Transcript Infancias vulnerables

The globalization of
(domestic) cannabis cultivation
Prof. Dr. Tom Decorte
Institute for Social Drug Research (ISD)
Ghent University, Belgium
San Sebastian
26 October 2011
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The rise of domestic cannabis production
• Import substitution in the cannabis market
• A drug-specific trend
• A universal trend
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Historical analysis of the phenomenon
Factors shaping and explaining the phenomenon
Typologies and motives of cannabis growers
Policy implications
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Cannabis: a plant and a drug
• Cannabis: an agricultural product (“hemp”), a drug crop (“marihuana”) and a
medicine
• Cannabis: cannabis resin (“hash”) – herbal cannabis (“marihuana”) –
cannabis oil – etc.
• Key characteristic: minimal processing required
• Highly adaptable, versatile plant
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The demand for cannabis
• Cannabis = most widely and universally used illegal drug in the
world
• Cannabis: from counter-subculture to mainstream culture
(“normalization”)
• “Cannabis culture” (“pot culture”):
- Cannabis clubs, campaign groups, societies
- Books & magazines
- Cannabis-themed websites and fora
- Cannabis cups
• Social and political tolerance
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A brief history of cannabis cultivation (1)
Historic and traditional
production
Cultivation in the developing
world for the expanding
markets in the developed world
Production in the developed
world (first outdoor, later indoor)
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A brief history of cannabis cultivation (2)
• Shift from an agricultural crop to a drug crop
• Emergence of modern patterns of cannabis use (demand)
• International efforts at drug control and eradication
• Prohibition creates “non-tariff-trade barriers”
• Local factors: geographical remoteness, political unrest, limited
economic development and infrastructure
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A brief history of cannabis cultivation (3)
• Responses from growers to anti-drug strategies
• Technology: indoor cultivation (hydroponic and climate control
technologies)
• Plant husbandry and selective breeding (a versatile plant)
• Economic motives (financial reasons) versus ideological motives
(intangible rewards)
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Intangible rewards (1)
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Cheaper
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Biological weed
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For personal use
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Avoiding illegal circuit
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‘Green fingers’
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The beauty of the plant
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Curiosity
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Less travelling up and down
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Intangible rewards (2)
• The quest for quality
- Initial motive
- Preference for varieties
- Improvement of cultivation techniques
- Advice to novice cultivators: biological cultivation strategies
- Perception of own weed as more mild and healthy
- Social rewards for ‘good’ weed
- Stories about adulteration of commercial weed
- Marketing strategy of coffee shops
- Quality ≠ strength
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Typologies of cannabis cultivators (1)
Medicinal growers
Personal growers
‘Communal growers’
Therapeutic use
Small homegrowers
Social growers
Social-commercial
growers
Personal use
Better quality
Hobby
Avoiding illegal circuit
For friends
Social rewards
‘Pragmatists’
Large independent
commercial home
growers
Additional income
Economical necessities
Single homegrowers
working for
commissioners
Commercial growers
‘Hustlers’
Entrepreneurial
largescale producers
Profit
Entrepreneurs, business
Organisers of
entrepreneurial
growing
Hough et al. (2003)
Weisheit (1992)
Bovenkerk (2002)
Motives
Typologies of cannabis cultivators (2)
• Motives: profit versus not-for profit
• Social network size: Individual enterprises versus group enterprises
• Age: Adolescents and adults
• Criminal involvement: generalists versus specialists (hobbyists)
• Hierarchy / degree of participation: Entrepreneurs versus helpers
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“Good” and “bad” growing:
weighing the impact of cannabis cultivation
Economic
benefits
Social
benefits
& rewards
Impact on
consumption
patterns
Cannabis
cultivation
Loss of
traditional
economic
activities
Criminality
(involvement of
organised
crime)
Environmental
damage
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Explaining the spread of cannabis cultivation
Sustained
demand
Sustained
supply of
motivated
offenders
Opportunity
Technology
Knowledge
(internet)
Spread of
cannabis
cultivation
Relative failure
of drug policy
to prevent or
stop the spread
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Policy implications
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Proportion between different types of cultivators is unknown
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Differences in patterns and techniques of growing understudied
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Small scale cultivation is an important segment of the cannabis market, both
in size and nature
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Possible unintended effects of repressive policy : waterbed-effects
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Policy strategies need to be evaluated in effects on all segments of the
cannabis market
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Regulation of cannabis market is the best option in terms of public health
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References
Decorte, T., Potter, G.R. and Bouchard, M. 2011.
World Wide Weed. Global trends in cannabis
cultivation and its control. Farnham: Ashgate.
Decorte, T. 2008. Domestic marihuana cultivation in Belgium:
on (un)intended effects of drug policy on the cannabis
market, in Cannabis in Europe: dynamics in perception,
policy and markets, edited by D.J. Korf. Lengerich, Pabst
Science Publishers, 69-86.
Decorte, T. 2010a. The case for small-scale domestic
cannabis cultivation. The International Journal of Drug
Policy, 21(4), 271-275.
Decorte, T. 2010b. Small scale domestic cannabis cultivation:
an anonymous web survey among 659 cannabis
cultivators in Belgium. Contemporary Drug Problems, 37
(Summer 2010), 341-370.
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http://www.ararteko.net
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