Appreciating cannabis: the paradox of evidence in evidence-based policy making

This article explores evidence utilisation in a politicised policy area. Using recent debates in UK drug classification as a case study, it suggests that the relationship between evidence in policy in such areas is frequently conceived in linear terms, where policies are ultimately either evidence-based or evidence-free. Such perspectives, however, restrict the role of evidence to policy outcomes. Drawing on ideas from political science and elsewhere, a more nuanced role of evidence is advocated, which locates utilisation in the process of policy making. This moves beyond zero-sum conceptualisations hitherto highlighted that are, it is claimed, premised on a paradoxical logic.