After the broadcast of an episode of “Plus belle la vie” showing a character rolling a joint, the government decided to seize the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA).
A joint rolled up on television and the Interministerial Mission for the Fight against Drugs and Drug Addiction (MILDT) ignites. In a letter of March 7, the president of the MILDT, Danièle Jourdain-Menninger, calls on the president of the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA). She asks for an expertise on the content of an episode of the series “Plus belle la vie” broadcast on France 3 on March 3.
Non-compliance with the public health code
In this episode of the soap opera, a character “offers a very didactic and extended explanation of how to roll a cannabis cigarette,” according to the president of the MILDT. The footage sparked controversy right after it aired. The MILDT, for its part, wonders “about the conformity of the program” and asks the CSA to verify that the episode complies with the various recommendations.
The CSA in fact asks “to show an illicit drug taking only when the scenario justifies it and to ensure that the latter is not an incentive, in particular vis-à-vis young viewers. Danièle Jourdain-Menninger also recalls that the “presentation in a favorable light of the use of a narcotic product is criminally reprehensible” by the public health code.
Empower the media
The event is all the more problematic as the MILDT has made young people “the priority public” for action against drug use. This program is aimed precisely at a family audience, and it is broadcast at prime time. On average, each episode brings together 5 million viewers in front of their screens. The president of the MILDT underlines “the need to unbalance the consumption of cannabis” and calls for the responsibility of the CSA and France 3. The chain has however taken all the necessary precautions: the signage “not recommended for under 10 years” has been affixed. Before the episode began, a message warning about the dangers of drugs was displayed for 10 seconds.
Source: France 3
It is necessary to make accountable “each one vis-a-vis addictive behaviors”, insists the president of the MILDT, in particular the media “of which one knows the power of prescription on the populations. This is not the first time that the series “Plus belle la vie” has been singled out. In 2011 already, the CSA had issued a call to order for having broadcast, without warning this time, three episodes in which a character consumed heroin.
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