Toward a French law that no longer criminalises our relationship with nature.
Entheogenic plants and fungi have accompanied human beings for millennia. In France today, growing, possessing or using them can mean a criminal record. We believe that has to change — and that change starts with an honest public conversation.
A law that creates the danger it claims to prevent
France classifies psilocybin, DMT, mescaline and ibogaine as stupéfiants — the most restrictive legal category, alongside heroin and cocaine. There is no authorised therapeutic, palliative, or ceremonial pathway, no harm reduction exemption, and no political process currently underway to change this. This classification reflects neither the current state of the science nor the evidence we now have available; it stems from a political decision taken decades ago that has never been seriously revisited.
The practical consequences are real and unequal. People seeking healing travel to the Netherlands, Spain or Portugal because no safe, legal option exists at home. Those who can afford it go abroad. Those who cannot navigate underground settings alone, with no preparation, no support, and no recourse if something goes wrong. The law does not prevent access — it makes access more dangerous, and more expensive.
Meanwhile, the legal landscape around us is shifting. Clinical research into psilocybin-assisted therapy, MDMA for trauma, and related approaches is advancing rapidly — published in leading medical journals, funded by serious institutions, and taken seriously by psychiatrists and neurologists. Switzerland authorises compassionate-use access for end-of-life distress. Australia now permits licensed psychiatrists to prescribe MDMA and psilocybin for specific conditions. The United Kingdom has approved clinical trials. In the United States, multiple cities and two states have removed criminal penalties entirely.
French researchers are part of this international conversation. Publications in French clinical journals increasingly engage with the evidence on psilocybin-assisted therapy, particularly for treatment-resistant depression and end-of-life anxiety. The science is moving. The policy is not. We think French citizens deserve better than silence on this question.
Five positions we are willing to defend
Decriminalisation is the starting point, not the end goal
Removing criminal penalties for the personal possession, cultivation and use of entheogenic plants and fungi is the floor, not the ceiling. It is the minimum required to allow people to engage with these substances safely, honestly and without fear. From that foundation, other frameworks — therapeutic, ceremonial, educational — can be built. But decriminalisation must come first, and it must apply to everyone, not only to those enrolled in a clinical trial.
Regulated frameworks are possible and necessary
Decriminalisation does not mean absence of structure. France has the institutions, the researchers, and the clinical expertise to develop genuine access pathways — for therapeutic use, for palliative care, for supervised ceremonial contexts. Other countries are already doing this. We support the creation of these frameworks, provided they remain accessible and are not captured by pharmaceutical or commercial interests.
Honour the origins, resist the extraction
Many of the substances at the centre of this debate come from living traditions — Mazatec, Amazonian, Bwiti — that have held this knowledge carefully and responsibly for generations. Any honest French framework must acknowledge this debt, resist the impulse to rebrand ancient practices as innovation, and actively oppose the commodification or patenting of naturally occurring organisms.
The people most harmed by prohibition must benefit first
Drug laws in France, as elsewhere, fall hardest on the most vulnerable. A reform that creates legal access for the informed and the wealthy while prosecution continues for everyone else is not a reform worth defending. We advocate for a model built on genuine equity — in access, in legal protection, and in who gets to shape the conversation.
Evidence deserves to be heard without hype
The case for change is strong enough to be made honestly. These substances carry real risks in some contexts and for some people. A serious advocacy position acknowledges this, supports rigorous research, and calls for proportionate, evidence-based policy — not a free-for-all, and not continued prohibition.
Policy changes when citizens make it impossible to ignore
Legislative change in France will not come from a single association or a single petition. It will come from a broad, visible, credible coalition — researchers, clinicians, patients, families, legal professionals, and ordinary citizens willing to say, publicly, that the current situation is not acceptable.
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