Thoughts from the void: Cannabis and France

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. 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. That ruling should further boost the CBD market, considering that France is one of the world's biggest producers of natural hemp, a low THC variation of the cannabis plant used for industrial purposes, and the largest producer of hemp in Europe. Currently hemp is primarily used in the construction and textile industries in France.

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. The French government has initiated a public hearing in Feb 2021 to get the opinion of the people in terms of whether recreational cannabis should be legalized. This comes 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 be 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. This is after Europe promoted its alcohol and tobacco industries in its colonies through the 19th century and the US pushed for world wide prohibition in the 20th century to give those opposed to cannabis a helping hand. 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, in spite 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 pharmaceuticals 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 tobacco and alcohol 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.

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.

The longer that recreational cannabis is prohibited, the more deadly synthetic drugs expand to occupy the vacuum that this prohibition creates. The 2020 UNODC World Drug Report states that methamphetamine from Iran, and increasingly Afghanistan and the Far East, finds its way into France. Heroin shipments find their way into France from Iran and Afghanistan through maritime routes that transit in the Netherlands and Belgium. 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.

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.

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, paper, wellness, food and beverage, fabric industries, tourism, 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.

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.

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.

'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). However, the Islamic Republic of Iran is not the main source of the methamphetamine found in other countries in the Near and Middle East/SouthWest Asia (with the exception of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic). The main source countries for other countries in this subregion seem to continue to be countries in East and South-East Asia. The extent of clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Islamic Republic of Iran actually appears to be declining, while manufacturing is rapidly increasing in neighbouring Afghanistan.' - 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.'
https://www.incb.org/documents/Narcotic-Drugs/Technical-Publications/2019/Narcotic_Drugs_Technical_Publication_2019_web.pdf

'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.”'
https://hempindustrydaily.com/frances-blanket-ban-on-cbd-should-go-eu-court-adviser-says/

'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.”'
https://hemptoday.net/french-hemp-warning/amp/

'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

Afghanistan and Mexico source the heroin and morphine. Mexico, Thailand, Myanmar and China source the methamphetamine. The Middle East and Eastern Europe sources the amphetamine. The US consumes heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Europe consumes heroin, morphine, methamphetamine and amphetamine. Asia consumes heroin, morphine and methamphetamine. Australia consumes methamphetamine. The Middle East consumes heroin and amphetamine. West Asia consumes heroin and methamphetamine. All countries grow and consume cannabis. Opioids, methamphetamine and amphetamines kill the most in terms of drug deaths, cannabis kills none. Who are the leading opponents to cannabis legalization and leading enforcers of global anti-cannabis policy? The countries involved the most in heroin, morphine, amphetamines and methamphetamines. They put on a mask of concern about harms from drugs, produce, sell and consume the most dangerous synthetic drugs and vehemently oppose cannabis legalization worldwide while clandestinely feeding their habits and protecting their sources. They use arms and armies to protect and promote their synthetic drug habits, and drug money to fund and wage a war on cannabis everywhere, pushing man and planet ever closer to death on massive scales and away from the safe, healing cannabis herb...
Jul 10, 2020, 1:14 PM

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