The Legal Situation
In France, the law makes no distinction between soft and hard drugs. Using hemp can be punished by one year of prison or else by up to ten years if in possession of 20 g of haschisch. In fact this law, voted in the 1970, is not enforced very strictly, but the judicial system must rather often deal with hemp "crimes" ; in 1996 there were 51`000 judicial procedures against hash consumers, 22% more than in 1995.

The Frenchmen and Hemp
Legally the use of hemp remains unacceptable but what is its status among the French society. 22 years ago, in 1976, "the call of the joint" signed by some French celebrities started the debate over the legal status of hemp. Since this date many studies have been conducted but the law has not changed. A study, conducted by the IFOP and the "Evenement du Jeudi" last year obtained interesting conclusions on the attitude of the French towards hemp. Three questions were asked to a sample of 925 representative people of the French society. According to the results,14% of French, or one in seven, have already smoked hemp, 12% of young of 11 to 18 and 30% from 18 to 24 years of age declare having smoked a joint. Nevertheless, in general, the population remains opposed to drugs: 58% of Frenchmen think that one should not make a distinction between hard drugs and soft drugs and 64% are against the legalization of soft drugs.

For a Legal Change
Even if most Frenchmen are against changes in the law, a significant minority (32%) is favorable to the legalization of soft drugs. What are their arguments ? The supporters of hemp show the advantages of the Netherlands’ system. In the Netherlands the government continues its fight against hard drugs but the sale of hemp is authorized since 1976. There, the consumption of hemp is not more elevated than elsewhere and has not risen since 15 years. In addition the consumption of hard drugs touches fewer people; 1.6 on 1000 against 2.4 on 1000 Frenchmen. Concerning the effects on the health, many studies have shown that hemp is less offensive than tobacco or alcohol and that it can be beneficial to the victims of certain diseases. At the beginning of last year many states in the U.S.A. have introduced the medical usage of hemp to fight against the side effects of cancer and AIDS treatments and to calm pain caused by other diseases. The opponents of the drug worry that the use of hemp will lead to the consumption of hard drugs such as heroine and cocaine but a study from the General Health Direction concluded that only 5% of hemp smokers come to use heroine and these people have fragile personalities and they would have had problems with drugs anyway - hemp being legal or not. Another argument touches the drug criminality question. Many partisans of a change in the law have upheld the opinion that by legalizing hemp the governments could take the criminals’ control of the distribution and the quality of these substances. In addition, the introduction of a tax on the sale of hemp would provide much money to fight against narcotics traffic and drug addiction.

A Legal Change
In spite of many studies which favored a change in the law most Frenchmen remain opposed at the same time to the legalization of hemp. Why ? It seems that many people are convinced by the arguments of political figures, in particular the members of the Front National who remain totally opposed to drugs. They suggest that using hemp is dangerous for the health and that it leads to the consumption of hard drugs. In addition many point out that we already have enough problems with alcohol and tobacco that it would be madness to allow the use of another substance. If we legalized hemp it would be necessary to introduce laws against driving under the influence and against sales to minors. For some, the subject has become a debate of morality. The president of the French Alliance against addiction declared that: "Under the influence of hemp the subject can not distinguish what is real and what is not. This confusion concerns also the good and the bad concerning the personal and social responsibility. Hemp is also a danger for human liberty".

Conclusion
The debate on the future of hemp has become a controversial subject and in spite of the intention of Lionel Jospin to revise the law of 1970, it seems unprobable to me that the government can introduce changes in the law facing the public opposition against hemp. Nevertheless, I find the arguments for a change in the law rather convincing. It seems a little sad that we cannot benefit of the medical proprieties of hemp, and in my opinion, it is unjust that the consumers can be jailed for using a substance less harmful than tobacco . In addition, I think that a controlled use of hemp would help fight the hard drug deals. One must recognize that the actual law does not resolve all the drug-related problems and that the introduction of a new system of controlled legalization could improve the situation.