Cannabis herb (illustration). – Twitter
It’s a first. A majority of French people (51%) are “rather in favor” of decriminalizing cannabis for the first time since the 1970s, according to an Ifop poll for
CBD-grams.com. They were 43% in 2017, 32% in 1997 and 27% in 1977, specifies Ifop.
In detail, 47% of non-consumers are in favor of decriminalization. In addition, 40% of French people who plan to vote for Marine Le Pen in the 2022 presidential election are also, 19 points more than those who intended to put a Jean-Marie Le Pen ballot in the ballot box in 2002.
Nearly one in two French people for the legalization of cannabis
Also 47% of French people questioned are in favor of legalization, ie authorization of consumption and production within a framework established by law under the terms of Ifop. A study by the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) carried out in December 2018 already showed an inflection of the French on the subject, who declared themselves 45% in favor of legalization.
This was recommended in the summer of 2019 by the Economic Analysis Council, a think tank placed under the authority of the Prime Minister and, in early May, by a parliamentary mission coordinated by LREM MP Caroline Janvier. The announced goal is to counter trafficking and be more efficient in terms of public health.
“A great debate on drug use”
A transpartisan bill aimed at legalizing cannabis was also presented on May 25 by LFI deputy Eric Coquerel. It was co-signed by about fifteen deputies, mainly from the left, but also two belonging to the LREM group, Jean-Baptiste Moreau and Patrick Vignal, and one to the MoDem group, Richard Ramos.
If Emmanuel Macron suddenly proposed, in mid-April to one year before the presidential election, to “launch a major debate on drug consumption”, the executive is opposed to any legalization. Survey conducted by a self-administered online questionnaire from May 11 to 17, with a sample of 2,025 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over according to the quota method.