Cannabis, stigma, protest, and normalization

The aim of this doctoral thesis was to better understand the role of national drug legislation and drug policies in the stigmatization and normalization of cannabis use. This study concentrated on a consumer perspective, and researched the experiences, practices, and perceptions of cannabis users. The first empirical part of the research was conducted in cannabis festivals in the capital cities of four EU Member States: the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Greece. The second empirical step was a survey in Dutch coffeeshops among users residing in one of these EU countries, as well as users from France, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. Together, these countries represented maximum variation in national cannabis policy within Europe, on a continuum from relatively liberal to punitive. The research findings provided conditional empirical evidence that the level of punitiveness impacts stigmatization of canna-bis users and processual aspects of cannabis normalization. Cannabis users appear to be better off in countries with a liberal rather than a repressive cannabis policy. Findings also suggested that there are also universal social and cultural components that converge in cannabis normalization rather independently from the national cannabis policy. The repercussion of sociocultural changes in a globalized context that shape the cannabis user culture as well as societal norms about cannabis and users cannot be ignored. Last, findings showed that daily use was also a strong predictor of stigmatization and normalization, with the behavioral norms and practices of daily users at the micro-level to hinder rather than favor the normalization of cannabis at the macro-level.