January 4, 2013

Study Shows Cannabis Retail Outlets Not Linked With Rise In Cannabis Use

January 4, 2013
coffee shop

coffee shopThe availability of cannabis retail outlets in The Netherlands is not associated with the greater incidences of cannabis use or an increase in the intensity of the public’s consumption of marijuana, according to a study published in the European Journal of Criminology.

Researchers at the Bonger Institute of Criminology and the Trimbos Institute assessed the influence of coffee shop availability on the prevalence and intensity of cannabis use, as well as the effectiveness of the nations ‘separation of markets’ policy – which seeks to separate cannabis from the illicit drug market. Investigators surveyed a sampling of nightlife visitors between the ages of 15 and 35, geographically spread out across the nation, as well as a sub-selection of previous year cannabis users.

Authors reported: “We hypothesized that closer proximity to coffee shops would result in more cannabis consumption. This hypothesis was not confirmed.”

They concluded: “Logistic regression analyses showed that coffee shop proximity does not seem to be linked to prevalence of cannabis use or intensity of use. In addition, proximity of coffee shops does not seem to be linked directly to hard drugs use.”

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: [email protected]. Full text of the study, “Cannabis use and proximity to coffee shops in the Netherlands,” appears in the European Journal of Criminology.

Article from NORML’s weekly news release

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