RT Article
T1 Cannabis Prevalence and National Drug Policy in 27 Countries: An Analysis of Adolescent Substance Use
JF International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology
VO 63
IS 7
SP 1082
OP 1099
A1 Kotlaja, Marijana M.
A2 Carson, Jennifer Varriale
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1670625354
AB Prior research that assesses the relationship between cannabis policy and prevalence rates has yielded mixed results, perhaps due to the varying rigor of these investigations. Addressing some of these issues in rigor and informed by a rational choice theory (RCT), we hypothesize that those policies on the more punitive end of McDonald and colleagues' classification will be most effective. Examining legislation in 27 countries utilizing the Second International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD-2) through hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) models with both individual- and country-level controls, we find little support for these hypotheses. Instead, results from our analysis largely indicate that the variation in country prevalence rates from 2005 to 2007 was not significantly related to cannabis control policy. We comment on possible policy implications for these preliminary results.
K1 Cannabis
K1 Adolescents
K1 Legislation
K1 Cross-national
K1 HLM
K1 Drug policy
K1 Rational choice theory
DO 10.1177/0306624X18814184