Andy Kerbrat, rebellious MP for Loire-Atlantique, admitted to having been controlled while purchasing 3-MMC. He explains that he is “at the disposal of the justice system” and wants to “start a treatment protocol” to treat his addiction.
The rebellious MP Andy Kerbrat recounts this Tuesday October 22 on X that he was checked last Thursday “in possession of narcotics”. “I fully assume my responsibility and place myself at the disposal of justice,” he wrote in a press release.
The elected official for the 2nd constituency of Loire-Atlantique is being prosecuted for drug use and summoned for notification of a criminal order. This information caused a lot of reaction from the French political class. Several personalities are calling for his resignation while the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau calls on him to “draw the consequences of his actions”.
• 1,35g de 3-MMC
Andy Kerbrat was not taken into custody, but interviewed the next day, October 18, at the police station in open hearing. He says he is making himself “available to the courts” who will summon him “in the context of a criminal order”.
According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, “the police observed an exchange between two individuals suggesting a drug transaction.”
During the check, the police found 1.35g of 3-MMC, a synthetic drug, on Andy Kerbrat, while the seller, a teenager, had 1g of 3-MMC and 200 euros, according to the same source.
The seller, a minor, was placed in pre-trial detention pending a single hearing at the Children’s Court (TPE). According to the prosecution, he is “already known for around ten acts and sentenced at the beginning of October for drug trafficking to a four-month probationary sentence, under which he was therefore” during the inspection.
• A booming synthetic drug
3-MMC, 3-methylmethcathinone, is booming in France, particularly in party circles, taken like cocaine at half price. According to the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendenciesthis molecule is mainly in the form of powder whose properties are similar to amphetamines.
The desired effects are generally euphoria, stimulation and libido. “We observe adverse effects at the level of the brain with psychotic states such as paranoia and hallucinations, anxiety or significant insomnia, blood pressure or heart rate but also at the level of the brain with psychotic states such as paranoia and hallucinations, anxiety or significant insomnia,” warns the organization.
3-MMC is classified as a narcotic in France and “due to its increasing distribution in Europe, has been placed under intensive surveillance” by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction as part of the Early Warning System, its monitoring tool. alert and monitoring of NPS, indicates the French Observatory.
• Andy Kerbrat will “start a treatment protocol”
In a press release, Andy Kerbrat announces that he has “started a treatment protocol” in order to be able to resume his parliamentary activity.
“Faced with personal problems and psychological fragilities, I was able to consume synthetic drugs and am fully aware of their effects on health and in particular on mine,” says the MP.
“Beyond me, addiction is a public health problem and deserves to be treated as such,” he adds.
The elected official from Loire-Atlantique says he has been carrying “this fight for a long time with other victims of addiction” and wants to continue to lead it.
“I apologize to my voters above all as well as to my parliamentary group, to my team, and to all the rebellious and New Popular Front activists,” he wrote, indicating that “in the meantime, my team of collaborators is at the disposal of the inhabitants of my constituency”.
• Calls for resignation
“A deputy has a duty to set an example”: Bruno Retailleau called on the LFI deputy to “draw the consequences of his actions”. “While drug banditry is taking hold in France with its procession of violence, it is not tolerable to see a deputy of the Republic buying synthetic drugs from a street dealer,” criticizes the Minister of the Interior who declared in recent weeks that he wanted to “wage war” on “narcoterrorism”.
“Consuming drugs is not only destroying your health, it is also feeding criminal networks,” denounces Secretary of State Laurence Garnier.
“Out of respect for the people of Nantes who have placed their trust in him and devote all his energy to his necessary recovery, he must resign from his mandate”, further argues the former senator close to Bruno Retailleau, and ex-neighbor of the constituency of Andy Kerbrat.
“When we were arrested by the police trying to buy drugs, we no longer have our place in the National Assembly. Everyone makes excuses for him. If I were him, I would take responsibility,” reacts for his part Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade, Macronist deputy.
As for the National Rally MP, Laurent Jacobelli, he is ironic, asking why the MP “didn’t he get supplies from his colleague Louis Boyard”, referring to the fact that the latter had admitted in 2021 to having sold cannabis when he was younger to finance his studies.
• “Addiction is a health problem”
Several left-wing personalities, such as Sandrine Rousseau, have, conversely, given their support to the 34-year-old parliamentarian.
“Drug consumption and addiction are an issue of care, mental health and support. You have recognized, you are on a treatment journey. Come back to us in good shape,” wrote the MP for Paris, who adds to the microphone of BFMTV that Andy Kerbrat “is very affected” and that he “has just entered a treatment course”.
Same story with the president of the rebellious deputies: “Addiction is a health problem,” said Mathilde Panot, who hopes that Andy Kerbrat can quickly resume his parliamentary activity.
Environmentalist senator Mélanie Vogel wishes “good luck in the path of care” taken by Andy Kerbrat, and regrets that French policy is “focused on repression rather than on the essential: care”.
On the side of the Ensemble pour la République group, MP Denis Masséglia believes that “a person who suffers from addiction does not have to be treated like a criminal and humiliated in front of everyone” and that “the penalization of drug users is a impasse.”
Thomas Ménage, RN deputy for Loiret, affirms that his party “does not personally attack people, particularly in this situation” but says he deplores the fact that left-wing elected officials have “a tendency to attack their political opponents on personal facts”. “The lesson-givers are caught at their own game,” he said into our microphone.
