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Vienna International Centre, P.O. Box 500, 1400 Vienna, Austria Tel: (+43-1) 26060-0, Fax: (+43-1) 26060-5866, www.unodc.org BULLETIN ON NARCOTICS—Volume LVIII, Nos. 1 and 2, 2006 LVIII, BULLETIN ON NARCOTICS—Volume Volume LVIII, Nos. 1 and 2, 2006 Review of the world cannabis situation FOR UNITED NATIONS USE ONLY United Nations publication ISBN 978-92-1-148228-7 ISSN 0007-523X *0781746*Printed in Austria Sales No. E.08.XI.10 V.07-81746—April 2008—2,005 UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME Vienna BULLETIN ON NARCOTICS Volume LVIII, Nos.1 and 2, 2006 Review of the world cannabis situation UNITED NATIONS New York, 2008 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION Sales No. E.08.XI.10 ISBN 978-92-1-148228-7 ISSN 0007-523X Sandeep Chawla, Editor, Suzanne Kunnen, Editorial Assistant United Nations Offi ce on Drugs and Crime Vienna International Centre P.O. Box 500 1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone: (+43-1) 26060-5799 Fax: (+43-1) 26060-5866 The Bulletin on Narcotics is available on the World Wide Web at www.unodc.org/unodc/en/bulletin_on_narcotics.html. Views expressed in signed articles published in the Bulletin are those of the authors and do not necessarily refl ect those of the United Nations Secretariat. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in the present publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of any frontiers or boundaries. Material published in the Bulletin is the property of the United Nations and enjoys copyright protection in accordance with the provisions of Protocol 2 annexed to the Universal Copyright Convention concerning the application of that Convention to the works of certain international organizations. PREFACE The Bulletin on Narcotics is a United Nations journal that has been in continuous publica- tion since 1949. It is printed in all six offi cial languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The Bulletin provides information on developments in drug control at the local, national, regional and international levels that can be of benefi t to the international community. In 1999, the United Nations Offi ce on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) (then the United Nations International Drug Control Programme) issued a special double issue on cannabis. The issue, volumes XLIX and L, 1997/1998, contained articles covering recent develop- ments in research into the drug. Almost 10 years later, it is clear that the cannabis market, the largest of the illicit drug markets, remains little understood and under documented. Unlike the other plant-based illicit drugs, the surveying of all suspected cannabis cultivation has thus far proved to be impractical. Similarly, the abuse of cannabis is so pervasive that, despite some impressive efforts at the national and international levels, it is also very diffi - cult to assess. Given these facts, relying only on offi cial or scientifi c literature to assess this market would convey only a limited picture. Cannabis, however, is a drug that is consumed within a specifi c cultural and social context. This culture has spawned an enormous amount of “grey” literature which, when used to complement the scientifi c literature, can help us to develop a more comprehensive assessment of the world cannabis situation. Therefore, while grey literature is not part of a conventional scientifi c review, it does help to fi ll an undeniable knowledge gap that hampers our understanding of the cannabis market. A shorter version of this comprehensive article was published in the World Drug Report 2006.* Some of the research that informs the present review was undertaken in response to and in accordance with General Assembly resolution 59/160 of 20 December 2004, in which the Assembly requested UNODC to prepare a global market survey on cannabis. UNODC wishes to thank Ted Leggett of the Research and Analysis Section for conduct- ing extensive research on the topic. For comments on the article, special thanks go also to Wayne Hall, Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia; Harold Kalant, Professor Emeritus, Department of Pharmacology, University of Toronto, and Research Director Emeritus, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada; and Kálmán Szendrei, Professor Emeritus, Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, Hungary. Research for the section of this review on the health effects of cannabis was conducted by Alexey Kutakov. *United Nations publication, Sales No. E.06.XI.10. iii EDITORIAL POLICY AND GUIDELINES FOR PUBLICATION Individuals and organizations are invited by the Editor to contribute articles to the Bulletin on Narcotics dealing with policies, approaches, measures and develop- ments (theoretical and/or practical) relating to various aspects of the drug control effort. Of particular interest are the results of research, studies and practical experience that would provide useful information for policymakers, practitioners and experts, as well as the public at large. All manuscripts submitted for publication in the Bulletin should constitute original and scholarly work that has not been published elsewhere and is not being submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere. The work should be of a high professional calibre in order to meet the requirements of a United Nations technical publication. Contributors are kindly asked to exercise discretion in the content of manuscripts so as to exclude any critical judgement of a particular national or regional situation. The preferred mode of transmission of manuscripts is Word format. Each manu- script submitted should consist of an original hard copy and an electronic version (in Word for the text and in Excel for the tables and fi gures), in any of the six offi - cial languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish). The manuscript should be accompanied by an abstract of approxi- mately 200 words, a complete set of references numbered in the order of their appearance in the text and a list of key words. The manuscript should be between 10 and 20 double-spaced typewritten pages, including tables, fi gures and referen- ces. Tables should be self-explanatory and should supplement, not duplicate, information provided in the text. Manuscripts, together with brief curricula vitae of their authors, should be addressed to the Editor, Bulletin on Narcotics, United Nations Offi ce on Drugs and Crime, Vienna International Centre, P.O. Box 500, 1400 Vienna, Austria. A trans- mittal letter should designate one author as correspondent and include his or her complete address, telephone number, facsimile number and electronic mail (e-mail) address. Unpublished manuscripts will be returned to the authors; however, the United Nations cannot be held responsible for loss. iv Reprints, purchases and subscriptions All issues of the Bulletin on Narcotics (from vol. I, No. 1 (1949), to the present issue) are available on the home page of the United Nations Offi ce on Drugs and Crime (www.unodc.org/unodc/en/bulletin_on_narcotics.html). The following special issues of the Bulletin are also available as United Nations publications: 1993 Policy issues relating to drug abuse and the human immunodefi ciency virus (HIV) (vol. XLV, No. 1) Drug testing in the workplace (vol. XLV, No. 2) 1994 The family and drug abuse (vol. XLVI, No. 1) General issue on drug abuse (vol. XLVI, No. 2) 1995 Special issue on gender and drug abuse (vol. XLVII, Nos. 1 and 2) 1996 Special issue on rapid assessment of drug abuse (vol. XLVIII, Nos. 1 and 2) 1997 and 1998 Double issue on cannabis: recent developments (vol. XLIX, Nos. 1 and 2, and vol. L, Nos. 1 and 2) 1999 Occasional papers (vol. LI, Nos. 1 and 2) 2000 Economic and social costs of substance abuse (vol. LII, Nos. 1 and 2) 2001 Dynamic drug policy: understanding and controlling drug epidemics (vol. LIII, Nos. 1 and 2) 2002 The science of drug abuse epidemiology (vol. LIV, Nos. 1 and 2) v 2003 The practice of drug abuse epidemiology (vol. LV, Nos. 1 and 2) 2004 Illicit drug markets (vol. LVI, Nos. 1 and 2) 2005 Science in drug control: the role of laboratory and scientifi c expertise (vol. LVII, Nos. 1 and 2) Requests for permission to reprint signed material should be addressed to the Secretary of the Publications Board, United Nations, New York, New York 10017, United States of America. Correspondence regarding the purchase of copies of and subscriptions to the Bulletin on Narcotics should be addressed as follows: For Asia, North America, Oceania and South America: The Chief Sales and Marketing Offi ce in New York United Nations Publications United Nations Headquarters New York, NY 10017 United States of America For Africa, Europe and the Middle East: The Chief Sales and Marketing Offi ce in Geneva United Nations Publications United Nations Offi ce at Geneva Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland vi CONTENTS Page Preface . iii A review of the world cannabis situation by T. Leggett . 1 I. How cannabis is produced. 5 Cannabis the plant. 5 Cannabis the drug . 7 Cultivation techniques. 13 Yield . 22 Supply-side global estimates . 33 II. How is cannabis consumed? . 37 How is cannabis procured? . 37 How is cannabis consumed? . 42 Demand-side production estimates. 44 Reconciling with supply-side estimates. 58 III. World cannabis markets . 61 Markets for cannabis herb. 61 Markets for cannabis resin . 83 IV. Impact . 95 Potency. 95 Health effects. 114 Conclusion: areas for further research. 135 Tables 1. International outdoor yields . 19 2. Cannabis yields at various planting densities. 25 3. Cannabis yields as reported by various sources . 27 4. Cannabis production estimates for major countries of production, 2003 .
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