Environmentalist mayor Éric Piolle asks Emmanuel Macron for “a referendum” to decriminalize cannabis

“We are putting more and more people in prison and yet trafficking is still as high,” points out the elected official who deplores “an absence of strategic vision” in the fight against drug trafficking.

Environmentalist mayor Éric Piolle asks Emmanuel Macron “a referendum” on the decriminalization of cannabis, Thursday January 23 on franceinfo. “I propose that the President of the Republic take the initiative of holding a referendum on the subject”says Éric Piolle. “Let’s move towards a referendum on decriminalization, or control of production, legalization, there will be a debate”pleads the environmentalist mayor, noting the failure of repressive policy.

Cannabis remains the most consumed drug in France with more than five million users, according to the latest study by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT), and while cocaine trafficking has exploded in France with 49 tonnes of seizures in 2024.

“We are putting more and more people in prison and yet traffic is still as high as ever,” observes Éric Piolle. “Consumption is increasing, we are at 50% recidivism”notes the mayor of Grenoble who deplores everything repressive. “We’re not saying it’s useless, but it’s a drop in the ocean and a lack of strategic vision”explains Éric Piolle in reference to the large net market operations to clean up deal points. “They are scooping out the sea with a teaspoon”laments the mayor of Grenoble, reproaching the various Ministers of the Interior as well as “make big chin thrusts”. “Mr Darmanin, like Mr Valls, like Mr Sarkozy, like Mr Retailleau have made drug trafficking their business”denounces the environmentalist mayor.

Bruno Retailleau notably criticized the mayor of Grenoble for not installing enough video surveillance cameras in his city of nearly 160,000 inhabitants to fight against drug trafficking (last October on France Inter). Éric Piolle specifies that his city is equipped with “120 cameras, 6 per square kilometer”but that their “efficiency” is limited. “We had a cleaner shot dead in front of the cameras, a 15-year-old boy on a drug deal shot dead in front of a camera,” recalls the mayor of Grenoble. As for the subject of arming the municipal police, Éric Piolle is against. “As an employer, I consider that it puts them in danger and that it does not correspond to their mission to arm them with firearms”he explains, recalling that his police are armed with “telescopic batons, tear gas, and tasers”.

“We have a collective responsibility”assures Éric Piolle who faces the scourge of drug trafficking. “We must fight fiercely against drug trafficking, and we must fight for the emancipation of young people, offering them solutions”suggests the environmentalist mayor, and “we must support parents”. “We have to find a modus vivendi with the dealers”says the mayor, worried about these “organized multinationals that exploit increasingly young and increasingly deprived people.”