More than one in two French people want cannabis legislation to be discussed during the presidential campaign, according to an Ipsos poll.
“We cannot forever dismiss the debate with the back of the hand” on cannabis, declared Marisol Touraine during the ten years of the Young Consumers Consultations (CJC) held at the Ministry of Health on October 7. While refraining from taking a clear position, the Minister reflected with these words an opinion that now seems to be in the majority among the population: we must talk about cannabis.
A survey carried out by Ipsos for SOS Addiction, Sciences Po and the CNAM (National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts) is presented this Monday in the Senate, during a conference entitled “Legalization of cannabis: Europe is condemned to the dead end ? “. It highlights a rather new trend in French public opinion.
An ineffective law
The work, carried out on a sample of 1097 people representative of the French population, first reveals that the participants consider that the current law which prohibits the consumption and trade of cannabis in France is massively ineffective. Thus, 84% of them believe that it does not limit the traffic and use of this product – and this, all ages combined.
“With such a majority, political decision-makers cannot ignore the need to find solutions to limit consumption and trafficking,” commented the doctors who present this survey, Didier Jayle *, William Lowenstein *, Henri Bergeron * and Bertrand Dautzenberg * .
Authorize consumption
In addition, half of the French (50%) are in favor of an authorization to consume cannabis, except for minors and driving. Respondents therefore vote in favor of decriminalizing the use of cannabis – which in fact implies amending the law. The under 35s and 35-59s are mostly in favor (54%) of an authorization to consume, while those over 60 are more reluctant, with 36% of positive responses.
These results contradict all the polls conducted previously on the question. A sign, perhaps, that the recent positions taken by doctors and politicians in favor of a change in the law have gained ground in public opinion.
As for legalization, for the first time it also arouses a favorable opinion, without one really being able to conclude to a clear-cut opinion. A small majority (52%) of French people believe that the sale of cannabis under the control of the State (legalization model) would be more effective than prohibition (current model) in the fight against trafficking. Here too, the 16-60 age group more favorable than the 60 and over age group (55% against 41%), and a stronger representation of executives (60%) and intermediate professions (66%).
“This answer is the beginning of the adhesion to the thesis: to legalize = to break the traffic. This is completely new in public opinion, and it occurs even before a real debate has settled in the country, ”note the doctors.
Political debate
If it remains, to this day, impossible to know what exactly the opinion wants, the survey shows a strong desire to debate cannabis and its legal framework. Thus, 52% of those polled want the subject to interfere in the 2017 presidential campaign. Those under 35 are this time more reluctant (44%) than the oldest (52 and 62%). “Younger people seem less confident in the political class,” suggest the doctors.
Finally, the survey shows that these positions are not those of consumers in need of a more permissive system. The prevalence of use is certainly high among respondents – one in four “admits” to having smoked cannabis before – but it refers to a long-standing use. Only 4% of respondents have smoked in the past 12 months.
“The responses to this survey are a strong argument for opening a real political debate on the revision of the prohibition of cannabis and analyzing the experience of countries which have decriminalized or legalized in order to control, with pragmatism, both the consumption than trafficking ”, conclude the doctors.
* Didier Jayle, addictologist at CNAM, former president of Mildeca (ex Mildt), William Lowenstein, president of SOS Addictions, Henri Bergeron, sociologist, researcher at CNRS, Bertrand Dautzenberg, pulmonologist at Pitié-Salpêtrière
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