In a controversial case in France, the admitted perpetrator in an anti-Semitic murder will not stand trial and will be going to a drug rehab facility instead of prison \u2014 on the basis of his claim that he suffered from temporary insanity because of cannabis use. <\/p>\n
French Jewish leaders are, of course, The Paris Court of Appeal on Dec. 19 ruled that Kobili Traore, who Traore had no history of mental illness, according to the Times of Israel<\/a>, but a psychiatric report issued in September concluded that on the night of the murder, Traore suffered an \u201cacute delirium\u201d after heavy cannabis use. The report said he\u2019d been smoking 15 joints a day, causing him to believe \u201ca demon had possessed him\u201d and to lose control of his actions.\u00a0<\/p>\n As Israeli website\u00a0YNet<\/a>\u00a0reports, citing French media accounts, Traore will be sent to a drug rehabilitation facility under the ruling.<\/p>\n Alarmingly, of three medical experts called to testify in the case, only one argued that use of cannabis did not nullify Traore\u2019s criminal liability. And according to an account on Jewish news site\u00a0The Tablet<\/a>, even this dissenting \u201cexpert,\u201d Dr. Daniel Zagury, gave credence to the notion of cannabis delirium, asserting that \u201cthere is an alteration of discernment and not an abolition\u201d from cannabis use.<\/p>\n French Jewish parliamentarian Meyer Habib assailed the ruling: Habib also noted a double standard\u00a0about cannabis use versus Francis Szpiner, a lawyer for the Halimi family, made a similar point in comments to the UK\u2019s\u00a0Jewish Chronicle<\/a>, and warned that the case could set a dangerous precedent: \u201cYou\u2019re saying that people can walk free after carrying out criminal action just because they were allegedly not aware of the effects of drugs or other substances? Will this also apply to drunk drivers who kill children on the road?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Does this case in fact set precedent for the\u00a0dubious notion<\/a>\u00a0of cannabis-induced psychosis being used in criminal justice?\u00a0<\/p>\n The good news is that the French legal system has a weaker tradition of binding precedent than the American one. In the United States, the principle of\u00a0stare decisis<\/em><\/a>\u00a0holds \u201cthat a question once considered by a court and answered must elicit the same response each time the same issue is brought before the courts.\u201d In France, there is more flexibility.<\/p>\n A\u00a0Stanford Law School commentary<\/a>\u00a0describes the French legal system as one \u201cwithout binding precedent.\u201d\u00a0However, prior decisions do have some weight.<\/p>\n As\u00a0we\u2019ve noted<\/a>, there are numerous grim implications to the Traore case. The notion that cannabis causes violence will not only provide convenient propaganda for prohibitionists. (The Tablet\u2019s ironic headline was \u201cWant to Keep Jews Safe? Criminalize Marijuana.\u201d) <\/p>\n Alas, if things keep going the way they are going<\/a>, there will be no shortage of cases to watch. On Dec. 11, three people were killed in an\u00a0attack on a kosher market<\/a> in Jersey City, New Jersey. On Dec. 28, several people were wounded when an intruder\u00a0attacked a local rabbi\u2019s private Hanukkah party<\/a>\u00a0in New York\u2019s Rockland County. This follows the October 2018\u00a0synagogue massacre<\/a>\u00a0that left 11 dead in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n As with the endless debates over gun control in the U.S., making the There are political and ideological roots, especially to overtly France has traditionally had some of Europe\u2019s toughest cannabis laws, but it has started to loosen up in recent years. In 2018, a new law\u00a0put an end to prison terms<\/a>\u00a0for personal cannabis use. President Emmanuel Macron made his pledge to reform laws on cannabis use a key campaign plank during the previous year\u2019s hard-fought electoral race.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under current law, personal possession only results in a fine of 200 An official body of French economists earlier this year recommended legalization. The Council of Economic Analysis (CAE<\/a>), a group tasked with advising the government on policy, found in its June report that despite hardline policies, France has Europe\u2019s highest rate of cannabis use. <\/p>\n \u201cThe system of prohibition promoted by France over the past 50 But, as French news agency\u00a0AFP<\/a>\u00a0noted, Macron\u2019s administration flatly rejected the proposal. \u00a0Said Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne:\u00a0\u201cThe position of the government is very clear: We are against legalization for recreational use.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, do you see The post Murderer Won\u2019t Stand Trial Because \u2018Cannabis Use\u2019 Caused Psychosis, Court Rules<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
In a controversial case in France, the admitted perpetrator in an anti-Semitic murder will not stand trial and will be going to a drug rehab facility instead of prison \u2014 on the basis of his claim that he suffered from temporary insanity because of cannabis use. French Jewish leaders are,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,13023,331,99,2273,3949],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40437"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40438,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40437\/revisions\/40438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\naghast. But the decision also sets an alarming precedent in the fight for
\ncannabis normalization, legitimizing the dubious notion of cannabis-induced psychosis
\nand further entrenching the stigma. It\u2019s certainly an irony that the
\nonce-laughable notion of reefer madness is being exploited to keep
\nsomeone\u00a0out of\u00a0<\/em>jail.<\/p>\n
\nadmitted to murdering his elderly Orthodox Jewish neighbor Sarah Halimi in
\nApril 2017 while shouting anti-Semitic slurs, will not face trial for the crime
\n\u2014 due to mental incapacity caused by his use of cannabis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAs a member of Parliament, I do not criticize court decisions, but as
\nsomeone involved in the case from day one \u2014 I am simply shocked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nalcohol where criminal responsibility is concerned: \u201c[T]his decision sends
\na clear message to all criminals: when one drinks and commits an offense it is
\naggravating circumstances, and when another partakes excessive amounts of
\ndrugs, it is a mitigating circumstance and he is not responsible for his
\nactions.\u201d<\/p>\nA Precedent for \u2018Reefer Madness\u2019?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The Door to Dystopia<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nissue about cannabis use forestalls a reckoning with the tough question
\nof\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0mass shootings and hate crimes are escalating worldwide
\nat this moment. Even if we are to concede that cannabis fueled dark imaginings
\nin Traore\u2019s mind, his particular fixation on the Jews had to come from
\nsomewhere \u2014 meaning somewhere\u00a0other than cannabis<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\nracist attacks \u2014 whether they target Jews, or Muslims (as in the March
\n2019\u00a0Christchurch
\nterror<\/a>) or Latin immigrants (as the August 2019\u00a0El Paso massacre<\/a>).
\nFocusing on cannabis \u2014 an herb used peacefully by millions around the world
\nevery day\u00a0\u2014 can ultimately be seen as a distraction from the greater
\nunderlying problem. <\/p>\nFrance Lifting Pressure on Cannabis \u2014 A Little<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\neuros ($226 U.S. dollars), with the judge having broad discretion to define
\nwhat constitutes personal quantities.<\/p>\n
\nyears has been a failure,\u201d the CAE stated.<\/p>\n
\nongoing examples of \u2018reefer madness\u2019?<\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: Murderer Won\u2019t Stand Trial Because \u2018Cannabis Use\u2019 Caused Psychosis, Court Rules<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"