Par
Margot Nicodème
Published on
Jan 15, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.
It was this news item, which occurred on November 15, 2024, which decided Julien*, a resident of Lilleto write to the editorial staff of Lille news. The article relates the arrest of a street vendor at the exit of the Wazemmes metro, whose goods were cigarettes and pregabalin. It was this substance that made Julien wince: this medicineNormally issued by prescription to people epileptics, his twin brother dieda year earlier, in November 2023. Virgil*, aged only 41, was discovered lifeless in his apartment on rue Gambettawhere many boxes of pregabalin – although there was no right to it – were found on the shelves. Today, his family wants to denounce the devastating effects of what is nicknamed “the poor man’s drug”, and is increasingly diverted for recreational purposes. The Lille public prosecutor’s officefor his part, is well aware of this large-scale drug trafficking, supervised by “structured networks”, mainly in the Wazemmes district and in Roubaix, he indicates. In response, a “judicial strategy” has been put in place “to detect mega-consumers”.
Pregabalin tablets found in Lille apartment: “That’s what finished him off”
It was on the night of November 17, 2023 that Julien, accompanied by his mother, learned of the death of his twin brother. Virgil, of whom all those close to him knew that he was fighting his addictions for years, in addition to having to deal with his bipolarity, was found dead in the bed of his apartment in Lille. If the doctor who came to observe the death mentions a probable heart attack, induced by the excess weight of the deceased, Julien’s intuition is completely different when he gains access to the scene. He quickly spots “single pills piled up » on a piece of furniture. Quite a cocktail of medications, in fact, composed of zopiclone, a sleeping pill, and opened pregabalin tablets.
It is later, when he has his twin’s phone at his disposal, that Julien understands that this last medication requires a compulsory prescription. “That’s what finished him off”he decides. Supporting messages, he discovered that his brother had easily obtained it on the street, for a pittance. “2 to 5 euros no more,” estimates Julien. With his family, he filed a complaint in January 2024 to denounce the ongoing trafficking and its actors. Since then, he has had no news.
We deplore the fact that we have never been summoned in a year. What we want now is that the effects of consumption [abusive] of pregabalin are known. It’s deadly.
Diverted consumption of pregabalin: what are the health risks?
Dr Jean-Philippe Platel, departmental president of the Order of Physicians in the North, explains that pregabalin responds to “specific indications” in cases of epilepsy or “neuropathic pain”. The first risk of misuse is acute poisoning. “Pregabalin is often combined with other drugs, because it increases their effects. Like heroin, cocaine but also morphine,” explains the doctor. This explosive cocktail can cause “consciousness disturbances, respiratory distress, convulsions and death. The risk of overdose is multiplied”. The second risk is “disinhibition, with people who will tend to commit suicide more easily”.
Virgil’s funeral is now distant, and no autopsy has previously been carried out. The chances of finding – or convicting – the person or people who supplied him with pregabalin are slim, Julien and his family know this. However, the Lille prosecutor, Carole Etienne, took up the problemand long before Virgil’s case was brought to his attention.
Police, CPAM, social landlords… A “working group” to identify traffickers
The prosecution reschedules the start of investigations into this drug trafficking – “often sold at retail, directly in the street” – to April 2021.
Four years ago, a “ territorialized working group » is thus developed to “detect mega-consumers who obtain medicines from different pharmacies, some of them using falsified prescriptions”. The said working group is the result of a “partnership body between the magistrates of the Lille public prosecutor’s office, City elected officials, the national police, social landlords and the primary health insurance fund“, further informs the prosecution. And this exceptional collaboration is producing results.
The judicial investigations carried out make it possible to identify individuals, part of structured networks, who organize and fuel drug trafficking, following the example of what we know for drug trafficking. The prosecutor also reminded the investigating services in April 2022 to carry out investigations on the basis of the offense defined in I of article L.5432-2 of the public health code.
What does this article say, exactly? It represses 5 years in prison and of €375,000 fine “the fact for anyone of manufacturing, importing, exporting, transporting, offering, transferring […] to possess illicitly or to be dispensed by means of fictitious or convenience prescriptions” of “substances […] classified as psychotropic drugs” and medications that can have the same effects. Organized gang clerkthese offenses can give rise to penalties “raised to 7 years of imprisonment and €750,000 fine« .
“Constantly increasing” traffic in the territory of the Lille metropolis
And how is drug trafficking evolving locally? If the “phenomenon remains difficult to quantify”, the prosecution still describes it as being “constantly increasing”particularly the illegal sale of antiepileptics. They are “prized for their powerful psychotropic effects and are the subject of drug abuse”. Pregabalin is therefore one of them, but also clonazepam, better known by its trade name Rivotril®.
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