Frontiers in Psychiatry (May 2021)
Supporting Future Cannabis Policy – Developing a Standard Joint Unit: A Brief Back-Casting Exercise
- Hugo López-Pelayo,
- Silvia Matrai,
- Mercè Balcells-Olivero,
- Eugènia Campeny,
- Fleur Braddick,
- Matthijs G. Bossong,
- Olga S. Cruz,
- Olga S. Cruz,
- Paolo Deluca,
- Geert Dom,
- Geert Dom,
- Daniel Feingold,
- Tom P. Freeman,
- Pablo Guzman,
- Chandni Hindocha,
- Chandni Hindocha,
- Brian C. Kelly,
- Nienke Liebregts,
- Valentina Lorenzetti,
- Jakob Manthey,
- Jakob Manthey,
- João Matias,
- Clara Oliveras,
- Maria Teresa Pons,
- Jürgen Rehm,
- Jürgen Rehm,
- Jürgen Rehm,
- Jürgen Rehm,
- Jürgen Rehm,
- Moritz Rosenkranz,
- Zoe Swithenbank,
- Luc van Deurse,
- Julian Vicente,
- Mike Vuolo,
- Marcin Wojnar,
- Marcin Wojnar,
- Antoni Gual
Affiliations
- Hugo López-Pelayo
- Institut Clínic de Neurociències, Psychiatry and Psychology Service, Grup Recerca Addiccions Clínic, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Silvia Matrai
- Institut Clínic de Neurociències, Psychiatry and Psychology Service, Grup Recerca Addiccions Clínic, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Mercè Balcells-Olivero
- Institut Clínic de Neurociències, Psychiatry and Psychology Service, Grup Recerca Addiccions Clínic, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Eugènia Campeny
- Institut Clínic de Neurociències, Psychiatry and Psychology Service, Grup Recerca Addiccions Clínic, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Fleur Braddick
- Institut Clínic de Neurociències, Psychiatry and Psychology Service, Grup Recerca Addiccions Clínic, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Matthijs G. Bossong
- Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
- Olga S. Cruz
- Social Sciences Department, Instituto Universitário da Maia (ISMAI), Maia, Portugal
- Olga S. Cruz
- University Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Human Rights - JusGov, University of Minho, Maia, Portugal and JusGov - Escola de Direito, Braga, Portugal
- Paolo Deluca
- Addictions Department, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London, United Kingdom
- Geert Dom
- Adult Psychiatry Department, Collaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
- Geert Dom
- European Federation of Addiction Societies, Boechout, Belgium
- Daniel Feingold
- Department of Psychology, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
- Tom P. Freeman
- Addiction and Mental Health Group, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
- Pablo Guzman
- Institut Clínic de Neurociències, Psychiatry and Psychology Service, Grup Recerca Addiccions Clínic, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Chandni Hindocha
- 0Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, Research Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Chandni Hindocha
- 1National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, University College Hospital, London, United Kingdom
- Brian C. Kelly
- 2Departament of Sociology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States
- Nienke Liebregts
- 3Bonger Institute of Criminology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Valentina Lorenzetti
- 4School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Fitzroy, VIC, Australia
- Jakob Manthey
- 5Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Jakob Manthey
- 6Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research of Hamburg University (ZIS), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany
- João Matias
- 7European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, Portugal
- Clara Oliveras
- Institut Clínic de Neurociències, Psychiatry and Psychology Service, Grup Recerca Addiccions Clínic, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Maria Teresa Pons
- Institut Clínic de Neurociències, Psychiatry and Psychology Service, Grup Recerca Addiccions Clínic, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Jürgen Rehm
- 8Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Jürgen Rehm
- 9Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Jürgen Rehm
- 0Canada Epidemiological Research Unit, Canada Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto (UofT), Toronto, ON, Canada
- Jürgen Rehm
- 1Technische Universität Dresden, Klinische Psychologie & Psychotherapie, Dresden, Germany
- Jürgen Rehm
- 2Department of International Health Projects, Institute for Leadership and Health Management, I.M.Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia
- Moritz Rosenkranz
- 6Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research of Hamburg University (ZIS), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany
- Zoe Swithenbank
- 3Faculty of Health, Public Health Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- Luc van Deurse
- 4Student Governance and Leadership in European Public Health, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
- Julian Vicente
- 7European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, Portugal
- Mike Vuolo
- 5Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
- Marcin Wojnar
- 6Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
- Marcin Wojnar
- 7Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
- Antoni Gual
- Institut Clínic de Neurociències, Psychiatry and Psychology Service, Grup Recerca Addiccions Clínic, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.675033
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 12
Abstract
The standardization of cannabis doses is a priority for research, policy-making, clinical and harm-reduction interventions and consumer security. Scientists have called for standard units of dosing for cannabis, similar to those used for alcohol. A Standard Joint Unit (SJU) would facilitate preventive and intervention models in ways similar to the Standard Drink (SD). Learning from the SD experiences allows researchers to tackle emerging barriers to the SJU by applying modern forecasting methods. During a workshop at the Lisbon Addictions Conference 2019, a back-casting foresight method was used to address challenges and achieve consensus in developing an SJU. Thirty-two professionals from 13 countries and 10 disciplines participated. Descriptive analysis of the workshop was carried out by the organizers and shared with the participants in order to suggest amendments. Several characteristics of the SJU were defined: (1) core values: easy-to use, universal, focused on THC, accurate, and accessible; (2) key challenges: sudden changes in patterns of use, heterogeneity of cannabis compounds as well as in administration routes, variations over time in THC concentrations, and of laws that regulate the legal status of recreational and medical cannabis use); and (3) facilitators: previous experience with standardized measurements, funding opportunities, multi-stakeholder support, high prevalence of cannabis users, and widespread changes in legislation. Participants also identified three initial steps for the implementation of a SJU by 2030: (1) Building a task-force to develop a consensus-based SJU; (2) Expanded available national-level data; (3) Linking SJU consumption to the concept of “risky use,” based on evidence of harms.
Keywords
