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Cannabis Social Clubs in Belgium: a study of the organization of collective cannabis cultivation for personal use and characteristics of club members
Universiteit Ghent Sunday 01 Mar 2015 Within its prohibitive parameters, parties to the UN 1961, 1971 and 1988 drug control conventions are afforded a certain degree of flexibility in the formulation of national policies. Such flexibility in interpretation has led to a variety of cannabis policy practices and reforms deviating from a repressive approach: informal non-enforcement of drug laws, schemes of non-enforcement by written guidelines for the police, the prosecution or the judiciary, decriminalization, scheduling cannabis as a less harmful drugs, etc. It has also led to the development of ‘cannabis social clubs’ (CSCs) cultivating cannabis for personal use on a collective basis. CSCs can be found in many countries, but the label often covers very different empirical realities. Although the model has become a frequent subject in the international debate about drug policy reform, detailed empirical data on how CSCs are organized and structured, on how CSCs function on a daily basis, and characteristics of their members remains scarce in the international academic literature. This study aims to analyze CSCs in Belgium, focusing on three dimensions: The organization, structure and daily functioning of the CSCs; The socio-demographic characteristics and drug use profile of the CSCs’ members; The cannabis produced in the CSCs. Methodological approach This study is the first in-depth and empirical analysis of how the CSC model functions in practice. In order to achieve the research goals outlined above, the research team will undertake the following methodological steps: Review of international literature on CSCs in European countries; Qualitative interviews: Interviews with international academic experts; Interviews with all board staff members of Belgian CSCs; Review of internal documents of Belgian CSCs; Content analysis of Belgian CSCs’ websites, media articles and other documentation about the CSCs; Survey questionnaire, distributed to all CSCs’ members; Toxicological analysis of cannabis plants – this analysis will be carried out by the laboratory of Toxicology and Pharmacology, KU Leuven (Prof. Dr. Jan Tytgat). http://www.ugent.be/re/cssr/en/research-groups/isd/projects.htm/cannabissocialclubsbelgiumfwo.htm
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