Reflecting on drug tourism and its future challenges

Abstract The international attitude based on the ‘War on Drugs’, adopted by the United Nations in the second half of the twentieth century contributed to a situation where the debates related to drug issues were mostly concentrated in the spheres of biomedical sciences and public security. With the numerous transformations in relation to drug policies in several countries in the contemporary world, it was evident that tourism could play an important role with the emergence of the so-called ‘drug tourism’. In most cases, these changes were mainly related to cannabis, and in some regions where its recreational use has already been regulated, it was possible to notice significant reflexes in the tourist dynamics of these destinations, intensifying the role of cannabis tourism, a relevant sub-segment of drug tourism. The main purpose of this article was to contribute to the construction of fundamental theoretical and conceptual bases for a critical and scientific approach to this new topic by presenting a general overview on drug tourism; reflections and purposes on drug tourism concept; the main destinations already consolidated and; brief cannabis tourism case studies. Finally, inferences were made about future challenges of this tourism segment, which presents great prospects in the global scenario.