Don’t make a hash of it! A thematic review of the literature relating to outcomes of cannabis regulatory change

Globally cannabis regulations are rapidly changing. In recent years social and political pressure, not science, has driven this change. Experience from jurisdictions that have implemented regulatory change, although relatively new, should be used to inform future policy development for other jurisdictions, assisting in addressing the wicked problem that cannabis regulations present. This review aimed to elicit underlying themes from a broad range of literature exploring the effects of regulatory change relating to cannabis. To achieve this a meta-narrative theoretical approach using inductive constant comparative analysis was used to synthesize data until thematic saturation was reached. Following a systematic literature search, 92 papers were analyzed before thematic saturation was complete. Five super-ordinate themes emerged that observed the societal and health effects following legislative and regulatory change: Normalization; Economics; Gatekeeping; Community and Health. These themes, empirically derived through a formal qualitative approach, were considered regarding cultural contexts, providing an understanding of how cannabis regulation is changing the social landscape. Consideration of the themes during future research may provide a focus point for the discussion of legislation and policy, not only relating to cannabis, but also other broad-ranging areas such as social policy, welfare, education and health.

全球范围内，大麻监管政策正经历快速变革。近年来推动此项变革的并非科学依据，而是社会与政治层面的诉求与压力。尽管已实施监管变革的辖区相关经验尚显稚嫩，但仍可为其他辖区的后续政策制定提供参考，助力破解大麻监管所面临的棘手难题。本综述旨在从大量探讨大麻监管变革影响的学术文献中提炼核心主题。为此，本研究采用基于归纳式持续比较分析的元叙事理论方法，对数据进行综合分析。经系统文献检索后，本研究共分析了92篇学术文献，此时便已达成主题饱和，未再纳入更多研究文献。最终归纳出五大上位主题，用以阐释立法与监管变革后的社会与健康影响：正常化（Normalization）、经济影响（Economics）、守门机制（Gatekeeping）以及社区与健康（Community and Health）。这些通过正式定性研究方法实证推导得出的主题，结合文化语境展开分析后，可帮助我们理解大麻监管正如何重塑社会格局。在未来研究中关注这些主题，可为立法与政策讨论提供明确的聚焦方向，其适用范畴不仅限于大麻领域，还可延伸至社会政策、福利保障、教育与卫生等诸多广泛领域。