The French Academy of Medicine reiterated, this Wednesday, April 9, its long -standing opposition to the legalization of cannabis in France, citing certain recent studies that point to the negative effects on public health in countries that have authorized the consumption of this medication.
“The legalization of the ‘recreational’ use of cannabis would cause serious problems in terms of public health,” said this institution in a statement, whose objective is to express medical consensus on a specific issue.
This position has been assumed for several decades by the Academy of Medicine, which is expressed above all about the consequences of legalization in public health matters and not, for example, of crime.
An opinion based on studies in other countries
The institution explains this new communication due to the fact that scientific literature has recently expanded from the experience of several territories that have legalized cannabis, including Canada and more and more US states.
“Recently published medical problems confirm (…) problems that have made such legalization,” said the academy.
Among the studies mentioned, one, carried out in Canada and published in 2022 in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that with legalization, the proportion of patients positively gave by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active substance of cannabis, has doubled in hospitalized motorists after an accident.
Also in Canada, a study, published in 2025 in Jama Network Open, has shown that, in patients hospitalized by schizophrenia, the proportion associated with the use of cannabis has tripled, from about 3% to more than 10%.
Other studies with more contrasting conclusions
However, the Academy of Medicine does not mention studies with more contrasting conclusions. One of them, published in PLOS One magazine in 2022 of the data collected in the United States, argues that legalization is not accompanied by an increase in new consumers among minors.
The position of the academy is also part of a political context in which the deputies, of the left and macronista films, proposed at the beginning of the year to legalize the use and detention of cannabis, according to a “closely regulated” model.
On the contrary, the institution insists on “maintaining the prohibition in France for the sale and consumption of cannabis” and amplifying prevention with young people.
Source: BFM TV
