Catherine Conconne wants to protect young people from the «scourge» of cannabis

Edito. Catherine Conconne, Martinique's PS representative in the French Senate, voted last Thursday in favor of the introduction of a fixed fine for drug users. As she declared after the vote, «our duty is to hit the wallet to make people understand that cannabis is not a neutral substance».

Ms. Conconne's arguments highlight two laudable objectives:

• protecting young people from the «scourge» of cannabis
• avoid the onset of schizophrenia, which she attributes in part to cannabis

If Ms Conconne really wanted to protect young people, she should work a little harder on her subject.

Youth protection

Ms Conconne intends to protect young people from the «scourge» of cannabis by making adults of full age subject to fines public use (possession or consumption) of cannabis. And therein lies the rub: the fixed fine is not designed to punish minors, who are effectively excluded from the scheme.

So how does it really intend to protect young people? It's all a mystery. But the political rhetoric works well, as shown by the minutes of the committee meeting at which her speech was greeted with «thunderous applause».

Schizophrenia

Linking cannabis use to schizophrenia is another argument that works. Who would want their child to fall ill after using any substance? But the reality of the subject is more complex.

At the outset, there are two opposing views on the subject: is cannabis the cause of schizophrenia or merely a trigger?

After a review of the most advanced studies on the subject, the National Drug Strategy Australian concluded that (p.32) «the notion that cannabis is sufficient to cause schizophrenia is unlikely. Even psychotic episodes precipitated by high doses of cannabis always resolve with cessation, and few regular or heavy users are diagnosed with schizophrenia. Cannabis is likely to interact with various risk factors, genetic or personal variables, probably over several years. In combination with strong risk factors such as genetic predisposition, even modest use of cannabis or other psychoactive drugs may be enough to trigger schizophrenia. Where other risks are lower, a gradual decline towards excessive cannabis use linked to the known risk of using cannabis to compensate for a negative state of mind and poor social interaction seems more plausible. It should be remembered that this applies to other drugs such as alcohol or amphetamines, and in particular to polyuse.»

The study also points out that, despite worldwide increases in THC levels and cannabis consumption, schizophrenia prevalence rates have not risen.

Other studies have also concluded that the anti-psychotic properties of cannabidiol (CBD).

A controversial personality

The 1st Vice-President of the Martinique Region and Senator Catherine Conconne has been implicated and indicted for misappropriation of public funds and misuse of corporate assets. In March 2014, she was also ordered by the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Fort-de-France to pay €328,324.92 to the company «Perrinon Invest», to which she had not paid rent for the premises of her shoe store.

Following her indictment, she submitted a letter of resignation in which she acknowledged having received a loan from «Vedettes Maninas», a private transport company with a public service mission, managed by her husband and subsidized by the regional council. This letter of resignation was refused by the president of the regional council, even though it was not within his remit to do so. Some don't hesitate to denounce corrupt practices.

Another aspect of the Senator's personality is her aggressive, sometimes vulgar communication. On his Facebook, she has no hesitation in calling her political opponents and their messages »scatterbrained» and «gutter scum». She also portrayed the CTM union strikes as conspiracies, and described opposition leader Daniel Marie-Sainte as a «dog in a man's clothing» and a «donkey's back engineer». These vindictive practices do not raise the level of debate.

If only all the Conconne women in the world could join hands... and overcome their prejudices...

In her speech to the Senate, Ms Conconne declared that «a drug is a drug» and that she would not give in to «candor» and «angelism». Controlled regulation has nothing to do with candor or angelism. Certain medicines, alcohol and cigarettes are drugs. Yet they are treated differently. This kind of discourse reiterates a policy of confrontation and a retrograde position that refuses to open up public debate and discussion possible alternatives to prohibition costly and inefficient.

Yet the objectives of regulation and prohibition are not mutually exclusive. Regulation makes it possible to control the quality of cannabis to prevent the addition of toxic substances, to measure cannabinoid levels and to control legal access to the product for minors. On this point, Catherine Conconne's speech focuses on the protection of young people, even though the fixed fine does not apply to minors and will therefore have no deterrent effect on this segment of the population. These contradictions show that political reflection on the question of cannabis in France has not been thorough, and that discussions are largely influenced by a series of tenacious prejudices.

Aurélien BERNARD and Camille LEZAUN.