Just a joint. (drawing) – KONRAD K./SIPA
- In an interview given this Monday to Figaro, the Head of State underlines the need to “eradicate by all means” drug trafficking, in order to “reduce delinquency everywhere”.
- While French legislation is already one of the most repressive, the president believes that it is necessary “to go even further, to raise awareness”.
- A very political position deplored by elected officials from all sides.
At the time, Emmanuel Macron was “not against”. In September 2016, a few days after leaving Bercy, the one who was not yet a presidential candidate was not closed to the idea of legalizing cannabis in France. A measure, he recognized, which presents a “form of effectiveness” to fight in particular against “delinquency in difficult neighborhoods”. Elected President of the Republic in 2017, Emmanuel Macron seems to have radically changed his mind on the issue. In a long interview with Figaro this Monday, he underlines the need to “eradicate by all means” drug trafficking, in order to “reduce delinquency everywhere”.
Accused by the right of not doing enough on security issues, the head of state is toughening up his tone for 2022 and praising the results of the actions launched by the government to fight against exploding cannabis consumption. “70,000 fixed tort fines have been drawn up since last September”, he welcomes, and “more than 1,000” punch “operations have been carried out in recent weeks” against one of the points of deal listed by the ministry of the Interior. For Aurélien Taché, ex-LREM deputy for Val-d’Oise, these statements show above all that Emmanuel Macron “has definitely sided with the conservatives and is now opening his campaign [pour 2022] to the right any ”.
Emmanuel Macron “starts again the mistakes made for thirty years”
It must be said that the president takes the opposite view of other countries, such as the United States or Canada, which have relaxed their legislation in recent years. While France severely reprimands drug consumption and trafficking, Emmanuel Macron believes that it is necessary “to go even further, to raise awareness”. For the deputy LFI of Seine-Saint-Denis Eric Coquerel, Emmanuel Macron “starts again the mistakes made for thirty years”. Despite the repression, recalls the elected official in a press release, France is “European champion of the consumption of ever more toxic cannabis”. “And the traffic keeps increasing. “After the police operations of the last few days, the points of deals” have just moved or, at best, have been temporarily interrupted “, he notes.
If the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, is a past master in the art of staging the seizure of narcotics, the seizure figures nevertheless illustrate the limits of police operations to bring down trafficking. According to our information, 96.5 tonnes of resin and cannabis herb were seized in 2020 by the police, the gendarmerie and customs. A straw, compared to
360 tons of cannabis imported into France each year. In private, the police do not hide it, they have “the impression of trying to empty the sea with a teaspoon”.
Each year, however, the State spends 568 million euros to fight against cannabis, including 70% devoted to the actions of the police and 20% to the judicial and penitentiary services, indicated in 2019 a note of the Council of economic analysis (CAE) which pointed to the “failure” of the repression. For this group of economists attached to Matignon, legalizing cannabis would create between 27,500 and 80,000 jobs and generate tax revenues of 2 to 2.8 billion euros. “If you legalize cannabis, you finance the State which would need these revenues to renovate hospitals, invest in these neighborhoods so that there are a little less difficulties, or help students”, also assures Aurélien Taché at 20 minutes.
“One of the best ways to fight against the dangers” of cannabis
At the National Assembly, a fact-finding mission looked into the issue of the legalization of cannabis and heard from dozens of experts. A report is due in early May. Thematic rapporteur of the mission, LREM deputy from Loiret Caroline Janvier, hopes that the publication of this document will “perhaps make Emmanuel Macron change his mind”, who also announced in Le Figaro “The holding of a major debate on this subject”. “From the moment we open a debate on a subject, it means that we are ready to hear arguments from different sides,” she explains to 20 minutes.
“This can be an opportunity for people who consider legalization to be the trivialization or promotion of cannabis to change their minds and see that it is one of the best ways to fight against the dangers. intrinsic to cannabis, and those created by prohibition and its ban, ”she continues. For his part, Aurélien Taché does not believe “absolutely that this debate can lead to something which would aim to go in the direction of legalization”. According to him, “Emmanuel Macron has decided to completely abandon progressivism”.