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The purpose of this paper is to: describe and contextualize the aims and distinctive and common characteristics of cannabis festivals in countries with different cannabis policies; assess characteristics of participants; identify reasons to attend cannabis festivals; explore to which extent cannabis festivals contribute to the social and cultural acceptance of cannabis, as perceived by attendees.

The approach incorporates three methods of data collection in the research design; quantitative research among 1,355 participants, participant observation and interviews with the organizers.

Cannabis festivals in Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome and Athens have common features but also maintain and reproduce local, social and cultural characteristics. Cannabis festivals, as well as their attendees, represent heterogeneous categories. The style of the festival – music festival or march combined with music – affects the main reason for attendance by the participants. In cannabis festivals more similar to music festivals the majority of the respondents attended for entertainment while at the cannabis festivals in the form of a march combined with music the majority attended for protest. Furthermore, increasing age, residency and the high frequency of cannabis use are factors that led the participants to attend for protest.

The research on cannabis festivals is limited. This paper not only explores the aims of cannabis festivals in four capital cities of Europe and the characteristics of their attendees including motivations, but also offers interesting insights for understanding the ways in which political and social constructions like cannabis festivals shape attitudes, perception and behaviors around cannabis use.

The purpose of this paper to examine laws and regulations applicable to cannabis in the USA and the UK, including legal reforms and international treaty obligations.

This study relies on primary data from statutes and secondary data from online and offline resources, including relevant case studies.

Federal laws in the USA and existing UK cannabis legal regime generally prohibit recreational use of cannabis. Increasingly, various individual states in the USA have enabled the use of cannabis health-related uses, thereby challenging the status of the UN treaties on drug enforcement. As the USA struggles to reconcile the conflicts between federal law on cannabis and individual states within its borders, much of the rest of the world, including the UK, are struggling with how best to reconcile their domestic positions with their UN treaty obligations.

Recent disclosures of past recreational use of prohibited drugs by several candidates vying to be the UK Prime Minister suggests why understanding the laws governing the use of cannabis is useful and relevant to the general public.

This paper provides a general but integrated review of national laws in the USA and the UK, as well as international treaties governing the use of cannabis.

The purpose of this paper is to offer original ideas into a potential future cannabis industry in the UK. This paper presents novel approaches regarding the potential existence of cannabis for the tourism industry. It presents an idea in which the UK Government could produce, distribute and control the industry. The proposed idea presents a scheme in which the UK could encourage regional tourism (inclusive to domestic and international travellers) through a controlled but innovative cannabis market scheme. This paper presents a future scenario aiming to encourage dialogue and critique, at a time when attitudes to cannabis are changing.

This research takes a scenario narrative approach in presenting and exploring a potential future cannabis market in the UK. The importance of narrative writing as a method is recognised by Lindgren and Bandhold (2009), who identify the significance in telling a story to the reader. Taking a pragmatic approach, embracing diverse philosophical methods, this research explores past and current trends via a mixture of secondary data sources to create and present a scenario narrative of the future.

This paper identified that trends in legalising cannabis for cultivation, medical and recreational purposes continue to become more liberal globally. However, cannabis laws mainly focus on the use for residents. Consequently, domestic tourism markets have the potential to grow. However, there is limited consideration regarding the potential for international tourism cannabis markets. Thus, the findings of this research are based on the potential for the UK to implement and promote a cannabis industry for international travellers.

This paper offers original ideas in exploring a future cannabis market in the UK, one where regional tourism is considered. The paper presents a novel approach that encourages domestic and international tourists to engage with the cannabis industry by navigating a well-managed, local approach to supplying cannabis in the UK.

Cannabis use among young adults is increasing, despite being associated with several negative consequences. Protective behavioral strategies (PBSs) are a potential mechanism of behavior change for reducing substance use, yet PBS use for cannabis is not well understood. The purpose of this paper is to further define and measure the PBS construct for cannabis.

A community sample of cannabis users (n=54) participated in eight focus groups discussing the use of PBSs. Participants completed surveys regarding demographics, cannabis use habits and cannabis problems. The authors also administered an existing measure of cannabis PBS and asked them to generate new or unique protective strategies that they had used or had heard of others using.

Thematic analysis of qualitative focus group data provided information about cannabis users’ reasons for regulating cannabis use (e.g. health or legal problems, interpersonal) as well as strategies to moderate cannabis use or attenuate their risk for experiencing adverse consequences (e.g. distraction, existential/spiritual strategies). Analyses of quantitative survey data revealed that use of PBSs was negatively correlated with cannabis outcomes. Perceived helpfulness of strategies was an important predictor of decreased cannabis use and adverse consequences.

Findings expand the understanding of the definition and measurement of strategies for regulating cannabis use and reducing related risk of experiencing adverse consequences.

This is the first study to examine cannabis-related PBS using both qualitative and quantitative methods, which provide insights into the definition of PBS and for future refinements of PBS measurement.

It is conceivable that cannabis cultivators who grow for medical purposes aim to improve the therapeutic index of their cannabis by attempting to produce particular concentrations of CBD and/or THC. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether small-scale medical cannabis growers differ from those growing for recreational reasons in terms of self-assessed concentrations of THC and CBD in the cannabis they grow.

Data collection was conducted online from a convenience sample of 268 cannabis growers visiting a popular Israeli cannabis internet forum. χ² and Kruskal–Wallis H were used to test bivariate associations between medical and recreational cannabis cultivators in terms of self-assessed cannabinoid concentrations.

In total, 40 percent of cannabis growers reported that they grow for medical purposes. Medical cannabis growers were more likely to report that they thought they knew the cannabinoid concentrations of the cannabis they grew and they reported higher self-assessed concentrations of THC, but not CBD.

Compared to recreational growers, medical cannabis growers are more likely to strive to be informed in terms of the content of their cannabis. Medical growers may also be attempting to grow more potent THC but not CBD cannabis.

The purpose of this paper is to retrospectively evaluate outcomes measured for patients attending the Leeds Addiction Unit (LAU) for cannabis use disorders.

The authors performed a retrospective evaluation of data for clients referred to LAU for cannabis use disorders. These clients are routinely allocated to a programme of social behaviour and network therapy (SBNT), and methods of monitoring treatment include four questionnaires completed by clients, and the collection of treatment outcomes profile (TOP) data. Data were compared using non-parametric statistical methods.

Of 158 clients included in the study, 20 completed the four questionnaires at assessment and follow-up. A statistically significant improvement was found for the outcome measuring level of dependence (p=0.013). TOP data showed significant reduction in the average number of days of cannabis use over the past four weeks (p<0.001) and improved median scores for the client's rating of overall quality of life (p<0.001).

These findings suggest that treatment using SBNT can result in clinical improvement in cannabis use disorders. The promising results of the UK Alcohol Treatment Trial naturally raised the question as to whether SBNT can be adapted to treat substance use disorders other than alcoholism. This study aims to add to the body of evidence for this proposal.

This is the first evaluation of the service to measure outcomes for the treatment of cannabis misuse. This study is especially relevant given the recent changes made to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders regarding cannabis use disorders, and has triggered another evaluation of cannabis treatment at LAU looking into specific pharmacotherapy.

The purpose of this paper is to draw together key literature and analyses of data on admissions for cannabis psychosis in National Health Service hospitals in England (extracted from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES)) to highlight what is known about gender differences in cannabis psychosis and point towards suggestions for improving gender-sensitive treatment and future research.

Analysis of British Crime Survey data and HES data were used in combination with data from previously published epidemiological studies to compare gender differences.

Male cannabis users outnumber female users by 2:1, a similar gender ratio is found for those admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or psychosis. However this ratio increases significantly for those admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of cannabis psychosis, with males outnumbering females by 4:1.

Consistent patterns in gender ratios for people admitted to hospital with cannabis psychosis over a period of 11 years are reported, it is not clear why this gender difference persists but it warrants further investigation which would be aided by improved gender recording at a systemic level.

This review brings into focus the marked gender differences in cannabis psychosis. Attending to gender is important for research and treatment with the aim of improving understanding and providing gender-sensitive services.

This paper adds to the literature on gender differences in cannabis psychosis.

In the course of the 2000s Denmark has experienced a shift in drug policy in general and of cannabis policy in particular. Danish drug policy used to be known as liberal, but is now saturated with ‘zero‐tolerance’ and ‘tough on crimes’ rhetoric. What happened, and what have the consequences been? This article describes recent changes, focusing on the closing of Pusher Street in Christiania, Copenhagen, one of northern Europe's largest open cannabis markets. This most spectacular outcome can also be seen as a conquered symbol of a former liberal ‐ and for many too lenient ‐ drug policy.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a description of a small, early-stage feasibility project that used a motivational interviewing (MI) informed intervention on a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU).

The paper describes a MI informed intervention implemented on a PICU for service users who use cannabis. The intervention was evaluated using a feedback questionnaire post intervention. Due to the small number of service users (n=5) in the first cohort there is limited narrative and quantitative data available.

The project raised awareness for staff of the potential usefulness of applying MI informed interventions in a PICU setting. All participants stated the intervention should continue to be offered after the project. The intervention needs to be further developed with the possibility of it being used on an acute open ward environment with a larger cohort and consider the use of a randomised-controlled trial approach to validate the results.

The small cohort (n=5) used for this feasibility project and the evaluation limited the opportunity to make general conclusions and recommendations. However, the learning gained can be applied to future applications.

Practitioners can consistently apply the MI informed intervention using templates as a guide when providing drug urine screening results.

The intervention is a novel approach. The authors found no literature on incorporating MI principles and skills with providing drug urine screening results on a PICU; the paper helps to address this dearth of clinical examples.