Tribune. In a long interview published by Le Figaro in its edition of April 19, the President of the Republic clarified his conception of public security and the policy he intends to pursue in terms of drugs: eradicate trafficking by all means and fight against the consumption of cannabis, including “Disastrous effects” are believed to be the cause of dropping out of school.
These remarks are obviously oriented by the electoral campaign which is beginning, and they affirm as much a way of governing as slogans for the competition which is emerging. It is against this yardstick that these statements should be analyzed. These come as no surprise to anyone who, like us, has recently been able to see the emergence of a catastrophist vision of cannabis use.
No room for discussion
The maintenance for years of a high level of cannabis consumption (1.4 million regular users in France) could have encouraged the President of the Republic to explore different avenues. This will not be the case.
While all the players in French addictology have long been calling for a public debate on drug policy, Emmanuel Macron affirms both that this “Great debate” will take place, but it is already announcing the conclusions. What is a democratic debate if the objective is simply to endorse the presidential will?
The president leaves no room for an exchange of arguments and, on the basis of his political will alone, asserts above all and only a strengthening of repression. These announcements are all the more surprising since the national representation, through an information mission on the regulation and the impact of the different uses of cannabis, created in January 2020, had taken up the subject of the legal framework of cannabis.
This mission, chaired by the deputy (LR) Robin Reda and whose rapporteurs are the deputy (LRM) Caroline Janvier and the deputy (LRM) Ludovic Mendes, had heard widely, calmly and transparently, and was preparing to hand over its conclusions. It is also probably for this reason that Emmanuel Macron wanted to intervene, to nip in the bud proposals that did not suit him.
Alcohol, the impossible debate
Because it approached the subject in a non-ideological way, this parliamentary mission came to the same conclusion as all addictologists: in the field of cannabis, prohibition is an obvious failure and has the essential effect of fueling the underground economy and mafia networks.
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