Assessing the public health impacts of cannabis legalisation in North America - Emeritus Professor Wayne Hall

Abstract

This seminar assesses the early public health impacts of the legalisation of cannabis production, sale and use in Canada and 24 states in the USA.

It addresses the following questions:

• How did cannabis legalisation come about in the USA and Canada?
• What regulatory models have been adopted?
• What have been the short-term effects of legalisation on cannabis markets, products, and prices?
• How has legalisation affected patterns of cannabis use and cannabis related harms to physical and mental health?
• What may be the longer-term effects of cannabis legalisation over the next decade or so?
• What are the potential implications for Australian cannabis policies?  

Bio

Wayne Hall is an Emeritus Professor at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research at the University of Queensland and the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences.

He was:

• a Professor at the National Addiction Centre, Kings College London (2014-2019)
• Director of Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research (2014-2016)
• NHMRC Australia Fellow, the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research (2009-2014)
• Professor of Public Health Policy, School of Population Health (2005-2009)
• Director of the Office of Public Policy and Ethics, Institute for Molecular Bioscience (2001-2005)
• and Executive Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (1994-2001).

He has advised the World Health Organization on the health effects of cannabis use; the effectiveness of drug substitution treatment; the contribution of illicit drug use to the global burden of disease; and the ethical implications of genetic and neuroscience research on addiction.