Advantages and Disadvantages of Soft Drugs Legalisation at State Level

The relevance of the study lies in the contrasting perspectives on the legalisation and decriminalisation of soft drugs beyond their medical applications. Although there is ongoing public discussion over the benefits of legalizing soft drugs, Ukraine’s current legal system does not represent a cohesive strategy. The study aims to conduct a substantiated study of the disadvantages and advantages of the legalisation of soft drugs at the state level, with a forecast of risks associated with the introduction of permissive mechanisms for their use for recreational purposes, and to compare national peculiarities with the positions of legislators of other countries and existing experience in this area. To achieve this goal, the method of analysing approaches and instruments for regulating drug trafficking at the supranational and local levels of different countries. The results of the research on this topic are as follows: content and peculiarities of the concepts of “legalisation” and “decriminalisation” for use in the context of the study of soft drugs were determined; generalised provisions on classification of soft drugs as a separate type of drugs were reflected; the positive and negative impact of legalisation of these substances was assessed with due regard to the existing world experience; possible risks and recommendations for introducing soft drugs into free circulation through their legalisation in Ukraine were formulated. The results obtained during the study constitute a substantial theoretical basis and can be used for further study of the problematic issues of soft drugs’ authorisation at the state level in Ukraine or abroad.