At a time when several countries are taking the step of – supervised – legalization of cannabis, the town of Bègles, in the suburbs of Bordeaux (Gironde), is positioning itself to test an experiment in this area. The reflection was launched by the mayor of this town of 30,000 inhabitants, the ecologist Clément Rossignol-Puech, more than a year ago now.
A few days ago, he presented, during a public meeting, the results of a study and the outlines that this experiment could take. However, it will have to be validated at the highest level of the State, which is, for the moment, far from being achieved. The mayor of Bègles answered questions from 20 minutes.
In 2023, you launched the idea of an experiment on the legalization of cannabis in Bègles. Where are you today?
For a year, we worked with a Béglais citizens’ committee – made up of volunteer residents chosen at random, professionals (doctors, addictologists, sociologists, etc.) and local and national elected officials. The objective was to think together about what this territorial experiment with the controlled legalization of cannabis consumption could be. On April 10, we presented the outlines of this experiment.
So what form could it take?
It would be very supervised. A panel of one hundred Béglais, representative of Béglais sociology and types of consumers – from heavy to occasional consumers – would be recruited for a period of five years, and would be authorized to consume cannabis in dedicated, discreet places in town. , or at their home. But not in public spaces. They would have neither the right to resell nor the right to give away. In this dedicated place, they would buy [à un prix inférieur à celui du marché] cannabis flowers, produced in New Aquitaine.
A maximum quantity of cannabis would be allocated to each person, based on their profile, and consumption would be in the form of vaporization, therefore without tobacco, to limit the health harm linked to combustion. Medical monitoring of this panel would be set up to study consumption practices, by a multidisciplinary team. At the same time, educational prevention campaigns would be set up in middle schools, high schools and public spaces, to avoid consumption.
Why do you want to carry out this experiment in Bègles?
The objective of my approach is to regulate consumption, to reduce the risks and, ultimately, bring it down, particularly among the youngest. The challenge is also to break up traffic. The way we have approached cannabis in France since the 1970s, solely through repression, is a failure. France is the leading European consumer, with one million daily consumers, five million regulars. More than one in two French people have already used cannabis. It is a substance that appears in the lives of French people very early, from middle school. Consumption is growing and fueling the trafficking that we, the mayors, are faced with, including in Bègles.
At the same time, consumers do not have control over the products (traceability, harmfulness, etc.), particularly the amount of THC [molécule responsable des effets psychotropes] that they contain. So, either we continue to say that the solution is repression, but it is clear that for fifty years it has not worked, or we say to ourselves that we try something else. Which has been proven for alcohol and tobacco.
We still hear fears that Bègles will attract consumers with this system…
People do not want Bègles to become a tourist place around cannabis, like Amsterdam, and I understand them. This is not at all what I want, so we reassure them. Even if there are people who don’t agree, people mainly come to talk to me about it with curiosity, there is no aggression on the subject.
What’s next for your experimental proposal?
There are still elements to finalize, and we continue to collect support for our approach. I even have local elected officials who are interested in reproducing this experiment in their municipality. Then I will contact the President of the Republic by this summer.
When we see the communication at the moment around the “clearance” operations against drug trafficking, we say to ourselves that the timing is not very favorable for your proposal?
Emmanuel Macron was rather open on the question of a debate on cannabis during his campaign in 2017, it is true that today he is more on the line of the Minister of the Interior, which is that of repression. Which is a caricature. At some point, repression is needed to break up trafficking when it becomes untenable, but all the national reports produced on the issue conclude that cannabis should be legalized.
Germany also legalized the consumption of cannabis on April 1, in a very regulated manner. How do you view what is happening across the Rhine?
Many countries are taking the plunge. Switzerland has also opened an experiment in certain urban areas since January 1. In Germany, the system is different from what I am proposing, since you must first register in a club, which allows you to grow, either in this club or at home, up to three plants. You are allowed to buy cannabis, on a limited basis, in these clubs, and to carry a small quantity with you.
This poses a question to the mayor of Strasbourg, knowing that she has a cross-border tram that connects her city to the German city of Kehl, located just on the other side of the Rhine, where cannabis is now legal. This is an untenable situation. This is why it also asks, rightly, to experiment with legalization on its territory, but more on the German model.
You are not the first elected official in France to want to carry out an experiment on cannabis. What can tip the scales in your favor this time?
This is the first time that a local elected official has submitted a complete report after consulting residents and experts, and has proposed something turnkey. There have indeed been positions taken by certain mayors in the past, but in the form of forums. This is concrete, even if the project would certainly be reviewed by the Regional Health Agency. If it were to see the light of day, it would be up to the State to finance such an experiment, which I estimate at around one million euros per year. But all this will take time, I am well aware of that…