Editorial: Cannabis and the law

Abstract

The tension between social acceptance and legal regulation of cannabis use has a long and conflictual history. Polarizing attitudes concerning cannabis use increased in the late sixties and seventies, as controlling laws became more severe and use became more widespread. Scientific knowledge on the substance was then meager, which itself may have contributed to a view that cannabis use was neither therapeutic nor harmful. As use has become even more of an issue of acquiescence and acceptance in recent years, even being promoted and commercialized on an unprecedented scale with several medical indications identified, it has been legalized for recreational and/or medical use in many U.S. states, Canada, and other western countries. Cannabis is thus one of the most used psychoactive substances in the world after alcohol and nicotine ( United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ), 2019 ).