301272 Transregional politics of legalization in the Americas (S) (WiSe 2022/2023)

Cannabis legalization has experienced vital conjunctures in recent years, and the German government plans a legal draft for the legalization of recreational use by the end of 2022. Therefore, an analytic look at the experiences of the Americas seems useful to highlight the major currents, policy models, and challenges of transregional legalization politics. The prohibitionist UN conventions on illicit drugs include legal loopholes for the medical use of cannabis products, and engagement in the pharmaceutical field has been increasing since the 1990s. In 2012 Uruguay was the first country to legalize and regulate cannabis production, consumption, and distribution for personal recreational use, contesting the dominant prohibition regime. At the same time, a wave of legalization set in with the pioneering US states of Washington and Colorado, defying federal law ever since. Recently, Canada (2018) and Mexico (2021) legalized cannabis for recreational use, initiating a new phase of interregional politics. Nevertheless, the US federal government still upholds prohibition while experimenting with legalization models in over 20 states. Following these trends, the question of “how” to legalize redeems the fierce debates over “if” to legalize cannabis. The politics of prohibition have shaped drug policies, organized crime, and the vicious “War on Drugs” and, therefore, the current politics of legalization. The primary poles of cannabis legalization models oscillate between public health approaches and market-oriented regulation. On the one side, state control of all processes involved, and on the other, commercialization and stock-market orientation. Critical studies also highlight the power asymmetries of growing international trade and agricultural production involved in current global trends of cannabis production. In this seminar, we will focus on the transregional politics behind the struggles over different configurations of cannabis-related legalization models with an interdisciplinary view on drug policies in general.

Objectives of the course:

• Discuss the historical background of cannabis-related drug policies in the Americas.
• Highlight the transregional politics that shape local and state policies.
• Intertwine the insights with the ongoing process of cannabis legalization in Germany.

This course will be taught in English. For Spanish or German original literature, English translations will be provided.

Bibliography

Background readings:

• Andreas, P. (2013): Smuggler Nation: how illicit trade made America. New York
• Astorga, L. (2015): Drogas sin Fronteras. México, D.F.
• Caiuby Labate, B., Cavnar, C., Rodrigues, T. (Eds.) (2016): Drug Policies and the Politics of Drugs in the Americas. Switzerland
• Kaltmeier, Olaf, et al. (Eds.) (2020): The Routledge Handbook of the Political Economy and Governance in the Americas. Milton Park