Researchers Mapped Out Cannabis Harm Reduction Strategies Into a Practical Typology

From a systematic review of 35 documents published 2011-2022, the authors developed a typology of cannabis harm reduction strategies covering three domains: legal interventions (regulatory approaches), socio-organizational interventions (community and institutional measures), and health-related interventions (clinical and public health approaches). The review identified innovative strategies from peers, government bodies, and third-sector organizations.

Systematic literature review with a two-concept search across Embase and other databases, supplemented by citation searches and manual website searching. Studies published 2011-2022 from Europe, the Americas, Australia, or New Zealand were included. All study designs except case reports, non-systematic reviews, editorials, and news stories were eligible. 35 documents met inclusion criteria.

As cannabis legalization expands, harm reduction approaches become increasingly important. This typology provides the first organized framework for understanding the full range of available strategies, from regulatory to health-based, giving policymakers and practitioners a structured way to evaluate and implement interventions.

Cannabis harm reduction has lagged behind approaches for alcohol and opioids. This typology fills a gap by mapping the landscape of existing interventions, making it easier for jurisdictions to adopt evidence-based strategies rather than starting from scratch.

Many included studies relied on qualitative methods with small samples. Limited to English-language publications. Geographic scope excluded Asia and Africa. The evidence base for many harm reduction strategies remains thin.