederlands 268, Pakistan269...).
Corruption-related money and asset laundering activities go through tax-havens or international financial
centres. In this regard, the case of HSBC is significative, and highlights the structural ritualisation andnormalisation of corrupt and unethical behaviour in relation with criminal organizations and corrupted
governance, within the banking environment270. Efforts to make banking and finance more transparent should
be strengthened to tackle the core of the financial flows and laundering of the money of corruption.
In addition to its inherent damages and destabilization of societies, the corruption generated by the illegal
Cannabis and controlled drugs markets escalated violence between DTOs and public institutions leading toa degeneration of State security forces into similarly violent practices than those of DTOs. Worse, the legal
industrial military complex took part to this escalation (e.g., the case of the Fast & Furious operation271 theGerman company Heckler & Koch and its sale of assault weapons that were used in massacre by police andmilitary forces of 43 students from the Mexican village of Ayotzinapa272).

Abolishing narcopolitics and necropolitics.
Unregulated markets and their associated profits are a fertile ground, favourable to the development ofcorruption, in some countries (mainly South-Eastern Asia and Mesoamerica). The corruption linked to DTOs
and crops declared illegal, in association with the escalation of violence and the militarization of public
space273, led to the establishment of what can be described as a necropolitical order. Series of terms suchas “narcopolitics”274, “necropolitics”275 or “aporaphobia”276 have appeared as part of a discursive taxonomy in
261 Marco Gemperle, 2018.
262 Wolf, 2018.
263 Gounev and Ruggiero, 2012.
264 See: European Commission, 2008. The new name has been preferred over “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” precedently
used to designate the country.
265 In France for instance, François Thierrey, head of national drug enforcement administration (OCTRIS), was accused of coordinating
the import of dozens of tons of Cannabis resin in Spain and France (Fansten, 2016).
266 According to Bordes and Labrousse (2004), DTOs in Morocco “are at the origin of networks of corruption and clientelism ranging
from the choice, by the population, of traffickers as village authorities [...] to the highest levels of the authorities of the State”. See also
Hibou and Tozy, 2009.
267 Bataillon, 2015; and Chabat, 2005.
268 Gounev and Ruggiero, 2012.
269 Suba Chandran, 1998.
270 See: Ahmad Naheem, 2016; Carlin and Eshwar Lokanan, 2018. The case has an historical relevance, as HSBC was founded a century
ago in the context of the post-opium wars in Asia, that also originated the first ever international drug control treaties (Toussaint, 2014).
271 See the the “Fast & Furious” case, an operation or the German company Heckler & Koch linked to a sale of assault weapons to Central-American DTOs (in Eby, 2013; Fisher, 2013; Pérez Ricart, 2013; and Turbiville Jr, 2011).
272 Deutsche Welle, 2014; Pérez Ricart, 2013; and Strobel, 2014.
273 International Peace Institute, 2018; and Werb et al., 2011.
274 Narcopolitics are defined as “a mode of political practice that works to rationalize governance in terms of the problems associatedwith illicit drugs” by Garriott in Raikhel, 2011, on the basis of Foucault, 1976. See also Wright, 2011.
275 Necropolitics necropower are defined as “the various ways in which, in our contemporary world, weapons are deployed in the interestof maximum destruction of persons and the creation of death-worlds, new and unique forms of social existence in which vast populations
are subjected to conditions of life conferring upon them the status of living dead” by Mbembe, 2003. See also Flacks, 2018; and Wright,
2011.
276 Aporaphobia is defined as “a strong antipathy, aversion or hatred toward poverty or poor people” in Cortina, 1997. See also Sandoval,

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social sciences that seek to make visible the complexity of modern criminal organizations, corruption, politics
and their relation to power, once certain unprecedented levels of violence and constraint has been reached.
The “abandonment of important social sectors, the impoverishment, the corruption and the inability of
governments to provide security, have generated enormous spaces of para-legality”277. The extreme
hierarchization of DTOs’ work structures, resulting from prohibition-induced lack of regulation in businesspractices, has resulted in a modification of social perceptions278, and ultimately in profound economic, sociopolitical and symbolic power disparities in the regions most affected by harsh repressive prohibition policies 279.
DTOs criminal activity also play an important role in generating social contexts that benefit narcopolitical or
necropolitical strategies: on the one hand, they represent a considerable part of most countries’ GDP, on theother hand the fear instilled among civilian population can benefit authorities relying on the effectiveness ofthat fear to table controversial laws undertake special extrajudicial operations or declare the state of exception/
emergency (e.g., Mexico, Philippines, Brazil)280. The indirect contextual support that DTOs provide to corrupt
governments allow to justify policies of exceptionality and increased Human Rights violations, as well as thenormalization of invasive authoritarian and surveillance measures281.
The most infamous examples are in Asia (Philippines: more than 20,000 government-motivated extrajudicial
killings of people alleged to be related to drugs – including Cannabis282 – were reported during the last three
years283; Bangladesh: almost 500 alleged extrajudicial murders, motivated by the government, in a six months
period284), and in Latin America (Mexico: about 35,000 people were reported to be killed in relation with illicit
drug trade, in four years285).
Techniques of extreme violence (e.g. kidnapping, sale of human organs, torture, murder on demand, sexual
violences, etc.) echoed by similarly violent, disproportionate, dignity-violating law enforcement interventions,legitimate the terminology of narco- and necropolitics286. However, because of the economic strength andsocial implantation of DTOs, planning effective strategies to fight against them might bring as a consequence“recessive effects in the economy as a whole and significant social consequences"287. This might explain
why neither governants nor military and security forces seek to put an end to the power of these criminalorganizations: they rather prefer to limit DTO’s power, and eventually use it to their advantage.
There seem to be only one way to curve violence and severe breach to the rule of law, while preserving the
economical development of affected countries: legal regulations of the Cannabis market and, when relevant
and as appropriate, of other controlled plants, products and substances. Besides this need to reform criminal
2004.
277 Castro & Moreno, 2015, p. 86.
278 Arcila Estrada, 2017.
279 Sandoval, 2004, p. 81.
280 Agamben, 2003.
281 Dunn, 2001; and Vagle, 2016.
282 See for instance Balagtas See, 2017; and Gavilan, 2018.
283 Human Rights Watch, 2017; Asian Network of People who Use Drugs, 2019,284 According to ANPUD (Asian Network of People who Use Drugs, 2019), “Over 27,000 people killed in drug crackdowns in the Philippines
since May 2016. In Bangladesh, up to 466 people have been killed since the Prime Minister launched a nationwide anti-drugs campaign in
May 2018.”
285 The Guardian, 2011.
286 Andreatta, s.d.
287 Resa Nestares, 2003.

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justice systems288 and provide safe and legal ways for populations to get involved in alternative licit trade,the creation of international “truth and justice” commissions to independently investigate and combat
impunity and crime should be sought to contribute to a post-prohibition process that enforces the right toremedy and reparation for victims of gross Human Rights violations and strengthens transparency and therule of law.

Target 16.10
Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, inaccordance with national legislation and international agreements.

Target 17.6
Enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international
cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation andenhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including throughimproved coordination among existing mechanisms, in particular at theUnited Nations level, and through a global technology facilitation mechanism.
Target 17.16
Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented
by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge,
expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of
the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing
countries.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
4- rights(a)5- trends(b)

OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 9

During the period of 1954-2019289, the WHO’s official position was that “there should be an [...] abolitionof cannabis from all legitimate medical practice”290, fundamentally unbiased research related to Cannabis
has been scarce. The new policy landscape with recognition from the WHO and an increasing number ofjurisdictions allowing medical use has created an unprecedented opportunity for multi-disciplinary research
288 Wodak et al., 2002.
289 Jelsma and Armenta, 2015; and Riboulet-Zemouli, 2019.
290 WHO, 1954.

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and is facilitating a renewal of Cannabis and cannabinoid studies. After updating its position the WHO has amandate to lead and coordinate cooperation on science and knowledge-sharing related to Cannabis to ensure
access to information for all.
In some countries like France291, freedom of speech on topics related to drugs is restricted. This constitutes
an undeniable barrier to drug-related education, prevention and information for people who use Cannabis as
well as social and health workers who cannot work adequately when lacking this information.
Elsewhere, public funds for research have been geared towards studies that focus on the adverse effects
or possible negative outcomes of drug and Cannabis use. Research that entailed benefits or non-alarming
outcomes were discouraged or unfunded resulting in very few studies of that nature undermining the Right ofeveryone to share in scientific advancement and its benefits292, and the Right to enjoy the benefits of scientificprogress and its applications293.

291 Article L3421-4 of the French Public Health Code states that the “favorable presentation” of the use of controlled drugs is punishable
by five years imprisonment and a €75,000 fine.
292 UNGA, 1948, Article 27; UNGA, 1969, Article 13; and HRC, 2012.
293 UNGA, 1966, Article 15.

PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnershipfor sustainable development.

Sustainable Development Goal 17.
Partnerships for the Goals.

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GOAL 17: KEY POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Coherence and consistency of global and national
policies and strategies is needed. Rather thanmaintaining drug policies in a parallel universe with a
new post-2019 international plan of action on drugs,
the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs should design
drug-control strategies articulated around the Goalsof the Sustainable Development Agenda.
Redirecting part of international and domestic
government funding of drug control law enforcement
towards health and development policies can provide
a significant contribution to achieving the Goals of
the 2030 Agenda.
Additionally, sound reforms of Cannabis
policies would lead to a redistribution of profits
and a mobilization of the resources of criminalorganizations to public policy action for sustainable
development. The transition of crops from illegal
to legal settings, diversification of Cannabis plantderived products, reuse of waste, etc. will create
additional financial resources, including increases
in legal exports of Cannabis-related products for the
least developed countries.

To cohere, policies should stop hampering humanrights and overlapping the mandate of ensuring
access and availability of controlled plants, products,
or substances for medical and research purposes.
Affected populations, peer groups, NGOs,
scholars, the health and social care sector as well as
the private sector should be involved at all levels ofdecision, in particular in the early design of Cannabisrelated strategies, policies, laws, and regulations.

98

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Target 17.3
Enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international
cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation andenhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including throughimproved coordination among existing mechanisms, in particular at theUnited Nations level, and through a global technology facilitation mechanism.
Target 17.11
Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented
by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge,
expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of
the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing
countries.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
6- rights(a) (e)7- cooperation(c) (i) (l)Enforcing anti-drug policies costs at least US$100- billion a year globally, rivaling the US$130- billion global
aid budget”294. Given this extensive gap in funding needed to achieve the SDG targets295, “diverting a proportionof international and domestic government funding currently reserved for drug law enforcement towards
development could provide a significant contribution to achieving the SDGs. Any reallocation of funding would
also have a double-positive effect on achieving the SDGs, by reducing funding for drug policies which arecounter-productive to meeting the Goals."296
In complement (as discussed under Goal 16.4 and target 17.13) sound reforms of Cannabis policies would
lead to a redistribution of profits and a mobilization of DTO’s resources towards public policy action forsustainable development. The transition of crops from illegal to legal settings, diversification of Cannabis
plant-derived products, reuse of waste, as well as suggested tools such as geographical and origin protections
are ways to create added value and additional financial resources (leading to increasing legal exports ofCannabis-related products) from some of the least developed and most peripheral countries.

294 Martin, 2014.
295 Greenhill et al., 2013.
296 Health Poverty Action, 2015.

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Target 17.14
Enhance policy coherence for sustainable development.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
2- availability(e)
4- rights(a) (i)3- supply(q)
6- cooperation(a) (d)OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 9

The effect of the international drug control system has always been in stark contradiction to basic Human
Rights standards. But since the decade of the 1990’s297 the international community has set a series oftargets that are not only in contradiction with many other treaties, agreements and national policies298 but also
contradict some provisions of the drug control Treaties. International policies and strategies on drugs haveoverlapped the goal of ensuring access and availability of controlled plants, products, or substances for
medical and research purposes.
Drug-related topics, Cannabis in particular, are victims of incoherences and inconsistencies in international
policies and strategies. Rather than creating a new international plan of action on drugs (and maintaining
drug policies in a parallel universe compared to United Nations values, missions, strategies, and programmeof work), the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs should design drug-control strategies in alignment with theGoals of the Sustainable Development Agenda as a plan of action. Similar steps could be taken at the local,
national, and regional level, thus meeting the commitment made by the UN to ensure that all future policies
are aligned with the Sustainable Development framework299.

297 Jelsma and Armenta, 2015, p. 8. See also UNGA, 1998.
298 Van Kempen and Fedorova, 2016; Lines, 2016; See also about the hierarchy of norms between international human rights legal instruments and drug control treaties in the video of the conference “Is it legal to regulate drugs? Hierarchy of norms between Human Rights &Drug control” from Legal Regulations Fora, Vienna (2017): youtu.be/ujalZSUv7k0
299 UNGA, 2014.

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Target 17.17
Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society
partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies ofpartnerships.

Operational Recommendations from the
UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document
1- demand(e) (q)
6- cooperation(d)

4- rights(a) (b) (h) (i)7- development(g) (i) (l)OPERATIVE PARAGRAPH 9

The political abandonment of populations affected by prohibition has helped gather some affected persons
and peer groups and some have created policy model proposals such as the Cannabis social clubs300 that
seek consensus with authorities to establish a small-scale non-for-profit psychoactive Cannabis products
retail system in order to secure their right to privacy. They have successfully been incorporated into public
policies (e.g. Uruguay and at the local level in Spain301) demonstrating an efficient result-oriented integrationof grassroots initiatives into public policy.
Involvement of peers and people who use drug in prevention and education campaigns at all stages, is also a
key element of the needed government-citizen collaborations to be sought.
Civil society (including affected populations, peer groups, non-governmental organizations, scholars, healthand social care sector as well as the private sector, etc.) should be involved at all levels of decision – inparticular in the early design of Cannabis-related strategies, policies, laws, and regulations.

300 Decorte, 2016; ENCOD, 2011; Ghehioueche and Riboulet-Zemouli, 2016; Jansseune et al., 2019; Marks, 2019; and Pardal et al, 2018.
301 Marks, 2019.

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Acronyms & definitions.
AIDS 				Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

AD				Alternative Development
ADHD				Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

AO				Appellations of Origin
Cannabis			 All varieties, sub-varieties and cultivars of the Cannabis sativa L. plant
CARICOM			 Caribbean Community
CBD				Cannabidiol
CIA				

Central Intelligence Agency (of the United States of America)

CNCP				Chronic Non Cancer Pain
CND 				Commission on Narcotic Drugs

Δ -THC				Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol
9

DTOs				Drug Trafficking Organizations

ECOSOC 			

Economic and Social Council of the United Nations

ECS 				Endocannabinoid System
EMCDDA 			

European Monitoring Center on Drugs and Drug Addiction

EU 				European Union
FAO 				United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization

FDA				Food and Drugs Administration (of the United States of America)
GCDP				Global Commission on Drug Policy

GDP 				Gross Domestic Product

GIZ 				German Organization for International Cooperation

Herbal Cannabis		

The dried parthenocarpic fruits or flowers of female Cannabis plants

HIV 				Human Immunodeficiency Virus

HRC				Human Rights Council
ILO				

International Labour Office

INCB 				International Narcotics Control Board

INFMP				Institute of Natural Fibres and Medicinal Plants

NCDs 				Non-Communicable Diseases
OAS				

Organization of American States

101

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Cannabis & Sustainable Development.

OECD 				Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

OHCHR				Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights

OST 				Opioid Substitution Therapy
Single Convention		

Single Convention on narcotic drugs, as amended in 1972

SDGs 				Sustainable Development Goals

T&CM				Traditional & Complementary Medicine

THC				Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol
TK				Traditional Knowledge
UN 				United Nations
UNAIDS 			Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDSUNESCO			 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNDP 				United Nations Development Programme

UNGA 				United Nations General Assembly

UNGASS 			

United Nations General Assembly Special Session

UNODC 				United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

UNSG 				United Nations Secretary-General

WDR 				World Drug ReportWHO 				World Health Organization

WIPO 				World Intellectual Property Organization

WOLA 				Washington Office on Latin America

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Due to its characteristics, widespread cultivation and use, and diversity of its applications the Cannabis sativa L.
plant directly pertains to at least 62 of the 169 targets found in 15 out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs). Surprisingly, this plant affects the SDGs both positively and negatively.
This report explains how the “hemp-issues” of Cannabis sativa L. (non psychoactivity-related uses) can contribute tomeeting Goals 1, 2, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 15, but also why reforming the current repressive, prohibitive, andmarginalizing policies relating to “marijuana-issues” (psychoactivity-related uses of Cannabis sativa L.) is
indispensable to meet Goals 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13, 16 and 17.
The Cannabis plant has accompanied humankind for millenia. It has provided food and numerous products derived
from its fiber (various locally sourced and produced-materials). More recently, the plant has been explored for thesoil-cleaning property of its roots and the significant biomass produced by the stems of the plant, a promising sourceof energy, a great building material and recyclable vegetative plastic. The plant has also been employed in allcontinents and throughout human history for use in medicine, spiritual ritual and recreation.
Current overly restrictive public policies addressing the psychoactive uses of the plant hinder the availability of theplant and its derivatives for medical purposes and prevent implementation of sound and sensible regulatory accessframeworks. Repressive and authoritarian drug-control policies foster corruption, increase imprisonment rates,
augment adverse social and health outcomes for people who use cannabis and generate innumerable human rights
violations in particular among women, minorities, low income communities and indigenous peoples.
Reaching the Goals of the 2030 Agenda means adopting significantly different regulations to all aspects andactivities linked to the uses of the Cannabis plant, moving away from the artificial separation between “hemp” and“marijuana”. Scientists talk about Cannabis, farmers talk about hemp, politicians talk about marijuana, but none ofthem really get a clear picture of the ethnobotanical context of this plant. It is time for us all to get on the same page.

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