Proprietorship and consumption of marijuana have been felonious laws since the 1970s in France and from then on the laws have been strictly reinforced. This prohibition was put in place with an intention to rehabilitate consumers and avert them towards good health. At the same time, the government was also trying to disentangle the connectivity of drug smugglers and traffickers in the state during that period.
With time, this law became a permanent law and police officers started putting it into action.
To date, France is well known in Europe for having the most rigid law on record. Regardless of all these laws, the French consume approximately 30 tons of marijuana in a month, making them top consumers in Europe in terms of the amount it uses as compared to other states. The ban on marijuana in France has caused problems such as ferocity, peeved customers, adultered products, roaring bootleg, imprisonment of consumers and patients who are not using it as a better alternative for their treatment.
A few French politicians have made an effort to get rid of the law of prohibition of marijuana. An MP by the name Esther Benbassa bestowed a bill to Senate regarding the issue of legalization of cannabis but it was firmly repudiated. The current president of France, Emmanuel Macron, paused at some point during his campaign to choose between decriminalization and legalization. Despite the hesitation, he finally settled on levying any person consuming or is in possession of the plant.
The Home Minister of France at the moment, Gerard Collomb, made it known to the public that on May 2017, the fine will be in place soon enough. Later on that year at around September, the French citizens realized that the matter was pending since the government was waiting to hear expert testimony before concluding on how to implement the fine.
Since the matter was not officially announced to the citizens, it was only a plea from the pro-cannabis organizations and harm-reduction activists that the latter were added to the hearing. They had clearly not been short-listed in the original diary for the meeting.
The commission then went ahead and released a report that has caused concern among stakeholders in favor of marijuana law reform since the alleged report appeals that the fine should be levied systematically for any simple use in public while retaining the possibility of criminal prosecution too.
The bipartisan MPs rapporteurs of the bill, Poulliat, and Reda, only fine consumers twice under this legalization submission. Consumers earlier on faced criminal charges only before the proposal was made. In accordance with the proposal, consumers are fined and may still stand chances of facing criminal prosecution. A prediction of the amount of the fine be was posted on Justice’s evolution program from 2018 to 2022.Despite the fact that French officials’ talks revolve around decriminalization, nearly 52%of French citizens do not think is not enough because all they want is legalization.
