By Benjie Cooper
IG: @nuglifenews
YouTube: Lucid’s Vlog
On May 7, the French people elected 39-year-old former investment banker Emmanuel Macron as their new president. A newcomer to any political office, he’s the country’s youngest leader since Napoleon and is promising to move past the traditional left-right paradigm in hopes of bringing people together.
While running for office, Macron promised the French people that he would reform the country’s current cannabis laws if he were elected. Marine Le Pen of the Front National party was the only one out of the five candidates in the race who did not support an easing of the country’s current policies. Now, not even a month into his term, it looks like the new president is going to be making good on his campaign promise. An announcement was made on May 26 via Macron’s official website, www.elysee.fr, that legislation to end prison time for cannabis would be a reality by the end of the year.
Cannabis is currently illegal in the European Union, but many countries in the group take a more relaxed stance on the plant. Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania went with decriminalization rather than continuing with a policy of incarceration. The new president believes that France’s current system is wasting time and resources.
Government spokesperson, Christophe Castaner says, “Last year, 180,000 people were found to be in violation of drug laws. On average, these cases take up to six hours of police time and the same amount for the presiding magistrate. Is the system effective? No…what is important today is to be efficient and above all, to free up time for our police so they can focus more on essential matters.” The current punishment for anyone caught using cannabis is a fine of up to €3,750 ($4,200) and up to a year in jail.
A 2014 study by the French Observatory for Drug Use and Addiction showed that 17 million French citizens had used cannabis at some point in their lives and 700,000 used the plant daily.
While the new laws will be written to abolish prison time for marijuana, they will not decriminalize its possession or use. According to Castaner, President Macron does not want to reopen the decriminalization debate because “consuming drugs remains serious and is dangerous to health.”
Although police unions are supportive of the new legislation, as they feel it would help them focus on more important matters, some French magistrates aren’t as open to the idea. They do not believe that the reform will change much or help alleviate congestion in the courts. With updated laws, people might still be paying fines, but France’s prison system would see a decrease in its population.
Cannabis has been illegal in France since 1925, and pharmacies no longer carried it after 1953 so eliminating prison sentences would be a significant crack in the country’s marijuana laws. Government resources will be able to be freed up and allocated to more important issues, and people can continue to be productive members of society. Because smoking marijuana doesn’t make anyone a bad person, it just makes them a criminal when it’s against the law.
Macron’s mind is on the right track, but based on his stance on decriminalization, it appears that he could benefit from a more extensive cannabis education. Removing the threat of incarceration is a good first step, but it shouldn’t stop there. As more countries around the world abolish cannabis prohibition, the new administration’s turning “no prison for pot” into law could become France’s first step down the path toward eventual decriminalization or legalization.
