6-month cannabis fine in France. What are the results?

Edito. Has the cannabis fine served to make cannabis users more responsible? No statistics will tell. But one thing is certain: the fine will have served... to impose fines.

Having come into force on September 1, the cannabis fine has been issued 43,500 times as of February 24, according to official statistics, with a recovery of around 40% to date, or 17,400 of the 43,500. This represents an increase of 19.5% over the September-January 2019-2020 period, a logical increase that underlies the mechanics of numbers politics.

According to Rennes prosecutor Philippe Astruc, the departments most heavily ticketed are those with the biggest cities: Bouches-du-Rhône, Seine-Saint-Denis, Nord, Paris and Rhône.

In comparison, 177,000 fines for violating the curfew have been issued in France since it was introduced on December 15. Are cannabis users more responsible than their clichés? Or are cannabis fines just the wrong tool?

14 associations had gathered against the proposed contraventionnalisation the simple use of cannabis, with the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme (Human Rights League) even asking an appeal to the Conseil d'Etat.

Erected as a symbol of the anti-drug war, the cannabis fine is ultimately a reflection of French drug policy: costly and ineffective.