«Arrêtons la bédave»: stopping cannabis as a collective battle

What began as a simple challenge between friends has transformed into a powerful movement. In June 2025, Anas, Rayan, Aziz, and Abdelsamad, four young men from Asnières-sur-Seine, decided to stop consuming together Cannabis. This joint bet has become a show of solidarity and awareness, giving birth to the «ALB» project, an acronym for «Let's Stop Smoking Weed.».

By documenting their experiences online, they managed to reach thousands of people and speak openly about cannabis use, its risks, and the need for non-stigmatizing alternatives when use becomes unmanageable.

From daily consumption to collective awareness

Like many teenagers, Rayan tried marijuana for the first time at 17. Very quickly, what seemed harmless turned into a problematic consumption. At the height of his addiction, he spent up to €500 a month smoking all night while playing online.

The others had similar stories, with attempts to quit that rarely lasted. The turning point came on June 16, 2025, when the four friends decided to quit together. The next day, they shot a short video titled «Day 1,» marking the beginning of their new life without cannabis. Day after day, they continued to post videos, turning their personal struggle into a public journey.

On TikTok and Instagram, their videos quickly went viral. A few weeks later, their account ALB mentality had over 64,000 followers on TikTok and 11,000 on Instagram. Their slogans, «Just because you add «sweet» after «drug» doesn't mean marijuana isn't a drug.» or «To turn on your brain, turn off your cigarette lighter., found an echo with the audience.

Build a movement beyond social media

Success on social media has brought visibility, but also responsibilities.

«That put us under enormous pressure, but it also pushed us to keep going,» explains Rayan. It was then that the group decided to structure itself more seriously.

Their content has expanded to include not only cannabis, but also other risky behaviors such as abuse of hilarious gas and youth violence.

«The people around us say that we've done a lot of good for them, but they also help us,» explains Abdelsamad. Messages of encouragement now arrive daily, from all generations and social backgrounds.

Determined to go further, the quartet is in the process of creating an official association. They are currently looking for premises, but already have projects in mind: a sporting event in a Parisian neighborhood, collaborations with influencers and health professionals, and even the launch of a Twitch channel.

Behind the humor and punchlines lies another ambition: to create an «ALB house,» a dedicated space where people struggling with cannabis use can find help. The idea is to offer both peer support and access to addiction specialists, in order to bridge the gap between healthcare services and the street.

By combining digital influence and local initiatives, Anas, Rayan, Aziz, and Abdelsamad are shedding light on an often-overlooked reality: Stop smoking cannabis is not only a personal struggle, it can also be a collective story. Their journey illustrates both the failure of public drug policy in France and how peer support, creativity, and open-mindedness can transform a private battle into a public cause.

As their motto suggests, the goal is not to condemn, but to move forward: «We never sink, we gain momentum to strike even harder.»