The hidden war on cannabis: is France being manipulated to fuel prohibition?

In recent weeks, the eternal debate on the legalization of cannabis has resurfaced, giving rise to countless interviews and analyses.

While a growing consensus among specialists underlines the ineffectiveness of prohibition, public and political opinion remains widely divided. The most important factor for those who oppose legalization is not the economic impact or the fight against drug trafficking, but rather the perception of the dangers of cannabis.

But what if this perception were fundamentally flawed, or even deliberately shaped?

The video «INVESTIGATION: The other hidden war of cannabis» from the YouTube channel «L'Argumentarium» takes a look at what it describes as «scientico-political warfare» conducted behind the scenes, where science itself would be «particularly badly treated».

While acknowledging that cannabis is indeed a dangerous psychotropic substance with direct effects, particularly on adolescents, including memory disorders, anxiety, depression, dependence and links to psychosis or schizophrenia, especially in cases of excessive consumption, as well as cardiovascular, pulmonary and carcinogenic risks due to combustion, the video highlights a major inconsistency.

As the Argumentarium explains, substances such as alcohol and tobacco, which are equally dangerous - with alcohol causing 49,000 deaths a year in France and tobacco 78,000, compared with around 100 cannabis-related deaths in 2022 (none directly from overdose) - remain perfectly legal.

The question then becomes: is cannabis really more dangerous than our legal drugs?

In-depth studies carried out over the decades on various indicators such as mortality, dependence potential, neurotoxicity, social risks and cost to society have consistently placed cannabis at the bottom or in the middle of the ranking of dangerous substances, with alcohol almost always occupying first place.

The video reveals that despite these findings, a 2021 survey shows that 75 % to 90 % of French people are aware of the negative consequences of cannabis, but a 2015 study by Linermont indicates a «totally skewed perception», With 75 % to 85 % of those surveyed believing that cannabis is as dangerous as, or even more dangerous than, alcohol and tobacco.

Even in the medical world, a Dr Olivier Bertrand published in 2018 concluded that cannabis suffered from a «totally overestimated negative perception bias» among many French doctors. This overestimation of danger is the main driving force behind opposition to legalization.

Where does this prejudice come from? The video explores the ongoing opposition of institutions such as the prestigious Académie de Médecine, which regularly issues alarming press releases against legalization, citing serious public health problems.

These arguments, apparently backed up by scientific studies, are essential to fuel the prohibitionist discourse. The documentary highlights the relentless efforts of personalities such as the Dr Jean Constentin, a leading member of the French Academy of Medicine and Pharmacy, who spent two decades at the forefront of the fight against the decriminalization of cannabis and played a decisive role in developing the «scientific counter-argument».

The video suggests that in this «information war», «liberties are sometimes taken with science», indicating that supporters of prohibition might «regularly distort scientific data to demonize cannabis», by selectively choosing publications, This approach is identified as a typical example of «motivated reasoning». This approach is identified as a typical example of "motivated reasoning".

Finally, the video explores the ideological underpinnings of this position, revealing a growing conservative rigidity among prohibitionists, who often oppose addictologists advocating harm reduction policies.

She suggests that this group has put forward arguments which, although presented as scientific, have served to conceal the real dangers of cannabis from health professionals and the general public, thus contributing to a considerable delay in the implementation of harm reduction policies in France.

The video finally encourages viewers to be attentive to the way in which scientific knowledge is used in the service of political discourse and to learn to distinguish genuine scientific discoveries from ideological arguments, calling for a transition to a truly science-based policy.

And we invite you to take a look at it in the article 🙂