France: cultivation table, citations, links, products fold, culture, 1953 article, 1922 and 1939 entries

Denis Fairless / AFP — France forgets its golden age of medical marijuana (1 September 2019) Cannabis Freedom Index — Jacques-Joseph Moreau (atlas) Wikipedia — Cannabis in France

Ordinary illicit use of a drug scheduled as a narcotic is a criminal offence punishable by … 0. This aggravated offence is outside the ordinary-use fixed-fine procedure.[@sp_use,csp] [France made cannabis use punishable on the spot in 2020.](/history/france-fixed-fine-2020/) [France raised the on-the-spot fine to 500 euros in 2026.](/history/france-fixed-fine-2026/)

label Ordinary illicit use · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 1 year · fine 3750 · note Prosecution can end in a fixed fine of €500 (€400 within … nnected with public-authority duties or safety-sensitive transport · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 5 years · fine 75000

Growing cannabis is treated as production of narcotics: the law treats cultivation as trafficking, a serious crimepunished with sentences far above those for useup to 20 years and EUR 7,500,000.[@cidj] Courts treat even for a few plants as a production offence, though limited personal-use plots draw far lighter use-like sentences in practice — while still leaving a trafficking conviction on the record.[@cidj] [The 1970 law criminalised use and trafficking.](/history/france-use-criminalised-1970/)

Giving cannabis to someone for their personal use is a specific offence with up to five ye … a minor or the act happens in or near a school or educational setting.[@cidj,ofdt_legal] [France toughened trafficking sentences in 1987.](/history/france-trafficking-law-1987/)

label Supply for another person's personal use · treatment criminal · term Supply · prison 5 years · fine 75000 · note Rises to ten years when sold to minors or in/near schools

Ordinary illicit use is a criminal offence in public or private, with up to one year and € … 0. This aggravated offence is outside the ordinary-use fixed-fine procedure.[@sp_use,csp] [France let police settle cannabis use with a payment in 2014.](/history/france-transaction-penale-2014/)

Extremely restricted medical access survives for patients enrolled before 27 March 2024.[@sp] They may continue to receive prescriptions and pharmacy dispensing during the transition; no new patients can enter.[@sp] CBD flower under 0.3% THC is also lawful to sell.[@cx] [France started a medical cannabis experiment in 2021.](/history/france-medical-experiment-2021/) [France reauthorised cannabis medicines in 2013.](/history/france-medicines-decree-2013/)

There is no legal recreational market. Ordinary illicit use is a criminal offence, but sin … -sensitive transport is treated far more severely, up to five years and €75,000.[@sp_use] [France made cannabis use punishable on the spot in 2020.](/history/france-fixed-fine-2020/)

Hemp cultivation is long established; medical cannabis production has awaited a permanent legal framework.[@hl] [France started a medical cannabis experiment in 2021.](/history/france-medical-experiment-2021/)

Only certified seed of authorised Cannabis sativa varieties at or below 0.3% THC may be us … prohibited.[@hemp_order] CBD flower and products under 0.3% THC are lawful to sell.[@cx] [France's top court allowed CBD flower sales in 2022.](/history/france-cbd-flower-2022/)

CBD flower and products under 0.3% THC; medical preparations for trial patients only.

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A national experiment began in 2021 for a few thousand patients with severe conditions.[@hl] It formally ended on 31 December 2024 with no permanent regime in place.[@hl,sp] Existing patients remain eligible for prescriptions and dispensing during a transitional extension lasting until three months after the forthcoming health-technology assessment is published.[@sp] A decree setting out how cannabis medicines will be assessed and reimbursed went to the Conseil d'État on 2 July 2026; first prescriptions under a permanent regime are expected in 2027 at the earliest.[@chn] [France started a medical cannabis experiment in 2021.](/history/france-medical-experiment-2021/)

Since 20 August 2026, a paid criminal fixed fine for cannabis use generally appears on bul … ears from payment; the statute also specifies a starting point for increased unpaid fines.[@cpp775,cc2026] Only specified authorities, administrations and authorised employers can obtain B2 information, so employment or professional-licensing consequences are possible.[@cpp775] Judicial exclusion can be requested.[@cpp775,cc2026] Longer retention in other registers i … y also bring up to three years' suspension of driving or powered-boat licences.[@loi2026] [France raised the on-the-spot fine to 500 euros in 2026.](/history/france-fixed-fine-2026/)

Only certified seed of authorised Cannabis sativa varieties at or below 0.3% THC may be used, and only active farmers may cultivate hemp flowers and leaves.[@hemp_order] The sale of plants and taking cuttings are expressly prohibited, so psychoactive seed is not an adult-use route and clones cannot lawfully be supplied.[@hemp_order]

All cannabis sold in France is illegal, and it is the largest drug market by volume.[@ofdt25] A study for the national drug observatory OFDT estimated that 397 tonnes were consumed in mainland France in 2023, worth about 2.7 billion euros.[@ofdt25] The volume has been almost flat since 2017 (up 2.3%), in line with use.[@ofdt25] In value, cocaine overtook cannabis for the first time, at 3.1 billion euros; together the two make up nearly 90% of a drug market estimated at 6.8 billion euros.[@ofdt25]

Clubs have no legal footing and the one organised attempt was shut down by the courts.[@vice13] In March 2013 a federation of Cannabis Social Clubs registered itself with the prefecture in Tours as an act of open defiance, claiming about 150 clubs growing for their members' own use; only six declared themselves.[@tl13] Its spokesman was given a six- month suspended sentence and a 2,000 euro fine in April 201 … he federation as unlawful and contrary to good morals and barred its members from meeting.[@tl13,vice13] Other branches faced the same dissolution proceedings.[@vice13] No source read describes clubs operating openly since.

Driving after using a narcotic is an offence whatever the amount; there is no threshold.[@onisr] Police screen heavily: the road-safety observatory counted about 1.2 million drug screenings in 2024, of which 11.1% were positive.[@onisr] Nine in ten were preventive checks or followed another traffic offence, and those were positive 11.7% of the time; of the 55,886 screenings carried out after an injury or fatal crash, 6.2% were positive.[@onisr]

Use itself is a criminal offence and is policed on a large scale.[@onisr] The road-safety observatory's compilation of police data records 148,556 offences of drug use in 2024, almost three times as many as in 2017; the figure covers all narcotics, of which cannabis is by far the commonest.[@onisr] [France made cannabis use punishable on the spot in 2020.](/history/france-fixed-fine-2020/)

There is no legal recreational supply for anyone.[@csp] Ordinary illicit use is a criminal offence punishable by up to one year in prison and a €3,750 fine.[@csp] Since 20 August 2026 the prosecution can be ended by a fixed fine of €500, or €400 if paid … ies, or specified safety-sensitive transport duties, carries up to five years and €75,000.[@sp_use] This aggravated offence is outside the ordinary-use fixed-fine procedure.[@sp_use,csp] [France made cannabis use punishable on the spot in 2020.](/history/france-fixed-fine-2020/)

Cannabis Freedom Index — Jacques-Joseph Moreau (atlas) Denis Fairless / AFP — France forgets its golden age of medical marijuana (1 September 2019) 17 unchanged

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label Growing cannabis (production of narcotics) · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison 20 years · fine 7500000 · note Limited personal-use plots draw far lighter use-like sentences, but the conviction stays trafficking

Paris discovered hashish twice. In the 1840s the Club des Hashischins gathered writers and doctors around Jacques-Joseph Moreau's experiments with dawamesk, and Paris hospitals treated cholera with hashish tincture.[@moreau] A century later France banned cannabis as a medicine in 1953, removing it from the pharmacopoeia.[@goldenage] [Moreau published the first clinical study of hashish in 1845.](/history/france-moreau-du-hachisch-1845/) [Paris hospitals treated cholera with hashish tincture in 1848.](/history/france-hashish-cholera-treatment-1848/) [France banned cannabis as a medicine in 1953.](/history/france-medical-ban-1953/)

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