Adding to the cannabis debate: Comment on various Central Drug Authority papers

Abstract

This editorial addresses the following documents published in this and a previous edition of the SAMJ:

• The Central Drug Authority (CDA)’s position paper on cannabis
• The CDA’s position paper on harm reduction
• The CDA’s response to the editorial ‘Comment on the CDA’s position statement on cannabis’.

As there is considerable overlap between the contents of the above documents, this editorial tries to avoid covering all the arguments put forward both in these documents and in the author’s ‘Comment on the CDA’s position statement on cannabis’. Instead, it sets out to inform medical professionals and civil society why the incorporation of illicit drugs into the existing regulatory framework of drug control is the only holistic way to implement comprehensive harm reduction measures and bring an end to the ‘war on drugs’.

Instead it sets out to inform medical professionals and civil society as to why the incorporation of illicit drugs into the existing regulatory framework of drug control is the only holistic way to both implement comprehensive harm reduction measures and bring an end to the 'war on drugs'.