In France, the topic of the legalization of soft drugs remained closed for discussion for a long time.
In 1953, Paris signed the Geneva Convention prohibiting the use of cannabis as a medicinal product. Its sale, distribution, transportation and import were also declared illegal.
More than half a century later, in France, cannabis derivatives were still allowed to be used as medicines, which began to be given to patients strictly according to doctors' prescriptions.
And in 2018, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines in France began experiments on the therapeutic effects of cannabis on the human body. More than 3 thousand people with diseases of the nervous system, epilepsy, spasmodic pain, multiple sclerosis received cannabis preparations in the form of dried leaves, herbal teas, and vegetable oils.
The experiment was expected to be completed in 2020, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was extended until the end of 2021.
The result is that France has become the European leader in cannabis consumption: almost a million French people use the drug every day, 18 million people, according to numerous surveys, have experimented with marijuana at least once in their lives, reports Le Parisien.
Even fines do not change the situation. For the use of marijuana without a prescription, a person must pay 200 to the treasury. The toughest laws apply to those who grow or distribute drugs – the accused face up to 30 years in prison and thousands of fines. And during the next presidential race, each candidate for the post of head of state threatens to further tighten the laws for the use and distribution of drugs.
