While the French government continues to hound weed users with fines for misdemeanors, French politicians are becoming increasingly fed up with the government’s rigid, security-conscious stance on cannabis. The day after the start of the new parliamentary term, ecological MP François-Michel Lambert opened the ball with an open letter, which Zeweed relays here.
Gardanne, August 19,
In Marseille last night, a 14-year-old teenager was killed in what appears to be a settling of scores in the war between gangs running mafia-style cannabis distribution networks.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been countless victims of violence due to the harsh prohibition of cannabis consumption.
Gérald Darmanin and the government have embarked on a logic of confrontation and hardening, a policy of harassment and numbers. With no convincing results, each deal point dismantled is reconstituted within hours. Networks that fall are taken over by others. The number of consumers is as high as ever: nearly 1 in 3 French people have used or will use cannabis.
Cannabis prohibition means laxity and death. It’s a fact. All countries that have legalized cannabis have achieved convincing results in terms of public safety. None of them is considering going back on this decision. All the European countries around France are on the road to legalization, including Switzerland and Luxembourg. It is with this in mind that I have put forward for debate a bill for the controlled legalization of cannabis, through a state monopoly. The Mission d’Information sur le Cannabis, to which I belong, has validated a report recommending this controlled legalization. Every day of delay means more deaths. We have an obligation to put a stop to trafficking through legalization, so as to restore peace to these neighborhoods, and prevent further tragedies like the one last night. .
François-Michel Lambert
