Liberty, equality and fraternity - the rallying cry for democracy all over the world - emerged from the French Revolution which overturned the power of the elite classes of society who had long oppressed the working classes and the poor in France. It is another matter that the elites of old have now been replaced by the new elites. The kings and priests of the past are now the politicians and religious orthodoxy of today. Businessmen are another key part of the elite classes, thus making up the triad of king-priest-businessman who oppress the working classes, the minorities, the indigenous communities and the poor in France, as they do in every nation of the world today. France is seeing today unrest among the working classes that is comparable to the pre-Revolution days, thanks to the concentration of wealth and power that has been brought about by the industries opposed to cannabis: the fossil fuel industry; the synthetic pharmaceutical industry; the medical industry that uses petrochemical-based products and serves as propagandists through physicians for the ban on cannabis; the petrochemical-based non-biodegradable plastics industry; the fossil-fuel-based construction industry; the petrochemical-based synthetic fabrics industry and the unsustainable cotton industry; the chemical pesticides and fertilizer industries; the opioid industry; the black market for cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, amphetamine type substances (ATS), synthetic cannabinoids, cathinones, etc.; the timber-based paper industry; the alcohol industry; the tobacco industry; etc.
France grew into the wealthy nation that it is today through the same model of growth that has made most European nations wealthy. It plundered and looted nations across the world and imposed its way of life on vast numbers of societies enslaving them to the European way of life. France looted Brazil, Morocco, India, Cote d'Ivoire, Vietnam, to name just a few. It not only took away all the precious resources from these countries, but also replaced them with western alcohol, tobacco, opioids and synthetic pharmaceutical drugs. It, along with other European colonizers, infected the native communities across the world with deadly diseases that wiped out large sections of these indigenous populations. Claude Levy-Strauss, the French anthropologist, writes in Tristes Tropiques, 'Looking at these unfortunate wretches, living on their own in the most hostile natural surroundings that man could ever be called upon to face, it was distressing to recall what Thevet wrote about the coastal Tupi after visiting them in the sixteenth century. He was surprised that a people "composed of the same elements as ourselves - is never afflicted with leprosy, paralysis, the death-trance, cankerous diseases or ulcers, or other blemishes of the body which are to be seen superficially and externally". Little did he realize that he and his companions were the forerunners of the carriers of these diseases.' France would most likely have had its first encounter with cannabis in India in the sixteenth century, along with the British. The European colonists preferred the tobacco from the Americas to the cannabis of India. So, they took away the cannabis that was the entheogen, medicine, intoxicant and source of livelihood for these native populations.
France, like most European countries, has an ambiguous relationship with cannabis. Walk around Paris and cannabis seems to be freely available, making you think that it is legal here for adult recreational use. Talk to officials and they will tell you that it is not so. There are now around 400 shops that sell cannabidiol (CBD) products with low delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels. The Lancet reported about five years back that 'Cannabinoids are being increasingly used in France for recreational purposes (eg, smoked cannabis or cannabidiol vaping) and for medical applications (eg, to relieve some symptoms of multiple sclerosis).' Internationally, the absurd opposition to cannabis has more of less narrowed down to opposition to a single cannabis compound, delta9-tetrahydracannabinol (THC). As more and more studies emerge regarding the vast benefits of THC, it is only a matter of time before even this opposition disappears. Recently, the European Union Court of Justice struck down a French law that had a blanket ban on cannabis, including stating that CBD was narcotic and that it could not be used in food products. France is in close proximity to countries taking steps in cannabis legalization such as Germany, Spain, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark and the Netherlands. In fact, all these countries together constitute the bulk of the projected 100+ billion Euro cannabis market of Europe. France probably sources its cannabis for recreational purposes through the black market from North Africa, especially Morocco, and Asia, specifically Afghanistan, with little local cultivation.
France is one of the world's biggest producers of hemp, a low THC variation of the cannabis plant used for industrial purposes, and the largest producer of hemp in Europe. Along with China and the US, France accounts for the bulk of cannabis cultivated for industrial purposes. Currently hemp is primarily used in the construction and textile industries in France. Hemp Today reported that 'Among key recommendations, SPC said France should develop its hemp sector by freeing up the flower, further development of seed as a natural food, and by expanding hemp fiber’s use in the construction industry, in bioplastics, textiles, and as an alternative energy source. “Hemp must have its place in the recovery plan,” the manifesto declares. “France must make the most of its many assets and seize the opportunity to make hemp the plant of the future, capable of meeting contemporary challenges.”'
French research on the medical use of cannabis has been significant in the recent past. NORML reported in August 2020 that 'Hepatitis C-infected subjects who use cannabis possess a lower risk of diabetes, according to data published in the Journal of Viral Hepatitis. A team of French investigators assessed the relationship between cannabis consumption and diabetes prevalence in a nationally representative sample of over 10,000 subjects with hepatitis C. Because chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a risk factor of insulin resistance, HCV-infected patients are at a higher risk of developing diabetes than those in the general population.' NORML reported in November 2020 that 'A significant minority of patients with rheumatologic diseases – such as lupus, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid arthritis – actively consume cannabis, according to data published in the journal Rheumatology. A team of French researchers conducted a meta-analysis of the relevant literature specific to the use of cannabis in patients with rheumatologic diseases. Researchers reported that approximately 17 percent of all patients with rheumatological diseases are active consumers of cannabis. Cannabis use was most common among patients with fibromyalgia. Overall, cannabis consumers tended to be younger in age and were most likely to report using cannabis to mitigate pain.'
France and the EU were in confrontation about the legality of cannabidiol (CBD) in September 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) had recommended taking CBD completely out of the scheduled lists of controlled drugs. Intel 420 reported that 'The funny thing about this case is that it might not matter at all. If WHO’s recommendations are voted down, the case of France vs the EU is null and void as CBD would undergo blanket illegalization worldwide. It is only if the recommendations are taken that this case has any value. So, it’s not just one story to follow for the outcome of this case, but two. How will WHO recommendations be voted on, and how will the CJEU rule the case of France vs the EU. We’ll find it all out at the end of this year.' In October 2020, Hemp Industry Daily reported that 'The case, which centers on a dispute over the marketing of Kanavape’s CBD e-cigarette product in France and the free movement of goods in the European Union, is one of the most highly anticipated legal and regulatory decisions for Europe’s CBD industry. The Nov. 19 court decision has the potential to open up a new CBD market in France; trigger a wave of legislative reviews and reform in other EU member states; and could have implications for the European Commission’s final stance on whether flower-derived CBD should be regulated as a narcotic rather than a food ingredient. The ruling is set to come two weeks before a December vote by the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs vote on the way cannabis and related substances are scheduled in two international narcotics treaties.' In December 2020, the UN voted to move cannabis from the most restrictive Schedule IV category of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It does however still remain in Schedule I, which is the least restrictive. The UN also voted to legalize CBD. As a result of this, CBD based food and wellness products are now freely available throughout the EU, including in France. Despite the stance of the French government regarding CBD, the people have gone ahead in embracing it and this is clearly evident from the boom in CBD outlets across France. IB Times reported in February 2021 that 'France is already Europe's largest producer of hemp, though mainly for the construction and textile industries. The country now counts some 400 CBD shops, according to the SPC alliance of hemp professionals. That's nearly four times the number that were operational before the government's crackdown two years ago, representing a market worth 150 million to 200 million euros ($180-$240 million).'
Some French MPs appear to be more receptive to CBD than to cannabis with high levels of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Connexion France reported in February 2021 that 'The report called for improvements so that customers would be guaranteed “total safety” when consuming CBD products. It also suggested that rules against economic development in the sector be reduced to authorise “the growing, import, export and use of all parts of cannabis plants, including the flower, for industry and commerce” in France. In addition, the authors of the report proposed raising the threshold of THC – the psychoactive part of the cannabis plant – allowed in cannabis products to be in line with other European countries.' THC is the most medicinal compound in cannabis, but it is also the most maligned. As the myths surrounding cannabis has crumbled in the face of scientific evidence, most opponents of cannabis have directed their attention at THC, stating that low-THC cannabis i.e. cannabis with THC levels at less than 0.3% is acceptable. When one remembers that the 0.3% limit on THC is completely unscientific and arbitrary, then the stance against THC can be seen for how absurd it is. So, what is the argument against THC that the elites across the world use to keep cannabis banned? They say that THC makes you 'feel high' i.e. intoxicated and euphoric. If intoxication and euphoria are crimes, then we might as well ban life on earth itself as the means to feel intoxicated and euphoric are as widespread as life on earth itself. It is not just humans who enjoy intoxication and euphoria, almost all living species on earth do the same.
While countries like Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Denmark had moved significantly forward on medical cannabis, France lagged behind to a great extent in 2020 and continues to do so today. Germany, which was Europe's biggest importer of medical cannabis, decided to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use in April 2024, so that cannabis is available to a wider population, unlike medical cannabis which is available only to the elite classes of society. The Netherlands, Italy and Denmark are primarily medical cannabis exporting nations that source their cannabis from legal countries such as Canada, Morocco and Uruguay, or from illegal sources such as Afghanistan and India. Only a small fraction of cannabis is grown locally in these countries. Malta and Luxembourg also legalized cannabis for recreational use. MJBizDaily reported in September 2020 that 'Robin Reda, a member of the French National Assembly and president of the committee that wrote the report, said in an interview with Le Parisien that France “has fallen alarmingly behind its European neighbors” when it comes to medical cannabis. Reda told the newspaper the ongoing pandemic only partially explains why implementation of the program has failed to make meaningful progress. “The bulk of the technical work was done before the health crisis,” Rada said. Rada said the program is currently in “an incomprehensible bureaucratic blockage” and that “the government is no longer moving forward with the subject.” The member of the French National Assembly also told Le Parisien that, “in the event of experimentation, we will be dependent on products purchased abroad, particularly in North America.”' MJBizDaily reported further in October 2020 that 'Nicolas Authier, a university professor and chair of the ANSM scientific committee on medical cannabis, told Marijuana Business Daily that “an invitation to tender for the selection of cannabis-based products” will be proposed in the coming days. Because cultivation of high-THC cannabis is still illegal in France, Authier believes the suppliers “will probably be foreign … in collaboration with pharmaceutical laboratories established in France and licensed for narcotics.” “Five more months of work before the first prescriptions,” he added, “but France is now officially committed to access to medical cannabis.”' MJBizDaily reported again in October 2020 that 'The French Minister of Solidarity and Health has signed a lengthy decree specifying how a small-scale pilot program will be supplied with medical cannabis that ultimately will be given to patients free of charge. That decree, signed Friday, was followed by the Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) publishing the application process for suppliers on Monday. As a result, most of the long-awaited regulatory legwork is done and the experimental program is ready to begin once the government selects the suppliers, who will be responsible for swallowing the program’s costs. The program also will rely on imported medical cannabis.' MJBizDaily reported in February 2021 that 'Neither the government nor patients will have to pay for the medical marijuana, which will be supplied by the participating companies at their own cost. The participating companies have no guarantee they will remain suppliers in the event France broadens access to medical cannabis after the experiment. However, “with hundreds of patients already treated (at the end of the experiment) and doctors used to prescribing their products, this is probably a marketing advantage,” Nicolas Authier, a university professor and chair of the ANSM scientific committee on medical cannabis, said last October.' AP News reported in April 2021 that 'Some 3,000 patients around the country will be given medical cannabis treatments and their health will be monitored by the national medicines watchdog, the Health Ministry said in a statement. The first prescription was issued Friday at the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital in southern France. The goal is to gather data about the effectiveness and safety of therapeutic marijuana, and to prepare eventual logistical circuits for future distribution, the ministry said.' In September 2021, MJBizDaily reported that 'Aurora was among companies from Australia, Canada, Israel and the United Kingdom chosen to provide products, in partnership with French pharmaceutical distributors, for up to 3,000 patients. The medical marijuana is being supplied by participating companies at their own cost, and neither the government nor patients will have to pay for it. “The first prescriptions of dried medical cannabis as part of the French pilot program are a significant step toward providing access to patients and will support the destigmatization of medical cannabis in France,” Aurora CEO Miguel Martin said in a statement.' From all this, one would think that cannabis is a new drug synthesized in pharmaceutical laboratories that must be stringently tested for safety before it can be made accessible to the general population. This sort of testing was not even done for the so-called vaccines of the fake pandemic Covid that was used by those opposed to cannabis legalization to throw a spanner in global cannabis legalization efforts between 2020 and 2022. Cannabis has been used for thousands of years by societies across the world and is so widely used and popular precisely because it is safe. Western societies that remained ignorant of cannabis got it prohibited to create markets for their own drugs of choice. The legalization of cannabis in Canada, 24 states in the US (at the time of writing), Germany, etc. has resulted after decades of studying the use of cannabis as medicine and finding out that it is safe for recreational use. The fact that France has embarked on an elaborate pilot study to study the medical properties of cannabis on a small sample of the population is nothing but stalling tactics by the ruling elites to keep cannabis out of the reach of the common man. Medical cannabis only benefits the elites of society who can access and afford cannabis that is packaged as a pharmaceutical drug. Pharmaceutical companies, who have been the biggest opponents of cannabis legalization globally, look to convert the natural herb cannabis into a pharmaceutical product that they can sell and profit from like the synthetic pharmaceutical drugs that they produce. Cannabis is, first and foremost, the herb of the poorest sections of society which was wrongly taken away so that the upper classes could sell their alcohol, tobacco, opioids and synthetic pharmaceutical drugs to the depressed classes, thus further chaining and oppressing these classes and enabling the upper classes to grow rich in the process.
The anti-cannabis propaganda actively promoted by the French elites is one of the key reasons why cannabis legalization has not made much headway in France, either as medical or recreational cannabis. Connexion France reported in October 2020 that 'The letter adds that the MPs see cannabis and other drugs as the cause of “psychosis, schizophrenia, depression, school failure, dropping out of school, dropping out of society”. It concluded: “We share the words of the Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin: ‘Drugs are sh*t’.” Mr Darmanin made the explicit statement in mid-September, when he said: “Drugs are sh*t. [I cannot say] as interior minister, as a politician, to parents who are fighting for their children to escape addiction to this drug, that we are going to legalise this sh*t.”' The arguments used here completely go against all scientific evidence regarding cannabis and show the imbecile mindset of France's ruling elites. Let us look at some of these arguments. Clubbing cannabis with harmful and dangerous drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl is completely inaccurate. Cannabis is neither addictive, nor does it kill anyone. In fact, cannabis is much safer than the legal drugs alcohol and tobacco that the French elites seem to promote so much. As far back as in the 19th century, the eminent British physician William O'Shaughnessy had stated that "As to the evil sequelæ so unanimously dwelt on by all writers, these did not appear to us so numerous, so immediate, or so formidable as many which may be clearly traced to over-indulgence in other powerful stimulants or narcotics, viz., alcohol, opium, or tobacco." Cannabis is much safer than almost all synthetic pharmaceutical drugs that are used widely across the population, causing widespread addiction and death. The argument that cannabis causes insanity was disproved in India in the 19th century itself by the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95. The Commission stated that this false myth based on erroneous data has, however, been the primary driver of cannabis prohibition globally. It said "Over and over again the statistics of Indian asylums have been referred to in official documents or scientific treatises not only in this country, but also in other countries where the use of these drugs has demanded attention. Other alleged effects of the drugs have attracted but little attention compared with their alleged connection with insanity." Numerous scientific studies conducted in recent times have further disproved the cannabis causes insanity myth but ignorant and unscrupulous politicians continue to use this myth to oppose cannabis legalization. The argument that cannabis legalization will destroy the youth is another commonly cited reason which has also been repeatedly disproved scientifically. In fact, one of the primary reasons cited by Canada and Germany for legalizing cannabis for recreational purposes is to protect the youth. The use of language such as cannabis is 'sh*t' shows that neither do these politicians know what shit is composed of nor do they know what cannabis is composed of. This is essentially the racial thinking of these politicians who regard the flowers of a natural plant as human excreta because it is used by the lower classes of society and the blacks whereas the whites use the white powders synthesized in pharmaceutical labs. The French MPs are probably not aware that one man's drug is another man's shit, and that the tobacco that the French elites regard so highly was considered shit by some of the indigenous tribes of South America - the land where the Europeans discovered tobacco and then took it upon themselves to sell and profit from it by prohibiting cannabis. Today, tobacco kills seven million people every year. So, the indigenous tribes who consider tobacco as shit are probably more accurate than the French MPs who consider cannabis as shit. Claude Levy-Strauss, the French anthropologist, writes in Tristes Tropiques, 'Another original feature of the Tupi-Kawahib is that, like their Parintintin cousins, they neither cultivate nor consume tobacco. On seeing us unroll our supply of tobacco, the village chief sarcastically exclaimed: "Ianeapit!" ("This is excrement!")' So, just because one culture perceives another culture's natural drug as excrement does not mean that the said natural drug should be prohibited. It is a matter of choice. Let the tobacco smokers smoker their tobacco and let the cannabis smokers smoke their cannabis. Opinions can be expressed but not as prohibitive laws.
The gap between the mindset of the ruling elites and those of the public in France by and large reflects the state of society in the US where the ruling elites funded by the industries and power structure opposed to cannabis are determined to keep cannabis illegal at the federal level even as the majority of American citizens demand cannabis legalization for recreational use, and even as 24 US states (at the time of writing) have legalized cannabis for recreational use. New Frontier Data reported in February 2021 that 'A group of politicians has launched a project designed to test the viability of cannabis legalisation. On January 13, a ‘citizens’ consultation’ was launched, with 175,000 people petitioning on the French Parliament’s Assemblée Nationale at the time of writing – many more than expected – with the consultation open until February 28. Its findings will be published in a report in April. The consultation is intended to counsel the French public about cannabis, and the questionnaire emphasizes harm reduction, including drug-related crime. Ironically, one consequence may be to demonstrate how much less France’s political leaders tolerate recreational cannabis than does the public at large. President Macron is against decriminalisation, and has ruled against legalisation while in office, consistent with earlier French governments. This consultation is intended to have an impact on the upcoming 2022 presidential election campaign.'
Growing scientific information is debunking all the myths that kept cannabis prohibited globally for nearly a century now. While Europe, North America and Oceania have embraced the latest scientific evidence regarding the benefits of cannabis, much of Asia and Africa still remains rooted in the myths and propaganda used by the colonizers to prohibit cannabis in the first place. Some of these myths are: cannabis causes insanity; cannabis is addictive and harmful; cannabis is more harmful than alcohol, opium and tobacco; cannabis is used by criminals and causes crime; cannabis is used by the lowest classes and castes of society; women who use cannabis are prostitutes; cannabis legalization will destroy the youth; and so on. Most of these myths were debunked more than 150 years ago itself, by the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95 set up by the British colonial rulers of India in order to prohibit cannabis and promote their alcohol, opium, tobacco and western medicine.
In April 2021, at the height of the fake pandemic Covid that was used to chain down the people of the world and to benefit the industries opposed to cannabis, I wrote 'The permanent members of the UNSC, US, UK, Russia, China and France are the world's biggest arms traders. India, the eternal aspirant to the elite warmongers council in an organization meant to promote global equity, liberty, peace and harmony, along with Israel and Saudi Arabia are the world's leading arms purchasers. Now, that is not all. Recognize the names and their links to global wars and instability. They are the world's leading legal synthetic drug (known by the much revered name pharma drugs) traders. They are the leading traders of petrochemicals and fossil fuel based energy. They are the world's leading emitters of carbon dioxide and other global warming gases. They are the world's leading traders of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. All of them are ruled by authoritarian governments. They are the countries staging the Covid drama, originating the story, linking their pharma deaths to Covid and then claiming to produce vaccines that will stop the virus. They lead on all Covid statistics. They are the countries instrumental in bringing about the global prohibition of cannabis. They continue to be the leading opposition to global cannabis legalization. They are the leading violators of human rights and liberties through their use of law, incarceration and execution of cannabis users and traders. They are the leading destroyers of cannabis plants and varieties beyond number....'
As the global wave of cannabis legalization spreads, France finds itself along with the US, UK, China, Russia and India as one of those responsible for bringing the world to the brink of human-induced disaster for the planet. Some French politicians are trying to make the change towards correcting the wrongs inflicted by these nations on the rest of the world. In May 2021, Marijuana Moment reported that 'A French lawmaker caused a stir on Tuesday when he brandished a marijuana joint on the floor of the National Assembly, denouncing the criminalization of cannabis and calling for a policy change. Deputy François-Michel Lambert said prohibition “is a total failure” and that “legalization would make it possible to dry up trafficking, create tax revenues and create jobs” before showcasing a cup with a cannabis leaf on it and then pulling a joint from it. “Other countries have chosen to face the problem rather than the ostrich policy” of France, the deputy said. The stunt came one day before a multi-party parliamentary report was released advocating for marijuana legalization.' While the number of politicians in France starting to see cannabis in a favorable light is increasing, we see that the majority appear to be stuck in limbo. The Hindu reported a few years back that 'Following the election, rifts in the party have become more open, with some senior leaders saying they cannot support Mr. Hamon and others asking him to adopt policies that would appeal to a broader spectrum of voters. Among Mr. Hamon’s policies are a universal basic income of about €750 a month, further cuts in the 35-hour work week, and a plan to legalise marijuana. Not all these are palatable to Socialists to Mr. Hamon’s right.'
The longer that recreational cannabis remains prohibited in France, the more deadly synthetic drugs expand to occupy the vacuum that this prohibition creates. The 2020 United Nations Office of Drug Control (UNODC) World Drug Report states that methamphetamine from Iran, and increasingly Afghanistan and the Far East, finds its way into France. The French proximity to the Middle East means that amphetamine type substances are likely to be flowing in from this region. Synthetic cathinones originating in Russia will also find footing in the French black market. UNODC reported that 'Most of the clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia has traditionally been in the Islamic Republic of Iran, being manufactured both for the local market and for export to countries in East and South-East Asia (including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) as well as for export to Central Asia and the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan) and to Europe (including Bulgaria, France, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United Kingdom).' France also gets some part of its methamphetamine from East and South East Asia. UNODC reported in 2020 that 'While methamphetamine trafficking flows from East and South-East Asia to countries outside the subregion remain modest, some smuggling to destinations around the world was reported, mainly smuggling from Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar in 2018 or, when the period is extended to the past five years, mainly from China and Thailand. Destinations outside the subregion included countries in South Asia, the Near and Middle East (Saudi Arabia as well as Israel), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), North America (the United States as well as Canada), Western Europe (notably Switzerland as well as Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Iceland), Eastern Europe (notably the Russian Federation) and Africa (notably South Africa) over the period 2014–2018'
One of the reasons why the French elites are so strongly opposed to cannabis legalization is because the opioids and synthetic pharmaceutical drug industries are very powerful in France. Morphine is one of the preferred drugs of the French elites and they consume it as a pain-killer. For the majority of the people who form the working classes and the poor, morphine is inaccessible and unaffordable. The International Narcotics Control Bureau reported in 2019 that 'In 2018, the leading morphine manufacturing country was France (86.4 tons, or 22.3 per cent of global manufacture), followed by the United Kingdom (83.7 tons, or 21.6 per cent), Australia (50.5 tons, or 13 per cent), the Islamic Republic of Iran (38.5 tons, or 9.9 per cent), Norway (21.1 tons, or 5.4 per cent), China (18.2 tons, or 4.7 per cent), the United States (17.7 tons, or 4.6 per cent), Japan (16.4 tons, or 4.2 per cent), Spain (13.1 tons, or 3.4 per cent) and India (12.0 tons, or 3.1 per cent). Together, those 10 countries accounted for 92.2 per cent of global manufacture of morphine.' Besides morphine that the French legally import from countries like India and illegally import from countries like Iran and Afghanistan, heroin is also imported into France illegally from Iran and Afghanistan through maritime routes. UNODC reported in 2020 that 'In contrast to Western and Central Europe as a whole, which continues to be supplied mainly by heroin trafficked along the Balkan route by land, trafficking to Belgium in 2018 to a large extent (98 per cent) took the form of maritime shipments departing from the Islamic Republic of Iran or Turkey. Similarly, trafficking to Italy was characterized by maritime shipments in 2018 (61 per cent of the total quantity seized by customs authorities), with the bulk of seizures in 2018 having departed from the Islamic Republic of Iran in containers, followed by shipments by air (37 per cent), often departing from the Middle East (Qatar) or Africa (South Africa), while heroin shipments destined for France typically transited the Netherlands and Belgium in 2018'
France is said to be the highest consumer of cannabis in Europe with over 11% of the French population having consumed cannabis in the past year between 2015 and 2017 according to Statista. It reported in 2019 that 'France still has some of the most stringent anti-cannabis regulations in Europe but things are slowly changing, opening up huge opportunities in the world's seventh largest economy (France's GDP growth has recently been overtaken by India and it has dropped from sixth place). This is good news for cannabis startups as France is the number one European country for cannabis use. Between 2015 and 2017, according to Statista, just over 11% of the French population said they had used cannabis over the previous year, the highest of any European country.' The French government initiated a public hearing in Feb 2021 to get the opinion of the people in terms of whether recreational cannabis should be legalized. This came in the wake of increasing numbers of US states legalizing recreational cannabis and the federal US standing a step away from legalization. In December 2020, the UN voted to remove cannabis from its most restricted Schedule IV category of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It does however still remain in Schedule I, which is the least restrictive. This one move by the UN itself should have been sufficient to bring about the recreational legalization of cannabis in every nation and an overhaul of national drug laws, given that most nations cite the UN treaty to keep cannabis prohibited.
Clearly there is a disconnect between ground realities and the policies of the government. The French people seem to have gone on with their cannabis consumption as always while the laws surrounding it seem to have gone in the other direction in the last century or so. In a previous French presidential elections, one of the candidates spoke about legalizing cannabis if elected. Unfortunately, he was not. The current president Emmanuel Macron, despite of being one of the youngest ever, does not seem to be particularly interested in cannabis or, as is more likely, his interest appears to lie in the protection of big businesses opposed to cannabis that fund his party. This seems to be a reflection of most European and American approaches to cannabis. The French pharmaceutical industry relies heavily on opioids and is certainly one of the key opponents to cannabis legalization. It will surely be lobbying against legalization along with French alcohol and tobacco industries. The French pharma industry's dependence on opioids is evidenced from the fact that, according to INCB, France was the leading legal manufacturer of morphine in 2019.
We see the world over that cannabis prohibition is essentially the caste and class system being played out where the ruling elites oppress the lower classes and castes - the working classes, the minorities, the indigenous communities - and the poorest sections of society so as to keep them in shackles and make them work for the ruling elites. The ruling elites access cannabis as medical cannabis or procure it from the black market. The oppressed classes can do neither. The medical industry ensures that only the elites can access medical cannabis. Law enforcement and drug enforcement ensure that only the elites can afford and access cannabis from the black market. If the lower classes and castes grow or access cannabis, they are swiftly punished by the power structure of the elites which includes politicians, the medical industry, religious orthodoxy, cannabis prohibition groups, the media, law enforcement and drug enforcement. It is this global class and caste system that enabled the elites to prohibit cannabis in the first place. It is ironic that the 1961 Single Convention Treaty on Narcotic Drugs that all nations of the world are signatories to and whose national drug laws closely adhere to, does not prohibit cannabis for industrial purposes. Despite this, almost no nation pursued cannabis for industrial purposes in the 20th century and only a handful of nations - China, the US, France, to name a few - have seriously adopted industrial cannabis in the 21st century. This shows the power of the industries opposed to cannabis that the elites thrive on and use to control the world.
It must be noted that in most places where cannabis legalization has happened it took the efforts of the people who mobilized themselves through grassroots level movements to bring about this change. Left to lawmakers legalization would have been impossible, as the main interests of lawmakers concern the protection of the big industries opposed to cannabis such as pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, medical, alcohol and tobacco. For something that truly benefits the people, the people themselves have had to make the change. Cannabis legalization in the US was a grassroots movement that swept through the states with now nearly all states having cannabis legal in some form, medical or recreational. Yet the federal US government still maintains its stance that cannabis is illegal federally. This ambiguous approach to cannabis all over America and Europe seem to be based on the thinking that goes like this - let the locals smoke their cannabis through whatever means that they procure it because to try and stop them would cause widespread discontentment. Let us keep it away from tourists and foreigners as much as possible. Nationally and internationally, let us maintain a stance that is anti-cannabis and oppose steps being taken to legalize it, so that big businesses continue to have a clear path and continue to fund the government.
By maintaining an anti-cannabis stance internationally, what the French government is conveniently ignoring is that millions of people within the country and worldwide, who would stand to benefit from access to cannabis are being deprived, harassed and often imprisoned and killed due to prohibition. For many of the poorest people, cannabis was their only comfort in the harshest conditions of poverty, a medicinal plant and one of the safest recreational drugs. To draw a comparison between the cruelty of prohibiting cannabis in many societies with an equivalent situation in French society would be if wine or cheese or tobacco was prohibited in France. Levy-Strauss further writes in Tristes Tropiques, 'France is beginning to resemble a Moslem country. In Moslem and French people alike, I observe the same bookish attitude, the same Utopian spirit and the same stubborn conviction that it is enough to solve problems on paper to be immediately rid of them. Behind the screen of a legal and formalist rationalism, we build similar pictures of the world and society in which all difficulties can be solved by a cunning application of logic, and we do not realize that the universe is no longer made up of the entities about which we are talking. Just as Islam has kept its gaze fixed on a society which was real seven centuries ago, and for the problems of which it then invented effective solutions, so we are incapable of thinking outside the framework of an epoch which came to an end a century and a half ago, and which was the one period when we were in tune with history - only too briefly, however, since Napolean, that Mohammad of the West, failed where the other succeeded. Like the Islamic world, the France which emerged from the revolution suffered the inevitable fate of repentant revolutionaries, which is to become the nostalgic preservers of a state of things with regard to which they once stood in a dynamic relationship.'
The current acceptance of hemp for industrial purposes needs to be further widened to include the medicinal and recreational cannabis plant with THC levels greater than 1% as it is being done in various places including Canada and Uruguay. France already has a base in terms of its hemp cultivation and usage. It should be relatively easy to scale this up to include high THC cannabis as well. Not only will it benefit French farmers, it would generate jobs as well as new and sustainable industries. As universal medicine, it would bring down the consumption of pharmaceutical drugs and harmful synthetic drugs and the contamination of the French environment. It would benefit of the young, the old, the poor and the sick. In the US, the elderly are the fastest growing demographic of cannabis consumers. It would be an eco-friendly, sustainable boost for French industries like car makers, biofuels, biodegradable plastics, paper, wellness, food and beverage, fabric industries, tourism, animal feed, to name just a few. The French culture of wine, cheese, baking and farming along with its love of the arts makes cannabis an ideal accompaniment if added to the mix. France has the potential to possibly emerge as a cannabis cultivation country given its sunny climates, especially in the wine growing regions that are similar to California. It is not known if natural indigenous varieties of cannabis exist in France but even if they do not, there is a great opportunity for France to cultivate high quality varieties which over time could become distinct brands like French wine and cheese with which it would pair beautifully. In its sunny wine-growing regions, France enjoys a distinct advantage over many other European nations, including Germany, in that France can potentially grow enough recreational cannabis to meet its own needs, as well as export cannabis to other European nations who rely heavily on legalized cannabis from Canada and Uruguay and illegal cannabis from Afghanistan, Morocco and India. By legalizing cannabis in all its forms, for all purposes, France could trade in cannabis with nations like Brazil, India, Cote d'Ivoire and Morocco. In this way, France can repay some of its debt to the nations that it plundered in the past to get to where it is today and enable these countries to heal from the wounds of a world without cannabis.
Overall, France as a nation needs to take a clear stand in support of cannabis legalization for recreational use because its people seem to have done so already. Otherwise, we may get to hear more of the word that was also part of the rallying cry of the French Revolution besides 'Liberty', 'Equality' and 'Fraternity', a word that has been mostly forgotten. Charles Dickens writes in The Tale of Two Cities that the rallying cry was 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity...Or Death'. Cannabis is a supreme creation of nature that enables a human to understand his place in the scheme of things. To live without cannabis, is to live far removed from the realities of nature, of this world, of the void and of the eternal spirit. Claude Levy-Strauss writes in Tristes Tropiques, 'Just as the individual is not alone in the group, nor any one society alone among the others, so man is not alone in the universe. When the spectrum or rainbow of human culture has finally sunk into the void created by our frenzy; as long as we continue to exist and there is a world, that tenuous arch linking us to the inaccessible will still remain, to show us the opposite course to that leading to enslavement; man may be unable to follow it, but its contemplation affords him the only privilege of which he can make himself worthy; that of arresting the process, of controlling the impulse which forces him to block up the cracks in the wall of necessity one by one and to complete his work at the same time as he shuts himself up within his prison; this is a privilege coveted by every society, whatever its beliefs, its political system or its level of civilization; a privilege in which it attaches it leisure, its pleasure, its peace of mind and its freedom; the possibility, vital for life, of 'unhitching', which consists - Oh! fond farewell to savages and explorations! - in grasping, during brief intervals in which our species can bring itself to interrupt its hive-like activity, the essence of what it was and continues to be, below the threshold of thought and over and above society; in the contemplation of a mineral more beautiful than all our creations; in the scent that can be smelt in the heart of a lily and is more imbued with learning than all our books; or in the brief glance, heavy with patience, serenity and mutual forgiveness, that, through some involuntary understanding, one can sometimes exchange with a cat.'
Related articles
Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.
'Hepatitis C-infected subjects who use cannabis possess a lower risk of diabetes, according to data published in the Journal of Viral Hepatitis.
A team of French investigators assessed the relationship between cannabis consumption and diabetes prevalence in a nationally representative sample of over 10,000 subjects with hepatitis C. Because chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a risk factor of insulin resistance, HCV-infected patients are at a higher risk of developing diabetes than those in the general population.'
'The funny thing about this case is that it might not matter at all. If WHO’s recommendations are voted down, the case of France vs the EU is null and void as CBD would undergo blanket illegalization worldwide. It is only if the recommendations are taken that this case has any value. So, it’s not just one story to follow for the outcome of this case, but two. How will WHO recommendations be voted on, and how will the CJEU rule the case of France vs the EU. We’ll find it all out at the end of this year.'
'Robin Reda, a member of the French National Assembly and president of the committee that wrote the report, said in an interview with Le Parisien that France “has fallen alarmingly behind its European neighbors” when it comes to medical cannabis.
Reda told the newspaper the ongoing pandemic only partially explains why implementation of the program has failed to make meaningful progress.
“The bulk of the technical work was done before the health crisis,” Rada said.
Rada said the program is currently in “an incomprehensible bureaucratic blockage” and that “the government is no longer moving forward with the subject.”
The member of the French National Assembly also told Le Parisien that, “in the event of experimentation, we will be dependent on products purchased abroad, particularly in North America.”'
'The letter adds that the MPs see cannabis and other drugs as the cause of “psychosis, schizophrenia, depression, school failure, dropping out of school, dropping out of society”. It concluded: “We share the words of the Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin: ‘Drugs are sh*t’.”
Mr Darmanin made the explicit statement in mid-September, when he said: “Drugs are sh*t. [I cannot say] as interior minister, as a politician, to parents who are fighting for their children to escape addiction to this drug, that we are going to legalise this sh*t.”'
'Nicolas Authier, a university professor and chair of the ANSM scientific committee on medical cannabis, told Marijuana Business Daily that “an invitation to tender for the selection of cannabis-based products” will be proposed in the coming days.
Because cultivation of high-THC cannabis is still illegal in France, Authier believes the suppliers “will probably be foreign … in collaboration with pharmaceutical laboratories established in France and licensed for narcotics.”
“Five more months of work before the first prescriptions,” he added, “but France is now officially committed to access to medical cannabis.”'
'The French Minister of Solidarity and Health has signed a lengthy decree specifying how a small-scale pilot program will be supplied with medical cannabis that ultimately will be given to patients free of charge.
That decree, signed Friday, was followed by the Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) publishing the application process for suppliers on Monday.
As a result, most of the long-awaited regulatory legwork is done and the experimental program is ready to begin once the government selects the suppliers, who will be responsible for swallowing the program’s costs.
The program also will rely on imported medical cannabis.'
'The case, which centers on a dispute over the marketing of Kanavape’s CBD e-cigarette product in France and the free movement of goods in the European Union, is one of the most highly anticipated legal and regulatory decisions for Europe’s CBD industry.
The Nov. 19 court decision has the potential to open up a new CBD market in France; trigger a wave of legislative reviews and reform in other EU member states; and could have implications for the European Commission’s final stance on whether flower-derived CBD should be regulated as a narcotic rather than a food ingredient.
The ruling is set to come two weeks before a December vote by the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs vote on the way cannabis and related substances are scheduled in two international narcotics treaties.'
'A significant minority of patients with rheumatologic diseases – such as lupus, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid arthritis – actively consume cannabis, according to data published in the journal Rheumatology.
A team of French researchers conducted a meta-analysis of the relevant literature specific to the use of cannabis in patients with rheumatologic diseases.
Researchers reported that approximately 17 percent of all patients with rheumatological diseases are active consumers of cannabis. Cannabis use was most common among patients with fibromyalgia.
Overall, cannabis consumers tended to be younger in age and were most likely to report using cannabis to mitigate pain.'
'Neither the government nor patients will have to pay for the medical marijuana, which will be supplied by the participating companies at their own cost.
The participating companies have no guarantee they will remain suppliers in the event France broadens access to medical cannabis after the experiment.
However, “with hundreds of patients already treated (at the end of the experiment) and doctors used to prescribing their products, this is probably a marketing advantage,” Nicolas Authier, a university professor and chair of the ANSM scientific committee on medical cannabis, said last October.'
'A group of politicians has launched a project designed to test the viability of cannabis legalisation. On January 13, a ‘citizens’ consultation’ was launched, with 175,000 people petitioning on the French Parliament’s Assemblée Nationale at the time of writing – many more than expected – with the consultation open until February 28. Its findings will be published in a report in April.
The consultation is intended to counsel the French public about cannabis, and the questionnaire emphasizes harm reduction, including drug-related crime. Ironically, one consequence may be to demonstrate how much less France’s political leaders tolerate recreational cannabis than does the public at large. President Macron is against decriminalisation, and has ruled against legalisation while in office, consistent with earlier French governments. This consultation is intended to have an impact on the upcoming 2022 presidential election campaign.'
'France is already Europe's largest producer of hemp, though mainly for the construction and textile industries.
The country now counts some 400 CBD shops, according to the SPC alliance of hemp professionals.
That's nearly four times the number that were operational before the government's crackdown two years ago, representing a market worth 150 million to 200 million euros ($180-$240 million).'
'The report called for improvements so that customers would be guaranteed “total safety” when consuming CBD products.
It also suggested that rules against economic development in the sector be reduced to authorise “the growing, import, export and use of all parts of cannabis plants, including the flower, for industry and commerce” in France.
In addition, the authors of the report proposed raising the threshold of THC – the psychoactive part of the cannabis plant – allowed in cannabis products to be in line with other European countries.'
'La fin d’un tabou ? En un peu plus de six semaines, 253 194 personnes ont participé à la consultation citoyenne en ligne sur le cannabis récréatif, lancée le 13 janvier par une mission d’information parlementaire et qui s’est achevée dimanche 28 février.
D’après les résultats de cette consultation, 80,8 % des répondants se disent d’accord avec une autorisation de la consommation et de la production de cannabis dans un cadre régi par la loi, ont affirmé des sources parlementaires à l’Agence France-Presse (AFP), lundi.'
'Some 3,000 patients around the country will be given medical cannabis treatments and their health will be monitored by the national medicines watchdog, the Health Ministry said in a statement. The first prescription was issued Friday at the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital in southern France.
The goal is to gather data about the effectiveness and safety of therapeutic marijuana, and to prepare eventual logistical circuits for future distribution, the ministry said.'
'A French lawmaker caused a stir on Tuesday when he brandished a marijuana joint on the floor of the National Assembly, denouncing the criminalization of cannabis and calling for a policy change.
Deputy François-Michel Lambert said prohibition “is a total failure” and that “legalization would make it possible to dry up trafficking, create tax revenues and create jobs” before showcasing a cup with a cannabis leaf on it and then pulling a joint from it.
“Other countries have chosen to face the problem rather than the ostrich policy” of France, the deputy said.
The stunt came one day before a multi-party parliamentary report was released advocating for marijuana legalization.'
'Aurora was among companies from Australia, Canada, Israel and the United Kingdom chosen to provide products, in partnership with French pharmaceutical distributors, for up to 3,000 patients.
The medical marijuana is being supplied by participating companies at their own cost, and neither the government nor patients will have to pay for it.
“The first prescriptions of dried medical cannabis as part of the French pilot program are a significant step toward providing access to patients and will support the destigmatization of medical cannabis in France,” Aurora CEO Miguel Martin said in a statement.'
'Most of the clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia has traditionally been in the Islamic Republic of Iran, being manufactured both for the local market and for export to countries in East and South-East Asia (including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) as well as for export to Central Asia and the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan) and to Europe (including Bulgaria, France, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United Kingdom).' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf
'In 2018, the leading morphine manufacturing country was France (86.4 tons, or 22.3 per cent of global manufacture), followed by the United Kingdom (83.7 tons, or 21.6 per cent), Australia (50.5 tons, or 13 per cent), the Islamic Republic of Iran (38.5 tons, or 9.9 per cent), Norway (21.1 tons, or 5.4 per cent), China (18.2 tons, or 4.7 per cent), the United States (17.7 tons, or 4.6 per cent), Japan (16.4 tons, or 4.2 per cent), Spain (13.1 tons, or 3.4 per cent) and India (12.0 tons, or 3.1 per cent). Together, those 10 countries accounted for 92.2 per cent of global manufacture of morphine.'
'In contrast to Western and Central Europe as a whole, which continues to be supplied mainly by heroin trafficked along the Balkan route by land, trafficking to Belgium in 2018 to a large extent (98 per cent) took the form of maritime shipments departing from the Islamic Republic of Iran or Turkey. Similarly, trafficking to Italy was characterized by maritime shipments in 2018 (61 per cent of the total quantity seized by customs authorities), with the bulk of seizures in 2018 having departed from the Islamic Republic of Iran in containers, followed by shipments by air (37 per cent), often departing from the Middle East (Qatar) or Africa (South Africa), while heroin shipments destined for France typically transited the Netherlands and Belgium in 2018' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf
'The Court of Justice ruling on the case is expected this fall. In the vast majority of cases, the court follows the opinion of the advocate general.
In this case, Advocate General Evgeni Tanchev wrote that EU law on the free movement of goods prohibits France or any other EU member state from banning the import of CBD from another member state where that oil is extracted from the whole hemp plant.
France allows hemp cultivation, but limits the plant’s legal uses to its fiber and grain components.
“If CBD oil were to be considered a narcotic drug it would fall outside the scope” of EU regulations on the movement of goods, Tanchev wrote. “In my view, that is not the case.”'
'Among key recommendations, SPC said France should develop its hemp sector by freeing up the flower, further development of seed as a natural food, and by expanding hemp fiber’s use in the construction industry, in bioplastics, textiles, and as an alternative energy source.
“Hemp must have its place in the recovery plan,” the manifesto declares. “France must make the most of its many assets and seize the opportunity to make hemp the plant of the future, capable of meeting contemporary challenges.”'
'While methamphetamine trafficking flows from East and South-East Asia to countries outside the subregion remain modest, some smuggling to destinations around the world was reported, mainly smuggling from Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar in 2018 or, when the period is extended to the past five years, mainly from China and Thailand. Destinations outside the subregion included countries in South Asia, the Near and Middle East (Saudi Arabia as well as Israel), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), North America (the United States as well as Canada), Western Europe (notably Switzerland as well as Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Iceland), Eastern Europe (notably the Russian Federation) and Africa (notably South Africa) over the period 2014–2018' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf
'Cannabinoids are being increasingly used in France for recreational purposes (eg, smoked cannabis or cannabidiol vaping) and for medical applications (eg, to relieve some symptoms of multiple sclerosis).'
'A French health agency has launched a temporary scientific committee to assess how to create a medical cannabis market in France.'
'Following the election, rifts in the party have become more open, with some senior leaders saying they cannot support Mr. Hamon and others asking him to adopt policies that would appeal to a broader spectrum of voters. Among Mr. Hamon’s policies are a universal basic income of about €750 a month, further cuts in the 35-hour work week, and a plan to legalise marijuana. Not all these are palatable to Socialists to Mr. Hamon’s right.'
'France still has some of the most stringent anti-cannabis regulations in Europe but things are slowly changing, opening up huge opportunities in the world's seventh largest economy (France's GDP growth has recently been overtaken by India and it has dropped from sixth place).
This is good news for cannabis startups as France is the number one European country for cannabis use. Between 2015 and 2017, according to Statista, just over 11% of the French population said they had used cannabis over the previous year, the highest of any European country.'
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