How can the perspective of the social world of cannabis inform public health interventions?

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of social worlds of cannabis in order to capture the experience of users in creating boundaries against stigma or criminalization of use. In order to problematize the debate on normalization in the context of global and non-linear liberalizing trends, this article sheds light on how the positionality of cannabis consumers in different societies or conservative legislations, but also their gender or social class interact with their construction of social worlds and their limits of “effective communication” around use. Based on the author’s fieldwork in Poland and Turkey, as well as recent literature, this article argues that any form of prevention or public health intervention has to acknowledge the cultural discrepancy between users and non-users.