Dazed And Confused: On France's Weed Crackdown
The French want Marijuana rules relaxed, but a new Macron policy sent those hopes up in smoke.
All the cool kids may be doing it. California. New Zealand. Heck, even Germany is preparing to legalize weed.
Alas, French President Emmanuel has given this matter some thought and decided that it’s hip to be square. According to Macron, the biggest problem with weed in France is that…law enforcement is not collecting enough fines from this nation of potheads.
In an interview on Monday, Macron noted that only 35% of fines levied for cannabis are actually collected. So he has a plan: Create a system where scofflaws can pay their fines on the spot!
The government plans to distribute 5,000 remote payment terminals to the coppers. So if you get pinched carrying or smoking or whatever, you can just swipe a credit card and pay a fine that could range from €150 to €450.
"We can't deplore drug trafficking if we have users,” Macron said in an interview. “People who have the means to use drugs because they find it recreational, they have to understand that they nurture networks and that they have a de facto complicity."
In other words, pot is a gateway drug to all sorts of hedonism and rule-breaking and listening to rock-n-roll music and god only knows what else is the result of all this reefer madness!
This news is, like, a total bummer to many French. As The Local notes, the French have the highest cannabis consumption rate in Europe: “with an estimated 5 million annual users and 900,000 daily smokers. In 2016, 41 percent of French people aged 15 to 64 said that they had used the drug at least once – compared to the European average of 18.9 percent.”
That despite the fact that France has some of the harshest drug laws in Europe. Before he ran for president in 2017, Macron seemed to be open to the idea of legalization. He suggested legalization might be a way to reduce its link to associated criminal activity and should at least be considered. Also, enforcement often left police and the judicial system overwhelmed.
“Today, cannabis poses a problem in terms of security, the link with delinquency in difficult neighborhoods, and the financing of hidden networks,” Macron said in 2016.
”So it's clear that the legalization of cannabis has its advantages in this respect, and is effective in some way. From this point of view, the subject is open and should be considered.”
In 2021, the National Assembly agreed. After a wide-ranging consultation, lawmakers issued a report calling for legalization as a way to push traffickers out of the picture while improving the health of young people. It emphasized that the hard-line policy was wasting police money and resources while likely making the problem worse.
Meanwhile, in January, the mayor of Bègles, a commune in the Bordeaux region, was inspired by a report about “supervised legalization.” In a tweet, he proposed making his town "the first experimental territory for the cultivation, sale and supervised consumption of recreational cannabis." He has officially written to Macron asking for permission to launch this project.
But President Macron and many in his government are no longer down for such reforms.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne recently stated that legalizing MJ was not the “right path.” Adding: “The drug traffic in our country, despite the work of law enforcement, is a big subject of preoccupation.”
Earlier this month, the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) banned the consumption and sale of hexahydrocannabinol (HHC), a molecule derived from cannabis. In a statement, ANSM officials wrote that HHC "presents a risk of abuse and dependence equivalent to that of cannabis." This left CBD shops across the nation scrambling to remove any products containing HHC from their shelves.
So for now, France will remain hostile legal territory for marijuana. Liberalization or legalization will have to wait for another day. Or president.
Update!
Wemby, the 19-year-old French basketball phenom, was drafted No. 1 by the San Antonio Spurs, a team that excels at drafting big men and French players. Of which Wemby is both.
In case you missed it the first time, I got to see Wemby play his final home game of the regular season. He is indeed impressive. But every time someone mentions his potential, there is always the caveat: If he stays healthy! He has spent a lifetime preparing for this moment, so hopefully he’ll be read for the NBA meat grinder.
Here was my story from that game and the press conference:
Experiencing The Victor Wembanyama Hype
The Palais des sports Marcel-Cerdan in a western suburb of Paris is an almost comically small and humble setting for Victor Wembanyama, the teenage player who may potentially change the game of professional basketball. The arena only seats 4,000, which means that every seat is a great seat from which to view the action. In terms of overall dimensions, it felt roughly the size of the gym at the high school I attended in Kansas. In terms of spectators, it has room for about half the bodies as Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University, where I spent 4 years becoming a basketball obsessive.
Chris O’Brien
Le Peq
holy hell. How stupid. Weed = you all normal. have a nice day and eat your gottdam pizzahut (in France, really? who does that??).and 7 pain au choco. heroin= you need a hug and some good rehab so you don't hurt yourself.
Amazing. Reefer madness :0 The rest of the world (well lol, not everywhere but you know what I mean) starts to GET IT. And now the French ~of all people ~ gotta make this about money. Cuz that's what it is. Stoned ppl (pls don't drive) don't bother anyone.
Remind me to delete as my citizenship exam is coming up :p
“ the French have the highest cannabis consumption rate in Europe” did President Doofus ever consider that they could take in more money taxing marijuana if it was legal than fining it if ut was illegal? Plus I’m ready for a bit of pot-induced hedonism.