Ethical Inquiry into Cannabis Pilot Projects Susanne Uusitalo Moral and social philosophy, University of Helsinki October 24-26, 2017, Lisbon addictions 2017

Disclaimers and whatnots No conflicts of interest My suggestion is not meant to cover all ethics regarding these cannabis pilot projects, E.g., not cost-benefit ratios or public health Rather, but presents an aspect that needs to be covered: perspective is of the socially embedded individual The method employed is applied ethics

My claim: The feasibility of cannabis pilot projects requires an ethical scrutinity, starting from the identification of morally relevant features of each project. The relevant and decisive features are likely to vary from case to case.

Setting the scene 3 cases to illustrate that different features count in different settings Recreational cannabis use Access to cannabis for medicinal purposes Access to cannabis for individuals who are dependent on the substance The target populations are likely to have fuzzy and overlapping boundaries with each other in practice.

Reflective equilibrium Different levels: principles, rules, considered judgements (moral and non- moral) Nothing foundational: a possibility to revise each component Strives for coherence Principlisim Respect for autonomy Beneficence Nonmalificence Justice …

Fleshing out the analyses Recreational cannabis use Further societal levels to be considered (not merely e.g., competence) Medicinal cannabis use The conditions used for Competence Medical practices apply Cannabis for dependent The question of intoxication?

Concluding remarks The ethical considerations are dependent on the substance, the impact of substance on everyday life, the level of dependence, among other things. Also all kinds of vulnerabilities such as age, social status, level of education, well-being… need to be considered Furthermore, all kinds of societal issues such as public health or traffic safety need to be weighted. In short, simply having access to cannabis as a relevant factor falls short of any ethical consideration of the pilot projects in question: A case by case analysis with reflective equilibrium