Drivers high on cocaine causing fatal road accidents have happened three times in two weeks in Haute-Garonne. October 25 in Labastidette a 12-year-old child lost his life on November 1 in Flourensthere it was a 28-year-old cyclist who was killed and on November 8 in Eaunes, the victim was a 16-year-old scooter rider. A dark series which reveals that this hard drug is increasingly consumed.
Cocaine users at all levels of society
“At 40 euros per gram, cocaine is very easy to buy today and is no longer the prerogative of businessmen and the jet set.“
explains a Toulouse doctor from the association Addictions France. The consumer profile is heterogeneous, says this professional: “students, workers and even homeless people“all levels of society are affected.”At a time when there is always more demand for competitiveness, it's the drug of the moment, says the doctor.”
Often combined with alcohol, cocaine leads to dangerous driving behavior and in particular excessive speed.
“Unacceptable behavior on the road” says the mayor of Eaunes
In Eaunes the driver who killed a 16-year-old teenager riding a scooter is, according to the gendarmerie, a 37-year-old father who was going to work. After fleeing, he was found in Ariège at Lézat-sur-Lèze, then imprisoned. The mayor of Eaunes, Alain Sottil, is sorry and indignant: “I can only be sorry. It's even more so when you have a sixteen year old kid who gets killed on the road while he was peacefully returning home and the person who killed him was under the influence of drugs..” The elected official comments: “It's catastrophic. It's already difficult to ensure safety on our roads, if on top of that people are under this influence! They behave in unacceptable ways on the road. How do you want to master all of this?“His experience as mayor made him notice excessive traffic offenses:”We have roads limited to 50 where people pass at more than 100 kilometers/h. You understand, it's getting more and more difficult.” Asked about the evolution of behavior, Alain Sottil specifies: ” We can only see the increase in cocaine consumption in recent years. It has become democratized, everyone can consume it. This was not the case fifteen or 20 years ago.”
To better deal with this road insecurity, the town of Eaunes, 6,000 inhabitants, will recruit a 4th municipal police officer.
In Labastidette, the driver profile is similar indicates the gendarmerie: a man, 35 years old, for whom taking cocaine was not recreational.
For each of these accidents, judicial investigations were opened and an investigating judge was contacted.
Interview with the regional delegate of the Addictions federation
Martine Lacoste is a psychologist by training, she is the regional delegate of the Addictions federationshe is also director of the “Clémence Isaure” association, in Toulouse, which helps drug addicts to quit.
What are the effects of driving on cocaine?
“The effects of driving under cocaine are effects that will multiply the desire for speed, since this product has the particularity of giving the feeling of performance, the feeling of being the strongest and of thinking that deep down, nothing is possible. can happen to me.”
Who uses cocaine?
“All drugs are distributed by social class. First, it is the wealthiest social class that consumes drugs and little by little trickle down. And today, all social classes can be impacted by the encounter with cocaine.
You can be a student and use cocaine? The gram costs €40 and is accessible to everyone?
“Effectively, the student is afraid of failing, he is afraid of not passing his exams. And with cocaine, he has this feeling of being able to sleep less and therefore of learning more, of being more efficient. So he has this need for success which will lead him towards this product, just as much as in evenings for example, to last until the end of the night, or even two days in a row.
Cocaine to keep you going at work too?
“Cocaine is what we call an adaptation drug. So it’s a safe bet that people who experience tension at work, with cocaine, have this feeling of being able to simply hold on.”
Don't we realize that by consuming cocaine while driving, we are dangerous for ourselves and for others?
“There is no feeling of danger. I remember work that we were able to do with prisoners to work on road safety prevention campaigns. And when we talked with them, they told us for example: You know, to avoid an accident, when you have consumed a lot of alcohol, you use cocaine to be hyper-vigilant and erase the sleepy side of alcohol. So they experience it almost as a treatment C. is obviously a completely different vision from the common vision, but in any case it is a vision that is widespread.
Mass drug testing while driving has been possible since a 2016 ministerial decreepolice officers and gendarmes carry out saliva tests which must then be validated by a blood test.
You are a consumer, do you need to talk about it? In Toulouse the association Clemence Isaure can help you.
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