cannabis

A report commissioned by the French government recommends dropping criminal prosecution of cannabis users and introducing fixed fines instead in order to relieve the bureaucracy involved in sanctioning an estimated 1.4 million people who use the drug, and who currently face a maximum sentence of one year in prison.

For many years successive French governments have opposed the decriminalisation of cannabis, unlike many other countries. However, France did recently bring in on-the-spot police fines in a bid to simplify procedures and avoid lengthy and costly court cases for cannabis users. However, this new approach will not end the disparities and lack of coherence in the existing repressive policy, under which prosecution for using cannabis depends as much on who you are and where you live as on what you smoke. Michaël Hajdenberg reports.

No arrests were made when the drugs were found in vans parked in the 16th arrondissement in bags containing resin blocks of around 25 kilos.

The drug bust, which followed months of investigation, found 5.6 tonnes in a villa in the southern port city and another 150kg in a nearby car.

French scientists have found that a naturally-occurring hormone acts as spontaneous defense in the brain against the 'high' caused by marijuana.

The American singer-songwriter was 'blackballed' because of his anti-war activism during the Vietnam War and his cannabis use.