While Germany authorizes the consumption and cultivation of cannabis from April 1, where is France? The environmentalist mayor of Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian, also calls for the establishment of a local “experiment” to move away from a repressive French approach with “inconclusive” results.
“In a common living area, we are going to have two different regulations, almost diametrically opposed, between Germany, authorizing the recreational consumption of cannabis, and France, presenting one of the most repressive legislations in Europe,” argues the mayor in an interview with AFP.
“Permanent flows” transiting between the two countries via Strasbourg
“Obviously, it raises questions, and it will not fail to raise questions among the population,” she said, emphasizing the importance of “permanent flows” transiting between the two countries via Strasbourg, a border town whose transport network is extends across the Rhine and brings many users to go there daily, to work or do their shopping.
“The fact that a European country like Germany, committed to public order and public health, decides to change its legislation clearly shows that a purely repressive policy did not seem satisfactory or effective,” continues Jeanne Barseghian. “In my opinion, this should provide food for thought” on French political choices in this area.
“I don’t want Bègles to become the temple of cannabis”
The town of Bègles, near Bordeaux, recalled for its part on Friday that it “has been working for a year to define the contours of a local controlled legalization experiment”. The mayor, also an ecologist, Clément Rossignol-Puech will present the conclusions of this consultation on Wednesday April 10.
This proposal from the mayor of Bègles, which was sent by mail to Emmanuel Macron at the beginning of 2023, is based in particular on a report from Cese (Economic, Social and Environmental Council) which concluded that there should be supervised legalization.
It is “motivated by several factors” indicates the municipality: “reducing the risks associated with consumption by offering known products and less harmful consumption patterns, increasing prevention among the entire population, fighting against trafficking and associated violence, unclog the courts, better support users and reduce consumption…”
“It is not a question of offering self-service cannabis sales, it would be reserved for a certain number of chosen people,” Clément Rossignol-Puech clarified in an interview with 20 minutes in the month of June. I don’t want Bègles to become the temple of cannabis where tourists come to smoke joints, that’s not the idea at all. »
“Cautious approach”
In Germany, people residing in the country for at least six months will be allowed to grow up to three plants at home for their own use, or to obtain up to 50 grams of dried cannabis per month from the new “Cannabis Clubs”. cannabis”, non-profit associations. The mayor of Strasbourg emphasizes that it will be “very supervised, much less permissive than what we can observe in the Netherlands. These clubs will not be places of consumption, there will be no coffee shop. »
Interested in this “cautious approach”, the town hall will “observe what will happen in Germany, what this legislation will generate in terms of uses, security policy, reduction – or not – in traffic, public health “.
The figures of the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction according to which 47.3% of French adults say they have already used cannabis, a higher figure than in any other EU country. France has 5 million cannabis users, according to the French Drug Observatory.