Small political parties and cannabis

EELV (Europe Ecologie Les Verts): 4 primary candidates - in favor of legalization

The four current candidates in the EELV internal primary are Cécile Duflot, Karima Delli, Michèle Rivasi and Yannick Jadot. In the first primary debate, all four candidates answered that they were in favor of legalizing cannabis in France. In short, everyone at EELV is on the same wavelength.

«In Karima Delli's view, »Legalize and regulate, as is the case in many European countries".

«We need a responsible drug policy. And a responsible policy means legalization and a public health policy, as with tobacco and alcohol,» says Cécile Duflot.

Yannick Jadot sees «two issues linked to cannabis»: «addiction and trafficking». «Legalization is the way to solve these problems,» he says.

Finally, Michèle Rivasi is in favor of «legalization, supervision and control».

LO (Lutte Ouvrière) : Nathalie Arthaud - undecided

LO's position on this is not clear-cut. A few years ago, the party published a half-baked note stating that it was difficult to say whether decriminalization would be a real step forward. Nathalie Arthaud recently declared that “repression doesn't work” and that the question of legalization, particularly of cannabis, should not be ruled out, but points out that she is “an anti-drug activist“ and believes that ”young people have better things to do than seek artificial paradises". In short, it's not very clear...

NPA (Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste) : Philippe Poutou - for legalization

Back in 2011, Philippe Poutou and his party came out in favor of legalization, which they see as «the only way to really focus on prevention and harm reduction». The New Anti-Capitalist Party believes that «no longer turning the consumer into a delinquent» is «the prerequisite for any health policy that aims to really help people with their drug use».

PCF (French Communist Party): Pierre Laurent - in favor of decriminalization

The PCF published a charter in 2012 entitled «pour une autre politique des addictions» (for another policy on addictions) in favor of decriminalizing cannabis (but not legalizing it). The possible Communist candidate, Pierre Laurent, interviewed on this subject at the same time, declared that «The question of drug use is a public health problem, not a security problem. The current law, although it aims to limit cannabis consumption, has failed, since France is one of the countries where teenagers consume the most», and declared that he was «in favor of gradually decriminalizing the use» of cannabis, because «repressive methods do not reduce consumption», while advocating «a public health policy of risk education».

PG (Parti de gauche): Jean-Luc Mélenchon - in favor of decriminalization

Jean-Luc Mélenchon described Canada's legalization efforts at length in his blog. But he didn't take a very clear stand one way or the other, either in his program or in his statements, apart from putting forward a criticism of prohibition: “Sometimes, the questions asked are very weighty, particularly with regard to the fear of a shift towards other, harder drugs, on the part of consumers, dealers and mafia networks alike. Personally, I don't believe it. The price and social conditions of use play a major role in consumption. Of course, we also have to consider the impact on road safety. A question that has already been asked. In the final analysis, the experience of alcohol, whose addictive and morbid effects must never be forgotten, shows that prohibition is not the most effective way of controlling risks.“

Nevertheless, he recently declared in early 2016 in an interview for Le Grand Jury RTL/ Le Figaro /LCI «On a personal level, I'm in favor of decriminalizing cannabis. If only to break the back of trafficking.»