Research Paper“The difference is in the tomato at the end”: Understanding the motivations and practices of cannabis growers operating within Belgian Cannabis Social Clubs
Section snippets
Background
Over the past three decades, the production of cannabis has increasingly shifted from traditional producer countries to a larger number of developed Western countries, which are able to supply their internal market, albeit to different degrees (Alvarez, Gamella, & Parra, 2016; Athey, Bouchard, Decorte, Frank, & Hakkarainen, 2013; Barratt et al., 2012; Belackova & Zabransky, 2014; Decorte, 2007, Decorte, 2010a, Decorte, 2010b; EMCDDA, 2012; Hough et al., 2003; Potter et al., 2015; Potter,
Methods
This analysis is part of a wider study examining the development of the CSC model in Belgium. Initial identification of the CSCs was based on a previous exploratory study by Decorte (2015), in which the author reported on the activities of the five CSCs active circa February 2014. We followed up on that initial list of CSCs during fieldwork, reaching out to other CSCs established since then. During the data collection phase, all the known active Belgian CSCs were identified and contacted to
Before the CSC: prior experience as cannabis cultivators
Most growers (n = 17) had grown cannabis before joining a CSC and had cumulated an average of about 11 years of experience as growers. There was some variation among this group of growers: the least experienced grower (from those with pre-CSC experience) reported cultivating cannabis for the past three years; the most experienced reported being a grower for 25 years. In addition, five of the current CSC growers had no experience of cannabis cultivation prior to joining a CSC, and thus their
Discussion and conclusions
This paper offers new insights into a particular sector of the domestic cannabis cultivation phenomenon, namely growers operating within CSCs in Belgium. Although the cultivation and distribution of cannabis remain prohibited in the country, these associations have sought to exploit the perceived room for manoeuvre brought about with the 2005 Ministerial Guideline. In practice, the clubs’ (contested) interpretation of that policy document has been translated into a system based on the
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the growers and other representatives of the Belgian Cannabis Social Clubs who participated in this study. We would like also to thank Jonathan Caulkins for his helpful remarks on an earlier version of this paper presented at the 11th annual conference of the ISSDP in Aarhus. We thank also the anonymous reviewers for their very useful suggestions.
This analysis is part of a wider study funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, grant no. G.0A85.15N).
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2019, International Journal of Drug PolicyCitation Excerpt :The literature in this area has pointed to the potential of the CSC model to introduce a harm reduction programme (Arana & Montañés, 2011; Belackova & Wilkins, 2018; Belackova, Tomkova, & Zabransky, 2016; Caulkins et al., 2015; Decorte, 2015; Decorte et al., 2017; Kilmer, Kruithof, Pardal, Caulkins, & Rubin, 2013). Firstly, with regards to the quality of the cannabis per se, it has been noted that cannabis users may have access to a better product or at least gain more control over the production process (i.e. the cannabis strains grown, growing techniques, etc.) within a CSC, although production remains relatively artisanal (Belackova et al., 2016; Caulkins et al., 2015; Decorte, 2015; Pardal, 2018a). Secondly, CSCs allow also for peer-to-peer forms of ‘micro-social harm reduction’ (Friedman et al., 2007), such as the sharing of information about, for instance, different cannabis strains and their effects, different methods of consumption, and social support among users (Belackova et al., 2016; Pardal, 2016).
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2018, International Journal of Drug PolicyCitation Excerpt :This membership requirement has become a more common practice among Belgian CSCs in comparison with earlier reports (Decorte, 2015). In most cases, CSC growers receive a financial compensation for the costs they are expected to incur during the cultivation cycle (e.g., electricity, water, seeds, labour, etc.), and are asked to follow a number of guidelines with regards to the location of the cultivation site, the equipment used, among other cultivation practices (in some cases these requirements are formally outlined in a so-called Code of Conduct and Protocol for plant care-takers) – these issues as well as the role of the CSC grower are explored in more detail elsewhere (Pardal, 2018b). The growers’ compensation is calculated per gram of cannabis produced and returned by the grower to the CSC and amounts to 4-4.50EUR per gram (instead of 2–4.50EUR per gram reported by Decorte, 2015).
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