There's never been a more exciting time to be a drug policy researcher.

That's the view of one, Professor Beau Kilmer, who was in Canberra this week for a conference at the National Portrait Gallery, hosted by the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy.

Professor Kilmer, who sat on a panel to discuss the options and issues around cannabis regulation, said that while many people were under the impression marijuana was legal in places like the Netherlands, in fact what was happening in the United States was "unprecedented".

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