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For the Global Commission, France's anti-drug policy is a failure

Published

9 years ago

August 29, 2017

The Global Commission on drug policy recently expressed her views in a tribune du World on France's anti-drug policy. Their conclusion is clear: it's a failure.

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The commission, which brings together former heads of state, government or businessmen such as Richard Branson, considers that the prohibitionist drug policy that France has pursued for decades is «a failure». This statement notably echoes the latest Baromètre Santé 2016 survey, carried out by the Observatoire français des drogues et toxicomanie (OFDT). This study reveals that 17 million people have already used cannabis, of which 5 million are annual users, making France Europe's leading cannabis consumer. At the same time, overall drug consumption is on the rise. The authors of the article explain that the best solution would be to decriminalize all drugs, including cannabis.

In France, the possession or cannabis consumption remains strictly prohibited. On May 23, the French Minister of the Interior Gérard Collomb announced on RMC a contravention for cannabis possession, «within three to four months» as part of the fight against drug trafficking.

A drug policy deemed too repressive and ineffective

The members of the Global Commission who have signed this article insist that France's drug policy is too repressive. The direct result is an increase in consumption. For them, behind this facade of repression lie other forms of repression, particularly of poorer populations, often from disadvantaged neighborhoods. These people find themselves trapped in this sphere, punished for simple cannabis use, and confronted with the various forms of violence perpetrated by the police authorities, to which they in turn may retaliate.

For a user, cannabis consumption does not lead to acts of violence or threats to society, and is purely a matter of lifestyle choice. «People who use drugs sometimes become dependent on them, within the pathological framework of addiction. Much more often, however, they do so in a way that potentially harms only themselves,» the letter stresses.

Some people prefer to turn to legal substances such as alcohol or tobacco. Others consume cannabis without any change to their lifestyle or professional integration, if consumption is moderate. Regulating the possession and consumption of drugs in the private sphere could thus be added to the freedoms that an individual would be entitled to exercise, on the same grounds as alcohol.

Prevention and decriminalization

This crackdown on drugs highlights a lack of drug (and cannabis) prevention, which leads to addiction and people finding themselves isolated from society.

The authors explain: «Appreciating the diversity of reasons why people use drugs, and accepting the reality of the presence of drug use in society, leads to the development of public policies focused on the individual, offering opportunities for as many citizens as possible to lead a healthy and balanced life.» Take Portugal, for example. The Portuguese government was thehe first European country to decriminalize drug use in 2001. Based on statistics, this is the country with the lowest level of drug dependence on the continent. Cannabis use among 15-64 year-olds is less than 8% of the population.

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In the end, it calls for more drug prevention, and for the decriminalization of drug possession and consumption in France, with particular reference to «the private sphere and the right to health». She also calls on successive governments to base themselves on scientific studies rather than on an «ideology» that has persisted for decades. Especially since, according to a Ipsos survey conducted in October 2016, Almost half the French population is in favor of allowing cannabis consumption, subject to conditions.

Beyond this forum, Richard Branson, also a member of the Global Commission,has taken a stand on the subject on numerous occasions. During a visit to a cannabis show in the United States, he called for the legalization of cannabis explaining that this is «the only way to bring to light the problems that arise with drugs that are not regulated and whose supply is left in the hands of the mafias. Our commission has worked hard on this. We've had successes and failures, and we're going to keep at it until we change governments» minds."

Mehdi Bautier