Post by Sanity Group

On the occasion of World Drug Day, the UNODC World Drug Report 2026 counts 256 million cannabis users worldwide in 2024. The uncomfortable truth behind that number: for most of them, no health authority, no quality standard and no age check shaped what they consumed. The illicit market did. The key question, therefore, is no longer whether cannabis is being used. The question is how we can better control this use, reduce risks, and effectively push back the illicit market. This is exactly why we need legal and regulated markets. It creates the foundation for: → clear quality standards, product safety and transparency → effective youth and health protection → prevention, education and awareness → better access to support → and less room for the illicit market The World Drug Report also points to what works. Canada is the clearest example: roughly three-quarters of cannabis spending now flows through the legal market, up from a quarter at legalization in 2018. At the same time, Canada shows the limits: the illicit market persists wherever legal supply is too expensive, too unattractive, or too difficult to access. That is exactly why we should not discuss cannabis ideologically, but based on evidence. As Sanity Group, now part of Organigram Global, we work across two of the world's largest cannabis markets, Germany and Canada. That transatlantic perspective is what Europe's cannabis debate needs: real-world experience, honestly assessed. Modern cannabis policy must be evidence-based, health-oriented, and realistic.