Marijuana Markets in the Czech Republic - Evaluating different drug policy approaches
The purpose of the three-year project (of which funding for the first year is applied for by this contract) is to provide and disseminate in understandable term a scientifically sound evaluation of different drug policy approaches towards supply reduction of marijuana (cannabis) and thus to increase the evidence for informed decision making in the field of regulation of psychotropic substances.
The goals of the study are to (i) evaluate the Czech supply reduction policy towards marijuana prior and after a legislative change with respect to cannabis possession, production and trade; (ii) compare marijuana markets patterns under different drug policy frameworks (Czech Republic and North-Central Florida, USA) with the use of comparative qualitative dataset; (iii) describe market patterns and processes governing marijuana markets and social acquisitions of marijuana on retail level (mixed-methods approach combining available quantitative datasets with qualitative research framework); (iv) analyze the structure of cannabis wholesale and production and their intermediaries with the final (consumer) market, and thus create a model of marijuana market in the Czech Republic; (v) design drug policy recommendations and deliver them to key decision makers in the field, and to the broad public.