Cannabis is not legal in France. Using it, carrying it, growing it, buying it, or selling it are all criminal offenses, and the prohibition applies the same way to residents and tourists. Since 2020, police can settle small possession cases with an on-the-spot fine instead of sending them to court, but that is an enforcement shortcut, not legalization. Only a narrow medical pilot and low-THC CBD products sit outside the ban.
Possession and Personal Use
French law classifies cannabis as a narcotic, and there is no legal difference between smoking at home and smoking in a park. The baseline penalty for using any narcotic is up to one year in prison and a fine of up to €3,750.1Library of Congress. France: Possession of Small Amounts of Drugs Now Subject to Fines Most first-time users caught with a small amount never see a courtroom, but the offense is still criminal, and a conviction can follow you into job applications, visas, and residency files.
Since September 2020, officers who find no more than 50 grams of cannabis on someone can issue a fixed fine of €200 rather than open a prosecution.1Library of Congress. France: Possession of Small Amounts of Drugs Now Subject to Fines Pay within 15 days and the amount drops to €150. Wait past 45 days and it climbs to €450. Local prosecutors can set lower quantity thresholds inside their own jurisdictions, and nothing stops an officer from pursuing full prosecution for a larger haul, a repeat offender, or a case they consider more serious.
The fine applies to tourists as well. French law does not have a separate track for foreign nationals when it comes to possession, so a visitor caught with a joint faces the same €200 ticket as anyone else, and the same risk of formal charges if the circumstances warrant them.
Growing Cannabis at Home
Growing cannabis is illegal in France no matter the quantity or the reason. A single plant on a balcony sits in the same legal category as a warehouse operation. French law treats unauthorized cultivation as a trafficking-level offense, with a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to €7.5 million under Article 222-37 of the Penal Code.2OFDT. 2024 Legal Framework Workbook – France Courts almost never apply that ceiling to a few personal plants, but the classification is what matters: home growing is not a minor offense on paper, and judges have wide discretion.
Selling, Supplying, and Trafficking
Transporting, holding for sale, or distributing cannabis carries the same 10-year, €7.5 million maximum as cultivation.2OFDT. 2024 Legal Framework Workbook – France Supplying drugs directly to someone for personal consumption, under Article 222-39, is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a €75,000 fine, rising to 10 years when the recipient is a minor. Running a criminal organization that produces, imports, or distributes drugs is punishable by life imprisonment and a fine of up to €7.5 million under Article 222-34. Sharing a joint with a friend technically falls under the supply provision, which is worth knowing even if prosecutors rarely treat it that way.
Driving After Using Cannabis
France applies zero tolerance to drug driving. There is no minimum THC blood concentration to clear; any detectable trace establishes the offense.3EU Drugs Agency. Legal Approaches to Drugs and Driving Topic Overview THC metabolites can stay in your body for days or weeks after use, so you can test positive long after any impairment is gone. The law does not care.
Driving after cannabis use is punishable by up to two years in prison and a €4,500 fine, with an automatic loss of six points from your license.4Service Public. Drugs While Driving French licenses carry a maximum of 12 points, so a single incident costs you half of them. Courts can add further sanctions, including:
- License suspension of up to three years, with no exemption for work driving
- Cancellation of the license and a ban of up to three years on applying for a new one
- Vehicle confiscation
- Mandatory road safety and narcotics awareness courses, paid by the driver
Police screen at the roadside with a saliva test. A positive result triggers a second saliva sample for laboratory confirmation. You can ask for a blood test as a counter-expertise at the moment of sampling, and you have five days after receiving the results to formally request a second opinion.4Service Public. Drugs While Driving Refusing the test altogether carries the same penalties as testing positive.
Medical Cannabis
Medical cannabis exists in France only through a tightly limited pilot, and it is not accessible to new patients. The program launched on March 26, 2021, and has been extended through March 31, 2026, so that patients already enrolled keep receiving treatment.5Service Public. Experimentation – A New Step Towards Access to Medical Cannabis No new patients have been admitted since March 27, 2024. Around 3,200 patients have taken part in total, with roughly 1,850 still being treated as of late 2024.
Within the pilot, cannabis is a last-resort treatment for severe conditions that have not responded to conventional therapies: certain neuropathic pain, drug-resistant epilepsy, cancer-related symptoms including treatment side effects, painful spasticity from central nervous system conditions such as multiple sclerosis, and palliative care in advanced end-of-life situations. Medicines are dispensed through hospital pharmacies and reimbursed by French health insurance. If you are visiting France with a cannabis prescription from another country, that prescription has no legal effect here; it does not override the narcotic classification.
CBD Products
CBD is legal in France as long as the product contains no more than 0.3% THC, the same ceiling used for EU hemp cultivation.6Conseil d’État. CBD: Annulment of the Order Prohibiting the Sale of Cannabis Flowers and Leaves With No Intoxicating Effects CBD on its own is not a narcotic and does not produce a high. Oils, capsules, edibles, and cosmetics are sold widely in shops and online.
CBD flowers and leaves had a more complicated route to the shelves. In December 2021, the government issued an order allowing CBD extracts but banning the sale of raw hemp flowers and leaves to consumers. The Conseil d’État suspended that ban in January 2022 and later annulled it, holding that a blanket prohibition on flowers and leaves containing less than 0.3% THC was disproportionate because they posed no public health risk.6Conseil d’État. CBD: Annulment of the Order Prohibiting the Sale of Cannabis Flowers and Leaves With No Intoxicating Effects Flowers can now be sold legally, provided sellers stay under the 0.3% ceiling.
If you plan to bring CBD into France, the real risk is at customs. Officers can test products, and anything over 0.3% THC can be treated as a narcotic. Carry certificates of analysis showing the THC content, and make sure labels are in French and avoid medicinal health claims.
Cannabis Seeds
Seeds sit in a gray zone. French law does not explicitly criminalize possessing them, because an ungerminated seed contains no THC, and specialty shops and websites sell them openly, usually marketed for collection purposes. The moment the seeds are germinated with the intent to grow, the act becomes illegal cultivation and triggers the penalties above. Intent is where prosecutions turn. Buying seeds together with lamps, soil, and other growing equipment can be enough for prosecutors to argue you intended to cultivate, even if nothing has sprouted yet.