Could The Community Trust Model Be Applied To Regulate Cannabis? Findings From A Survey Of Two Alcohol Licensing Trust Communities In New Zealand

Introduction: New Zealand's Alcohol Licencing Trusts (ALTs) are community-owned entities that sell alcohol in their districts and return profits back to the local community. Aim: To investigate support for applying the ALT model to regulate legal cannabis. Method: An online survey asked people living in two ALT districts to rate their support for applying the ALT model to legal cannabis; 2,379 people completed the survey. Logistic regression models were fitted to identify predictors of support for applying the ALT model to cannabis. Results: Thirty-nine per cent supported the ALT model for legal cannabis. Reasons for support included: the trust's donations to the community (53%), potential to restrict cannabis sales (43%), controlling the cannabis industry (43%), and better than the current prohibition (42%). Support for the existing ALT (OR = 8.86), recent history of cannabis use (OR = 1.42), younger age (OR = 1.02) and not being in employment (OR = 1.46) predicted support for the model for cannabis. Cannabis users were more likely to support the trust model on pragmatic grounds ('better than prohibition') while non-users valued the model's capacity to responsibly regulate sales and the cannabis industry. Discussion: The ALT model can offer a middle-ground approach that attracts support from cannabis users and non-users, albeit on different grounds.