100 years of French prohibition

Edito. It's a sad anniversary. Just 100 years ago, on July 12 1916, the law «concerning the import, trade, possession and use of poisonous substances, in particular opium, morphine and cocaine» was passed, penalizing both social and personal use for the first time.

One hundred years earlier Napoleonic campaigns played a major role in the in the development of opium consumption, originating in China, and hashish, brought to France after the Egyptian Campaign. Opium was consumed in more or less clandestine smokehouses, first in Toulon and Marseille, then in the port cities of western France, and finally in Paris and Lyon. In 1914, the capital is said to have had as many as 1,200 smoke shops. In 1912, the Hague Opium Convention called for stronger action against opium trafficking and the need for each country to adopt legislation restricting the use of «narcotics», and to control the production and distribution of opium, morphine, heroin and cocaine.

High society, on the other hand, uses morphine to «relieve the boredom» of its long evenings. Cocaine and heroin are available in pharmacies and on the street. used medically to treat pain or as anaesthetics. However, these two substances are rapidly being replaced by more effective and less dangerous synthetic products.

1916 also marked the outbreak of the First World War. At the height of the war, the «Gueules Cassées» of the Ardennes, the Marne and Verdun were treated with morphine and opium, which were then prescribed medically to cure pain. Here we see «epidemics» of drug addiction among demobilized soldiers. There were also rumors circulating in the trenches, picked up by the populist newspapers of the day: the Germans were allegedly distributing cocaine to the French to speed up their advance. Cocaine thus became the "Kraut's drug", a danger not only to individuals but also to the nation.

In 1868, the United Kingdom introduced specific legislation on narcotics, while the United States passed the Harrison Act on December 17, 1914, the first restrictive legislation on the use of narcotics. France adopted its own legislation on July 12, 1916, amended to include the offence of «possession» on September 14 of the same year, and reinforced in 1922 and 1939, to create Europe's most restrictive law. Prohibited substances are listed in three schedules A, B and C. Schedule B comprises «narcotics», defined solely by the following list: «opium, extracts and powder, morphine and its salts, heroin and its salts, cocaine and its salts, hashish and its preparations». It punishes sellers, pharmacists accused of false prescriptions and consumers with a prison sentence of three months to two years and a fine of 1,000 to 10,000 francs.

In a law thesis defended in 1932, Adrien Aubry highlighted the law's liberticidal scope. By criminalizing social use, the State abolished the principles of individual freedom and non-intervention by public authorities in personal consumption choices. The issue had already been raised when the 1916 law was being drafted, but parliamentarians bowed to the need for «necessary repression» and the «legitimate expectations of public opinion».

Another protester was Antonin Artaud, in his «Lettre à Monsieur le législateur de la loi sur les stupéfiants». Belatedly (in 1925), he denounced the law, and above all the fact that a drug addict will always be able to obtain supplies, even if the substance is banned.

Just as the 19th century saw the discovery of «narcotic» substances in the West, the 20th century will see their delisting. In France, the law of December 31, 1970, was the worthy heir to the law of 1916. It was designed to combat drug addiction, and introduced a dual system of coercive measures. Drug users were considered delinquents and sick, and were liable to one year's imprisonment for simple use. It also penalized the production, sale and transfer of narcotics. In the end, it was nothing more than a smokescreen for the development of the French Connection and the illegal heroin trade in the 70s.

France has been no more successful than other Western countries in stemming the tide of drug trafficking. Today, it's even bigger than ever, while customs authorities are congratulating themselves day after day on their seizures. Despite the laws of 1916 and 1970, France is also the European country with the highest cannabis consumption. It's about time we realized just how inept these laws are, and how necessary it is to reform them in the light of modern practices, foreign experience and scientific advances.