The opinion on Dutch cannabis policy measures: A cross-sectional survey

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the opinion on Dutch cannabis policy measures and to explore whether the popularity of these policy measures depends on the extent to which lay people are affected by these measures. The extent to which people are affected has been made operational by: (1) own cannabis use and (2) cannabis use in social network. Methods: A panel survey was carried out among a representative probability of households with 8280 members of above 16 years. People's opinions were examined on four restrictive availability measures and two educational measures. Descriptives, one-way ANOVA and regression analysis were used to obtain the opinion on cannabis policy measures. Findings: The educational measures were popular among more than 90%% of all respondents. The measures that restrict the availability of cannabis were more popular among non-users than among users. Having cannabis users within a social network made a significant difference to the opinion on cannabis policy measures. Own cannabis use seems to be the strongest predictor for the opinion of restrictive availability measures. Conclusions: The opinion of a cannabis policy measure depends on whether one is affected by that policy measure.