The bare, dusty ground is littered with rusty blades and crack pipes. The area reeks of urine and garbage. At least three times a day, Charly Roue is drawn to this neighborhood, one of the most sordid in Paris, always following the same ritual. After panhandling tens of euros at cafes not far from some of the most popular tourist spots, he heads to the northern edge of the city, where he can buy crack cocaine at La Colline, or the Hill, France's largest open-air market for crack. [continues 1108 words]
Paris, France -- France's fight against cannabis, through tough laws to punish users, has long been a failure -- the French remain among Europe's biggest dope smokers. So will a change of strategy under President Emmanuel Macron have more success? The new centrist government is preparing to soften legislation, making users caught with cannabis liable for an instant fine of 150-200 euros ($180-250) instead of prosecution and the threat of a one-year jail term. The change was an election campaign pledge from Macron last year, justified on the grounds that it would reduce the time spent by the police and judiciary on criminal cases involving recreational smokers. [continues 604 words]
(AP) - France's health minister has said she wants to ban a cannabis-extract electronic cigarette that has been launched in France. Marisol Touraine told French radio she was opposed to the self-styled "e-joint," that was launched online Tuesday. She said it will encourage cannabis use and she will approach the courts to ban the product. Though cannabis is illegal in France, the French-Czech company KanaVape says its hemp vaporizer product is legal and does not contain the mind-altering THC substance found in marijuana. The company extracts the less potent molecule Cannabidiol from hemp, a variety of cannabis grown for fiber and seeds. "It will not make you 'high' but will help you relax," the company says. [end]
Study: Cardiovascular Events in Young Users Up Over a five-year period, a government-andated tracking system in France showed that physicians in that country treated 1,979 patients for serious health problems associated with the use of marijuana, and nearly 2 percent of those encounters were with patients suffering from cardiovascular problems, including heart attack, cardiac arrhythmia and stroke, as well as circulation problems in the arms and legs. In roughly a quarter of those cases, the study found, the patient died. [continues 178 words]
Smoking cannabis can cause potentially lethal damage to the heart and arteries of young and middle-aged adults, a study has found. Researchers in France, who looked at almost 2,000 patients with medical problems related to cannabis use, identified 35 serious instances of cardiovascular complications. Twenty heart attacks were recorded, as well as 10 cases involving arteries in the limbs, and three affecting blood vessels in the brain. Nine patients, about a quarter of the total, died. Most of the patients were male, with an average age of 34.3 years, and people with pre-existing cardiovascular weaknesses appeared to be more prone to the harmful effects of the drug. [continues 63 words]
SMOKING cannabis can cause potentially lethal damage to the heart and arteries of young and middle-aged adults, a study has found. Researchers in France who looked at almost 2,000 patients with medical problems related to cannabis use identified 35 serious instances of cardiovascular complications. Twenty heart attacks were recorded, as well as 10 cases involving arteries in the limbs, and three affecting blood vessels in the brain. Nine patients died. Most of the patients were male, with an average age of 34.3 years. Dr Emilie Jouanjus, from the University of Toulouse, said: "The general public thinks marijuana is harmless, but information revealing the potential health dangers of marijuana use needs to be disseminated." [end]
SMOKING CANNABIS can cause potentially lethal damage to the heart and arteries of young and middle-aged adults, a study found. Researchers in France who looked at almost 2,000 patients with medical problems related to cannabis use identified 35 serious instances of cardiovascular complications. Twenty heart attacks were recorded, as well as 10 cases involving arteries in the limbs, and three affecting blood vessels in the brain. Nine patients, around a quarter of the total, died. Most of the patients were male, with an average age of 34.3 years. [continues 115 words]
The French drug safety agency has approved commercial sales of a medicine derived from cannabis for the first time in France. France's health ministry said on Wednesday that sales of Sativex will be allowed for the treatment of muscle spasms linked with multiple sclerosis. Sativex is said to contain two of marijuana's best known components - delta 9-THC and cannabidiol. [end]
In experiments with rodents, scientists have discovered that a steroid hormone blunts the effects of marijuana, virtually eliminating its high. The hormone, pregnenolone, occurs naturally in the body. In the laboratory, it worked by reducing the reaction to THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the intoxicating ingredient in marijuana, the researchers said. "When the brain is stimulated by high doses of THC, it produces pregnenolone - a 3,000 percent increase - that inhibits the effects of THC," said senior researcher Dr. Pier Vincenzo Piazza of Neurocentre Magendie in Bordeaux, France. [continues 651 words]
PARIS - Paris Hilton was briefly detained in Corsica after sniffer dogs detected a "quite small" quantity of marijuana in her bag, a French newspaper reported yesterday. Corse Matin newspaper said officers at the airport in Figari found about 1 gram of marijuana. Hilton, who was transiting the French Mediterranean island in a private jet on Friday, was hauled in for questioning and released about 20 minutes later, the report said. In a story posted on its Web site, the newspaper said Hilton was travelling along with "personalities close to power in Malaysia" from the French capital to Porto-Cerno, in Sardinia. Earlier this month, Hilton was arrested after the Brazil-Netherlands World Cup match in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on suspicion of possession of marijuana. The case was then dropped at a midnight court hearing. [end]
General Manuel Noriega, Panama's ex-dictator, dismissed charges of laundering drug money as an "imaginary banking scheme" concocted by the United States as he took the stand yesterday in a French court. The 76-year-old general denied taking payments from Colombian drug lords in the 1980s, testifying the cash deposited in French banks came from his legitimate businesses and the Central Intelligence Agency. "I say with much humility and respect that this is an imaginary banking scheme," he said in Spanish through his interpreter on the second day of his trial. [continues 480 words]
A MYSTERY illness that caused an entire French village to go temporarily mad 50-years ago has been blamed on secret CIA mind control experiments with LSD. Hundreds of residents in picturesque Pont-Saint-Esprit were suddenly struck down with mass insanity and hallucinations on August 16, 1951. At least five people in the southern French village died and dozens were locked up in asylums after witnessing terrifying hallucinations of dragons and fire. Poisoned In the horror scenes an 11-year-old tried to strangle his grandmother. Another man shouted: "I am a plane", before jumping out of a second-floor window, breaking his legs. [continues 230 words]
MADRID: One of Colombia's most notorious drug lords, Leonidas Vargas, was shot dead in his Madrid hospital bed on Thursday, Spanish police said. At least one person entered the room in Madrid's October 12th Hospital where Vargas was being treated for a serious illness, and shot the drugs kingpin four times just before 8 p.m. local time, police said. Spanish newspaper El Mundo said the assassin asked another patient who was sharing the Colombian's room if he was Vargas. [continues 172 words]
A PRO-CANNABIS lobby group says an ingredient in cannabis may prevent "mad cow" disease. The National Organisation for Marijuana Law Reform says a French study shows cannabidiol may be effective in preventing bovine spongiforme encephalopathy. Scientists at the National Centre for Scientific Research in France found cannabidiol - a non-psychoactive ingredient - may prevent the development of prion diseases, the most well known of which is BSE. Research found cannabidiol inhibited accumulation of prion proteins in infected mice and sheep. NORML spokesman Chris Fowlie said this added to the scientific evidence supporting Green MP Metiria Turei's bill to legalise the medicinal use of cannabis. "[It] should be supported by any MP with a clear head. Unfortunately most MPs act like mad cows when cannabis is mentioned." [end]
French teenagers see wine and alcohol as "old France" and are increasingly turning to cannabis to let their hair down, according to a national study on its consumption. Jean-Michel Costes, head of the French drugs and addiction watchdog, OFDT, said yesterday that French cannabis use has soared in the past 15 years and is now almost on a par with Britain. While the French drink half the amount they did in the 1960s, cannabis consumption among the 18- to 35-year age group has more than trebled since the early 1990s, the report found. advertisement [continues 410 words]
PARIS - French teenagers see wine and spirits as "old France" and are increasingly turning to cannabis to let their hair down, according to a national study on its consumption. Jean-Michel Costes, head of the French drugs and addiction watchdog, OFDT, said Wednesday that French cannabis use has soared in the past 15 years and is almost on a par with Britain. While the French drink half the amount they did in the 1960s, cannabis consumption among the 18- to 35-year age group has more than trebled since the early 1990s, the report found. "There is a big cultural difference between France and England," said Costes. "Everyone drinks a bit in France, but as part of a meal, not in order to get merry. To do that, the young are turning to cannabis," he said. [end]
Drivers under the influence of marijuana and similar drugs face increased risks of having a fatal car accident, a study finds. The study of drivers responsible for a deadly road crash showed the odds almost doubled for people with cannabis, the plant used to produce marijuana, in their blood, said lead researcher Bernard Laumon from the French National Institute for Transport and Safety Research. The study was published in the British Medical Journal. The researcher studied 9,772 drivers who were involved in fatal crashes from October 2001 until September 2003 and tested for drugs. Of the total, 6,766 drivers were considered at fault. About 7 per cent, or 681 drivers, tested positive for cannabis, 21 per cent, or 2,096, had alcohol in their system and 2.9 per cent, or 285, tested positive for both. [end]
EVRY, France, Nov. 8 - Amin Kouidri, 20, has been hunting for a job for more than two years now and spends his days drifting around a government housing project here under the watchful gaze of France's national police. He and his neighbors in one of France's now-notorious housing projects say that they feel cut off from French society, a result of a process of segregation lasting for decades, and that alienation and pressure from the police have now exploded in rage across the country. [continues 1525 words]
Decriminalization of marijuana NEW YORK - Starting in the autumn, pharmacies in British Columbia will sell marijuana for medicinal purposes, without a prescription, under a pilot project devised by Canada's national health service. The plan follows a 2002 report by a Canadian Senate committee that found there were "clear, though not definitive" benefits for using marijuana in the treatment of chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and other ailments. Both Prime Minister Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, leader of the opposition conservatives, support the decriminalization of marijuana. [continues 1054 words]
PARIS, April 14 (AFP) - French teenagers are among the biggest consumers of cannabis in Europe, smoking joints as often as they drink alcohol, an official study of thousands of students from 450 high schools released Wednesday showed. By the age of 18, two boys in three and one of every two girls have tried the narcotic - illegal in France - the survey by the French Observatory of Drugs and Drug Use (OFDT) revealed. "By the age of 16, regular consumption of cannabis reaches the level of regular consumption of alcohol," the authors said. [continues 80 words]
Inside France
