This is a raging and divisive debate for many years in France: should cannabis be legalized? A question to which a large number of countries in the world have answered rather favourably. Portugal, Germany, Israel, the United States or even Canada have either legalized or decriminalised, in a controlled manner, the consumption of hashish and marijuana.
France, which has the largest number of cannabis smokers in Europe, remains, for its part, hermetic to any form of relaxation and continues to choose repression to stem its trafficking and its consumption. A ban that does not really have a major impact on users, who are generally exposed to these psychotropic drugs at a very young age.
The documentary Youth in smokebroadcast on Wednesday June 8 in the program “Infrarouge”, on France 2, goes to meet addictologists and four young adults who tell, with their faces uncovered and in a very lucid way, why from adolescence they have “shot on their first joint” and how addiction has crept into their lives. Some also evoke the hypocrisy of the authorities in the face of what has become a real public health problem.
“One student in ten has already smoked in fourth”, reveals the film by Andréa Rawlins-Gaston and Christophe Astruc. Ten times more powerful and harmful than thirty years ago, cannabis can cause irreversible damage to developing brains during puberty. Risks against which no real solution other than “fear of the police” is envisaged for this young people who expose themselves to a danger that is sometimes understated.
Johanna, who testifies in the documentary, began using cannabis when she was 15. “When you’re in high school, it’s cool to smoke joints. It’s pretty well seen”, says the young student. “After having passed my baccalaureate ES, I arrived in Montpellier, in college of letters. (…) I had my apartment, I could smoke at home (…) I could smoke as much as I wanted, it there was no one to bother me. (…) In Montpellier, it’s super easy to smoke cannabis. is not expensive at all”she explains.
Johanna, now 22, says she became depressed because of cannabis, which doesn’t stop her from continuing to use it. She points out, however, the inconsistencies of a system which, in a way, encourages smoking by allowing businesses to sell all kinds of accessories for taking drugs.
“We are clearly on something hypocritical, because in France, you can buy slim sheets, grinders [petit broyeur manuel pour le cannabis]bongs [pipe à eau pour fumer de la drogue] in newspaper shops, in tobacconiststhe young woman is surprised. It’s legal to buy cannabis to roll, it’s legal to buy tobacco to smoke cannabis, but it’s not legal to buy cannabis. It’s ridiculous !”
A form of misunderstanding mixed with a failure of prevention and a certain lightness in the face of this scourge, which worries Hélène Donnadieu-Rigole, head of the addiction service at the Montpellier University Hospital. “When the young consumer goes to smoke cannabis, the cannabis will attach itself to the neurons in the brain.says the doctor. And in the short term, this will cause problems with memorization, concentration (…) There are also long-term consequences on the consumption of cannabis. Few people know it but the brain is in formation until the age of 25-27 and cannabis will have an action on this brain in formation and therefore modify it. (…) A young person who started smoking very early, that is to say before the age of 15 (…) will have a permanent alteration in his intelligence quotient, even if he stops smoking. “
This documentary, carried mainly by young people, resonates like a manifesto and deciphers the dangers of excessive consumption and the havoc it can cause in the lives of adolescents.
The documentary Youth in smoke, directed by Andréa Rawlins-Gaston and Christophe Astruc, is broadcast on Wednesday June 8 on France 2 at 10:45 p.m. in the program “Infrarouge”.