French mayor suggests testing legalisation of cannabis

The mayor of Strasbourg (Grand Est) has said she is in favour of introducing “a local experiment” to legalise personal cannabis use in her city, after neighbouring country Germany legalised the drug.

Germany legalised cannabis - under strict regulations - on April 1. Now (April 2), Mayor of Strasbourg Jeanne Barseghian has said that she is prepared to be “pragmatic” on the issue, and “look at it without dogma”.

“My suggestion is to be able to test a local experiment in the city of Strasbourg, which borders Germany, to enable all or some of the measures that apply in Germany to be applied,” she told FranceInfo.

"The German law which has just come into force is very strict. So it will limit and prohibit a form of recreational tourism.”

Border crossings

She said that the location of Strasbourg on the German border requires a certain pragmatism, as it is an area where people cross the border daily. 

“Thousands of people cross from one side of the Rhine to the other every day and there are also 3,000 French people living in Kehl, the neighbouring German town,” said Ms Barseghian. “So this is first and foremost an experiment that I am asking for on a pragmatic basis.”

However, she said: “I cannot decide this myself at a local level, but I want to start thinking about it with the French government and the Agence régionale de Santé.”

‘Repressive laws are not working’

The mayor said that the current “very repressive” laws in France were “not working from a public health point of view”. “France is one of the largest consumers [of cannabis] in Europe, despite its highly security-focused policies,” she said.

Read more: Cannabis should be legal but controlled in France, says MP

Ms Barseghian added that her city is “more focused on reducing addiction” and supporting people with addiction, rather than taking a harsh stance.

She said: "Today, repressive policies generate delinquency, black markets and, above all, very high levels of unsupervised drug use, which is a real public health problem.”

“I want to view this without dogma and look at what has just been put forward in Germany so that we can test it on a small scale in France,” she said. 

“It is strange to live [so close to each other] in an area that has two such diametrically-opposed regulations .”

‘War on cannabis has failed’

It comes after public body Le Conseil économique, social et environnemental (CESE) said in a report last year (March 2023) that France’s war on recreational cannabis use has “failed and should be abandoned”.

“Despite the implementation of a prohibition system over 50 years ago - one of the most repressive in Europe - France is the EU country which has the highest proportion of drug users,” it said.

Around 45% of people aged 15 to 64 in France have used cannabis at least once, compared to 27% across the EU, it said.

Read more: French MPs hit out against proposed legalisation of cannabis

The CESE called for production regulation, with “complete and transparent traceability from seed to consumption”. It is also in favour of introducing limits on volumes, and a focus on organic agriculture. 

The public body also suggests creating a tax to fund “prevention and care, cannabis research, redeveloping neighbourhoods, and supporting people who have suffered the consequences of trafficking”.