"Legalization of Cannabis in France": New Book Reopens Debate Between Public Health and Tackling the Black Market

Despite the ongoing ban on cannabis in France, the country continues to record among the highest consumption rates in Europe, with one in two adults aged 18 to 64 reporting in 2023 that they had used cannabis at least once. Against this backdrop, the debate persists between defenders of maintaining prohibition and advocates of legalization, who see it as a means to regulate consumption, reduce health harms, and combat illicit trafficking networks.

In this context, a new book has been published titled "Legalization of Cannabis in France: What Are the Impacts on Consumers and Society?", a collective work supervised by researcher and sociologist Sarah Perrin from the Émile Durkheim Centre, in collaboration with Kaylig Perrot, a student specializing in the management of health and social institutions. The book seeks to move beyond the traditional debate over the principle of legalization itself, focusing instead on the social, legal, and health impacts of various potential regulatory models for the sector.

Legalization Does Not Necessarily Mean Full Deregulation

The authors emphasize that the concept of legalization is not limited to granting legal permission for consumption; it encompasses diverse regulatory choices, ranging from opening the market to private operators or establishing a state monopoly, to adopting cooperative models, or implementing strictly controlled limited experiments.

Canadian researcher François Gagnon, a specialist in drug policy, points out that international experiences do not offer a single blueprint, but rather reveal divergent approaches reflecting varying balances between market logic and public health imperatives.

While a framework aimed at eradicating the black market strives to provide an attractive and accessible legal product to consumers, protecting public health requires imposing restrictions on promoting consumption and limiting product appeal—potentially creating a contradiction between the two objectives.

Lessons from the U.S. Experience

The book examines the experience of the U.S. state of Colorado, one of the earliest jurisdictions to legalize adult-use cannabis. Legalization led to the emergence of a broad legal market, contributing to increased tax revenues and the creation of new employment opportunities.

However, the authors caution against the potential side effects of certain regulatory choices. High taxes may drive a segment of consumers to remain in the illicit market, while limited or high-cost licensing can concentrate economic activity in the hands of a few players, opening the door to monopolies.

The book argues that legalization does not eliminate market mechanisms; rather, it reshapes them within a new legal framework that may sometimes entrench existing economic disparities.

Morocco: A Model of Partial Legalization

Among the case studies examined is that of Morocco, which has permitted the cultivation and exploitation of cannabis for medical and industrial purposes since 2021, while maintaining the criminalization of recreational use.

Researcher Kenza Afsahi explains that this reform created a new legal sector without causing the traditional consumer market to disappear. She adds that partial legalization does not automatically resolve the question of who is entitled to produce, sell, or economically benefit from the sector, but instead redraws the boundaries between licit and illicit activities.

Consumers Are Not a Monolithic Group

Drawing a comparison between France and the Canadian province of Quebec, Sarah Perrin stresses that cannabis consumers do not form a homogeneous social group. Modes of consumption, motivations, and social circumstances vary from person to person, as do the impacts of prohibition on them.

According to this analysis, the debate should not be confined solely to the ability to purchase cannabis legally, but must also encompass conditions of access to information, health services, protection mechanisms, and supportive care.

Public Health at the Core of the Debate

The public health dimension forms one of the central pillars of the book. Addiction psychiatrist Marc Auriacombe and researcher Fuchsia Serre emphasize the need to distinguish between consumption and addiction, noting that using a substance with addictive properties does not necessarily lead to addiction.

Conversely, the authors do not overlook the recognized risks associated with cannabis, such as impacts on memory, attention, and reaction time, as well as an increased likelihood of experiencing anxiety, psychotic episodes, and dependence, particularly with frequent or early-onset use.

The book argues that public responses must address the diversity of situations through prevention, awareness, harm reduction, and treatment, rather than relying exclusively on a framework of prohibition and punishment. It also warns that the social stigma resulting from prohibition can deter some consumers from seeking help or accessing support services.

Criticism of Punitive Policies

On the legal front, former judge Kim Reuflet examines the limitations of the fixed fine system imposed for drug use offenses, which has become a cornerstone of French policy to curb consumption.

Data presented in the book indicates that 161,000 fixed fines were issued in France during 2023 for violations related to the use of various types of illicit drugs. These penalties are imposed directly by police and gendarmerie officers without prior judicial review, which Reuflet considers an insufficient form of judicial oversight.

The magistrate also raises questions regarding the consistency of how these penalties are applied across different regions, given the limited resources available to public prosecutors to effectively oversee their implementation.

Calls for Field Trials Before Any Sweeping Decisions

In the book's conclusion, Kaylig Perrot urges against treating legalization as an end in itself, but rather as a regulatory tool that should serve clear objectives, foremost among them the reduction of health and social harms.

He proposes adopting an adaptable experimental model subject to ongoing evaluation, drawing inspiration from ongoing trials in Switzerland, which have permitted pilot projects to test legal sales channels for cannabis before deciding whether to expand them on a broader scale.

Questions Without Final Answers

Despite the broad range of scientific, legal, and economic contributions, the book does not claim to offer definitive solutions to all raised issues. Fundamental questions remain unresolved, including how to price products competitively against the black market without encouraging consumption, the role of independent producers, the regulatory limits on products and permissible THC levels, and how to prevent commercial interests from overriding public health goals.

In this regard, the primary value of the book lies in shifting the debate from the question of "Should cannabis be legalized or not?" to a deeper inquiry concerning the type of public policy required, the safeguards that must be established, and the objectives that any potential legalization process in France should accomplish.

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