The Cannabis Sans Frontières Party Aims to Turn Paris into a Legalisation “Laboratory”

The French party Cannabis Sans Frontières is the country's only party created for and specifically committed to the legalisation of marijuana. Farid Ghehiouèche founded it in 2009. He argues that regulation could come about without delay, with Paris as the focus of this step forward, converted into a laboratory of cannabis activists gathered in one of Europe's most visited cities.

Ghehiouéche believes, among other things, that the legalisation of cannabis could mean revenues of close to 2 billion euros for the State annually (as has occurred in places like Colorado) and generate nearly 100,000 jobs at new associations, cooperatives, cannabis companies and even places dedicated to the supervision and oversight of medicinal cannabis. It would also be possible to reduce the violence generated by the underground marijuana trade.

The activist knows that things do not just happen, and that much work is necessary for everything to turn out well, but he is convinced that the time has come to consider the benefits that something as natural as cannabis could offer, and to reflect on the prejudices against it in light of other harmful substances that society tolerates.

The party will run in the upcoming elections, and do so in quite a favourable atmosphere. According to its founder, it seems that the media is beginning to give them some positive publicity. It remains to be seen whether France is prepared to support the political group and to accept change.