«Big Marijuana, when dealing becomes legal»: the book based on the documentary

Whether you were one of the first viewers of the documentary «When the deal is legal» broadcast on Arte on April 2 or not (in which case it's available on Arte TV until June 29), the documentary is now being extended by the book «Big Marijuana, quand le deal devient légal», by the same authors.

In particular, the book allows us to go beyond the video format and bring together more of the encounters experienced by the filmmakers during the preparation and shooting of the documentary.

Published in mid-May, Stéphanie Loridon and Xavier Deleu's investigation is based on the premise that repressive policies no longer work. They went to the pioneering states of cannabis legalization to study their models, results and reactions.

More and more governments break with fifty years of repressive drug policy, costly and ineffective. They are abandoning the policy of criminalization to intervene in the cannabis market, regulating its operation, starting with Uruguay in 2013. In place of the black market run by increasingly powerful criminal organizations, they are attempting to replace it with a legal, safe and virtuous supply for the community.

If the repressive policies have shown their limits, The legalization of cannabis raises new challenges in terms of public health, ethics and economic and commercial logic.

This international survey allows us to consider the many facets and consequences of opening up a legal market, based on the first concrete examples. And the list of questions that emerge is far from exhaustive.... with one main question in mind: who benefits from the cannabis legalization ?

Available in bookshops everywhere for €17.95.