This is the first report to support Release's campaign 'Drugs - It’s Time for Better Laws'. This report looks at over 20 countries that have adopted some form of decriminalisation of drug possession, including some States that have only decriminalised cannabis possession.

The main aim of the report was to look at the existing research to establish whether the adoption of a decriminalised policy led to significant increases in drug use - the simple answer is that it did not. This then begs the question that if the model of enforcement adopted has little impact on levels of use what is the point in pursuing a criminal justice approach which carries significant harms for individuals?