Background: Advocates and critics of cannabis legalization often predict its domino effect on other drug policies, promising policy windows or warning against ‘slippery slopes’ into societal mayhem. Many have looked to Canada, which legalized recreational cannabis use in 2018, to understand these implications. While there are many studies on cannabis sales and use prevalence, the role of policy narratives – widely recognized in policy change literature – remains under-examined when considering the impact of cannabis legalization.
Objective: I analyze policy narratives around cannabis reform in Canada and their impact on the future of drug policy reform.
Methods: To identify policy narratives, I interviewed 30 actors working in Canadian drug policy from academia, civil society, and government, and examined 50 policy documents. Using policy narrative framework theory and Carol Bacchi’s WPR framework, I analyzed the assumptions underpinning these narratives.
Results: Two contrasting findings emerged. First, cannabis legalization constrains future drug policy reform efforts by contributing to a ‘cannabis exceptionalism’ narrative and cementing problematic conceptual divides between ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ drugs. Second, legalization has created momentum for policy reform on other drugs by showcasing the viability of legal regulated use and the efficacy of medicalizing narratives in advocacy.
Implications: Analyzing policy narratives reveal cultural and moral norms that underpin drug policy and help explain the ‘stickiness’ and impact of that policy. While psychedelic drug reform advocates in Canada have borrowed cannabis policy narratives, with some success, broader application of these narratives remain limited by the norms underpinning them.