Social and public health implications of the legalisation of recreational cannabis: A literature review

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Social and public health implications of the legalisation of recreational cannabis: A literature review
 
Creator Mokwena, Kebogile
 
Subject — cannabis legislation; social outcomes; health outcomes; recreational use; legal system; injuries; Constitutional Court
Description Background: After many years of legal struggles for the legalisation of recreational use of cannabis, the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled in favour of the applicants in September 2018. Although the ruling issued caution regarding the social challenges accompanying this legalisation, it did not address how the country would deal with the societal consequences of this ruling.Aim: The aim of this article was to discuss the social and public health implications of the legalisation of recreational cannabis on South Africa.Methods: Literature review on the social, health and legal impacts of legalisation of cannabis, considering experiences of other countries that have legalised cannabis.Results: The legalisation brings a range of significant negative consequences, which include an expected increase in the number of users and the subsequent undesirable effects on the physical, mental and social health of communities.Conclusion: In terms of financial, infrastructural and human resources, South Africa cannot afford the consequences of the legalisation of recreational cannabis. Poor communities, children and the youth will carry the brunt of the scourge of cannabis use.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor South African Medical Research Council National Research Foundation
Date 2019-11-19
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v11i1.2136
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 11, No 1 (2019); 6 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/2136/3500 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/2136/3499 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/2136/3501 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/2136/3498
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2019 Kebogile Mokwena https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT