French Parliamentary Group Pushes For Cannabis Legalization
An escalation of violence linked to organized crime in France is leading to calls by a parliamentary group for the European nation to legalize cannabis for adult use. La France Insoumise (LFI) has criticized the government’s current approach to cannabis policy.
“According to the unveiled “fight plan,” the government’s repressive response is not only insufficient, but it fuels insecurity, pushing citizens and officials into a cycle of violence.” stated Newsweed in its local reporting. “LFI advocates for a comprehensive, community-based approach to combating organized crime in France, including the legalization of cannabis.”
LFI’s reported position is that cannabis prohibition is a failed public policy and that leaving the nation’s cannabis market to be controlled by organized crime empowers such entities by giving them a source of revenue from which to fund their activities.
The parliamentary group points out that cannabis prohibition has not reduced cannabis consumption in France, nor has it reduced violence associated with organized crime.
Currently, cannabis is prohibited at the federal level in France, although the nation does have a limited operational medical cannabis experimental program. In March 2021, France launched a limited medical cannabis experiment involving between 2,000 and 3,000 suffering patients to gain insight into crafting national medical cannabis policies and regulations.
The French medical cannabis experiment received initial approval from the federal Senate back in 2019, however, the launch of the trial was delayed until the spring of 2021 due to various reasons. Cannabis producer LaFleur was eventually selected as the cultivator for the program and has supplied participating patients since the launch of the experiment.
Initially slated for two years, France’s medical cannabis experiment was eventually granted a one-year extension and was set to end in 2024. The program is now expected to end in 2025.
According to a recent newsletter sent out by international cannabis economist Beau Whitney of Whitney Economics, France is home to the largest total addressable cannabis market in the European Union with a value of $11.3 billion (midpoint).
“The French government has estimated the number of potential medical patients, if the program expands it could be 320k – 400k patients, whereas the Whitney Economics estimation is 125k – 208k patients.” Whitney stated in his newsletter.