Jean-Pierre Couteron is a clinical psychologist at the Addictology Care, Support and Prevention Center and at the Young Consumers Consultation (CJC) of the Oppelia de Boulogne-Billancourt association and spokesperson for the Addiction Federation.
LE FIGARO. - The new German coalition wants to legalize cannabis. How do you see this decision?
Jean-Pierre COUTERON. -
I approve this choice, subject to knowing the details of this legalization and to see if these declarations will be followed by effect - in Sweden, the coalition agreement held eight hours.
The overall principle, the takeover and the organization by the State of this product seem to me to be going in the right direction.
One thing is certain, the State must keep control of these products which are not trivial.
Economists, such as Emmanuel Auriol or Pierre-Yves Geoffard have submitted a report to the government in this regard.
Today, the mafias benefit from the trafficking and manage the market while we, the ordinary citizens, have to pay for care and the police through our taxes.
A state monopoly on this traffic will allow citizens to "enjoy" part of the profits.
Is cannabis consumption in Germany similar to that of the French? What about drug trafficking?
The French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) has more information than I do on this dimension.
But, in view of my experience with border regions, we observe a similar phenomenon in Germany and France.
We have a common history with Morocco and Algeria, Germany with Turkey.
Our economic systems are similar, with the difference that the German state is more used to dealing with problems in a more pragmatic than ideological way.
Regulation is not synonymous with anything big.
The sovereign power is there to control that the given rules are respected.
Jean-Pierre Couteron
If you were to ask sharp drug market economists and trafficking law enforcement officers, they would see differences between the two markets, but they would be forced to recognize similarities.
This is the reason why the Addiction Federation had deployed, in Germany, a remote aid tool intended for adult cannabis users who wanted to reduce their drug consumption.
This tool was completely transposable in France.
Could traffickers get their supplies in Germany and then resell the cannabis in France? Could legalization have direct consequences for us?
If the regulation system is well thought out, no.
Like what we do with tobacco, it would be controlled from production (the number of cannabis fields, the number of plants in these fields, etc.) until marketing.
Germany can easily ensure that its production is sufficiently controlled to prevent it overstepping its borders.
The objective of this system is to pull the rug out from under the black market.
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Regulation is not synonymous with anything big.
The sovereign power is there to control that the given rules are respected.
Drug tourism is also likely to develop, like the Netherlands ...
The Netherlands had imagined prohibiting the sale of drugs to foreigners to stem this phenomenon, before giving up under pressure from traders, hoteliers and local elected officials.
They just tightened the screw.
Other countries, like Uruguay, have opted for stricter rules: only citizens of the country are allowed to buy cannabis in a coffee-shop.
It is up to the Germans to see if they want to see this type of tourism emerge on their soil - with the embarrassment that this can cause for the inhabitants - or not.
Our neighbors should not be mistaken because, as was the case in the Netherlands, once the floodgates for drug tourism are opened, it creates a situation of economic dependence.
