MORE than 100 French artists and intellectuals have signed a petition admitting to taking soft drugs and offering themselves for prosecution, WRITES JOHN LICHFIELD in Paris.

The intention is partly to embarrass the government of Lionel Jospin, but mostly to embarrass the judiciary, which has brought a number of legal cases against high-profile campaigners for the legalisation of cannabis and other drugs.

The signatories of the "petition of 111" include the 1960s Franco-German political activist, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the film director Patrice Chereau, the fashion designer and president of Paris Opera, Pierre Berge, and the actress Marina Vlady. The petitioners state: "At one moment or other of my life, I have consumed stupefying drugs. I know that in admitting publicly that I am a drug user, I can be prosecuted. This is a risk I am ready to take."

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Chris Clay provided this link to addresses: http://www.lemonde.fr/adresses/index.html

and Peter Webster wrote: It is not entirely clear, but I would send lte's to both of the following: courrier@lemonde.fr this the most likely for lte's lemonde@lemonde.fr prob. a general address

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THE Movement for Controlled Legalisation (MLC), which advocates the sale of narcotics under state control, has just asked the French health minister, Bernard Kouchner, to authorise the import of 10kg of cannabis for therapeutic use.

The jurists of the MLC base their arguments on articles of the public health code that give the health authorities the right to authorise the import and use of narcotics for medical or scientific research. The Swiss company Valchanvre has offered to supply, free, 10kg of its Walliser Queen variety of cannabis for the MLC's experiment.

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Normally Le Monde gives little space to sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. But the austere French daily has outraged some readers by publishing a lengthy interview with the perpetual rock star Johnny Hallyday in which he casually admits to taking cocaine. John Lichfield reports.

The controversy falls into three parts.

There are the diehard Le Monde readers who believe the newspaper should never mention a "chanteur yeye" like Johnny Hallyday at all.

There are more broad-minded readers who were, none the less, astonished to find the newspaper permitting him to make a defence of cocaine and its artistic contribution to rock music.

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PARIS—The French government will approve the experimental medical use of marijuana in hospitals next year as a first tentative step toward relaxing the country's Draconian drug laws.

Discussions also are to be held early next year on the abolition of prison sentences for possession of small quantities of marijuana and other 'soft' drugs - perhaps eventually leading to decriminalization of cannabis use, government officials say.

Although the government has ruled out any formal change in drug laws in the near future, it is contemplating administrative changes to soften the harsh French rules.

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