Current policies on combating illicit drug use have failed, according to a parliamentary report. The trends are on the rise, both in use and in sanctions.
France has the highest levels of cannabis experimentation and consumption in Europe! This is what emerges from the last report of the Evaluation and Control Committee (CEC) of public policies on the fight against illicit drug use published this Thursday. In detail, French people aged 15-64 are 2nd in Europe in terms of the experimentation rate (32%) and 1st in terms of consumption during the year (17%).
And among the youngest (15-16 years) only the finding is hardly more reassuring since French teenagers have the 2nd rate of experimentation (39%) in Europe.
Faced with these figures, the authors of this report do not hesitate to say that the current prohibition policies (adopted by our country since 1970) are a failure. This is because all trends are on the rise, both those of use and those of sanctions.
The failure of prevention
The failure of the policy followed for years is first of all that of prevention. The report talks about a very low budget and very low traceability. “They are not perennial and are often drowned in an accumulation of poles and other regional bodies which duplicate each other and at the national level”, it is written in this document.
Some funds are even declining, such as those allocated to the Interministerial Mission for the Fight against Drugs and Addictive Behaviors (MILDECA) which have halved since 2009.
For the authors, the proposal to promote the prevention work of the police and gendarmes in this area leaves one wondering. “Would we ask a doctor to go and stop on the public highway?” ”
Another downside noted by the authors, prevention in schools which according to them “is summed up in an information session in schools while scientific studies at European level in particular show the need to work in continuity and with programs of intervention validated. ”
Risk reduction doesn’t work
Another failure pointed out in this report: that of the risk reduction policy (RDR). The report therefore recommends stepping up the fight against trafficking in opioid substitution treatment (OST) by setting up electronic prescriptions and more secure prescriptions.
But also, “to develop Syringe Exchange Programs (PES) especially in prison. »The authors raise the question of the relevance of Consumption Rooms with Less Risk (SCMR).
The rapporteurs have differing opinions on this point since the deputy Anne-Yvonne Le Dain (PS) is in favor, “in view of comparable foreign experiences”, while Laurent Marcangeli (UMP) is opposed to it, “for lack of sufficient security of the device ”.
On this subject, moreover, the association Federation Addiction regrets that DRR is addressed in a limited way in the report which points to the problem of diversion of certain substitute products, “without leading to proposing an extension of their range. “” The need to decompartmentalize care, to open up possibilities for all products (alcohol, tobacco, etc.), approaches and to better cover the territory requires real means of action, which the report does not have. not allowed to propose, ”she thinks.
The state-controlled sale of cannabis?
Finally, the data reported by the CEC demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the repressive policy (in particular with regard to cannabis, and the penalization of its use). The rate of criminal offenses on this subject has thus increased from 2,000 in 1970 to 140,000 today.
This finding of failure gives rise to two different proposals, a third category offense (punishable by a fine of 450 euros) on the one hand with the UMP deputy, and legalization of individual use in the private sphere with and a sale regulated under the control of the State for the deputy PS.
Asked by Europe1 this Thursday, Anne-Yvonne Le Drain confides: “This policy which would make it possible to weaken criminal networks by reducing demand, would provide tax revenue earmarked for prevention and treatment, and would allow the police to redeploy resources. on the fight against trafficking. “
The Addiction Federation is pleased for its part that this report clearly shows the need to rethink the “dogma of the war on drugs”. “A real addiction policy must therefore be able to adapt to changes in society around the following four axes: regulating the supply, preventing, reducing the damage linked to use and improving access and quality of care”, concludes- she.
(1) Outpatient Addictology Support and Prevention Care Centers
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