Mateusz Klinowski

Rhizome and Progress in Public Policy: The Curious Case of Cannabis

Introduction

Rhizome and progress in public policy: the curious case of cannabis. Explore the rhizome framework for public policy analysis, offering a more nuanced understanding of cannabis regulation than the pendulum model. Examines multi-faceted legal, medical, and social factors.

Abstract

This paper examines the role of the rhizome as a framework for the analysis of public policy and argues that it offers a more adequate way of understanding cannabis regulation than the widely used pendulum metaphor. The pendulum image suggests cyclical movement between prohibition and liberalization and is often used to describe drug-policy change. However, the legal and social history of cannabis shows that such a model is overly simplistic. Cannabis regulation has developed through the interaction of multiple legal, medical, political, economic, and cultural factors operating across different domains and levels of governance. This multidimensional and non-linear pattern is better captured by the rhizome metaphor, which does not presuppose a single axis of movement, a privileged explanatory order, or a deterministic trajectory. By showing that the rhizome provides a more accurate account of cannabis-policy development and a more fruitful basis for interpretation and prediction, the paper also defends the practical applicability of the concept in legal and socio-political analysis and suggests that the rhizome may contribute to progress in policy science.

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