Subsidizing agricultural products to prevent their replacement in the case of cannabis legalization – The case of Albania

Abstract: This paper aims to analyse if subsidizing agricultural products would minimize the replacement effect of these products with cannabis products. It describes the challenges that the agricultural sector is facing in many aspects, such as environmental issues, declining biodiversity, etc. Moreover, in the last decades, Albania has faced a growing number of illegal cultivations of cannabis in different parts of the country. A law approving and regulating the cultivation, production, and circulation in and outside of the country of cannabis for medical and industrial purposes has been approved this year by the Albanian Parliament. This law and the perspective of legalizing it in the later future also for recreative purposes, has raised not only pros but also cons in public opinion, such as related to the fear of shifting the business objective of farmers toward legal cannabis products. The primary data were collected through a questionnaire and analysed using a logit model with the help of Stata. The findings are of major use for the policymakers, researchers, and farmers, but also for society, as it touches not only a strategic sector like Agriculture but also a sensitive one, like narcotics and pharma business.