Current state of cannabis use, policies, and research across sixteen countries: Cross-Country Comparisons and International perspectives

Ransing R 1 , de la Rosa PA 2 , Pereira-Sanchez V 3 , Handuleh JIM 4 , Jerotic S 5 , Gupta AK 6 Show all authors , Karaliuniene R 7 , de Filippis R 8 , Peyron E 9 , Sönmez Güngör E 10 , Boujraf S 11 , Yee A 12 , Vahdani B 13 , Shoib S 14 , Stowe MJ 15 , Jaguga F 16 , Dannatt L 17 , Kieslich da Silva A 18 , Grandinetti P 19 , Jatchavala C 20

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Psychiatry, BKL Walawalkar Rural Medical College, Maharashtra, India
  • 2 Education of Human Affectivity and Sexuality, Institute for Culture and Society, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain. Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
  • 3 Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
  • 4 Saint Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • 5 Clinic for Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 6 Department of Psychiatry, National Medical College, Parsa, Nepal
  • 7 Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany
  • 8 Psychiatric Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
  • 9 Clinique Belmont, Genève, Switzerland
  • 10 Department of Psychiatry, University of Health Sciences, Erenköy Mental Health and Neurological Diseases Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 11 Clinical Neurosciences Laboratory, Sidi Mohamed ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco
  • 12 Department of Psychological Medicine, University Malaya Centre of Addiction Sciences (UMCAS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 13 Qazvin University of Medical Sciences Qazvin, Qazvin, Iran. Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
  • 14 Department of Psychiatry, Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Hospital, Rainawari, Kashmir, India
  • 15 Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa
  • 16 Moi Teaching & Referral Hospital, Eldoret, Kenya
  • 17 Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa
  • 18 Faculty of Medicine, University of Vale do Taquari, Lajeado, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
  • 19 Addictions Service, Department of Territorial Services, ASL Teramo, Italy
  • 20 Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand
Trends Psychiatry Psychother, 2021 Nov 03.
PMID: 34735077 DOI: 10.47626/2237-6089-2021-0263

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Varying public views on cannabis use across countries may explain the variation in the prevalence of use, policies and research in individual countries, and global regulation of cannabis. This paper aims to describe the current state of cannabis use, policies, and research across sixteen countries.

METHODS: PubMed and Google Scholar were searched for published studies from 2010 to 2020. Searches were conducted by using the relevant country of interest as a search term (e.g. "Iran"), as well as relevant predefined keywords such as "cannabis", "marijuana", "hashish", "bhang "dual diagnosis", "use", "addiction", "prevalence", "co-morbidity", "substance use disorder", "legalization" or "policy" (English and non-English). These keywords were used in multiple combinations to create the search string in studies records' titles and abstracts. Official websites of respective governments and international organizations were also searched in English and non-English (national language country) languages to identify the current state of cannabis use, policies, and research in each of those countries.

RESULTS: Inconsistent and heterogeneous reporting of cannabis use, variation in policies (e.g., legalization), and intervention strategies across the reviewed countries were the main findings. European countries have dominated cannabis research output in PubMed, as compared to Asian countries (Thailand, Malaysia, India, Iran and Nepal).

CONCLUSIONS: Although global cannabis regulation is ongoing, the existing heterogeneities across countries in terms of policies and epidemiology can increase the burden of cannabis use disorders disproportionately and unpredictably. There is an urgent need to develop global strategies to address these cross-country barriers to improve early detection, prevention, and interventions for cannabis use and related disorders.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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