Growing drug seizures and consumption:
As the OFDT blatantly shows, most indicators concerning drugs are constantly increasing: if the turnover of drug trafficking can be estimated between 3.5 billion and 6 billion euros[1]this amount is still lower according to the OFDT than the consequences for the community of these addictions with a social cost estimated in 2023 (for the year 2019) at 7.7 billion euros[2].
Worse, the main figures show an increase in experimentation and consumption:
The OFDT thus notes that with regard to cannabis, the experimentation rate reaches 50.4% (at least 1 use in a lifetime for 11-75 year olds) in 2023, an increase of +3.1 points since 2021. On the other hand, the number of users seems to “stagnate” around 11%, i.e. 10.8% in 2023 compared to 11% in 2017 and 10.6% in 2021 and 2014.
With regard to other drugs (including hard drugs), experimentation will increase significantly in 2023 to 14.6% of the population compared to 9.8% in 2017 (i.e. +4.8 points), while users in the year also increased significantly, i.e. 3.9% compared to 2.3% in 2017 (+1.6 points).
On the other hand, in absolute value, the consuming populations are significant: for cannabis, 21 million consumers, including 5 million users during the year and 1.4 million regular users, including 900,000 daily. For cocaine, there are 3.7 million experimenters, including 1.1 million users per year. For Ecstasy/MDMA there are 3.2 million experimenters, including 750,000 users, per year and for heroin we only have experimenters, i.e. 850,000 per year. All addictive substances combined, consumers during the year (occasional or regular) still represent in 2023 nearly 6.85 million people (even if these populations depending on the products can be the same), which represents nearly 13.1% of the total population considered (11-75 years, or 52.1 million people) excluding regular heroin users[3].
If we now look at the seizures made by public authorities, the figures are also illustrative:
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For cannabis, seizures of herbal cannabis increased from 4.5 tonnes in 2010 to 37.7 tonnes in 2023. Seizures of resin increased by 65% over the same period, from 52.7 tonnes to 87 tonnes .
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For heroin and opioids, seizures between 2010 and 2023 are constant at 1.1 tonnes, particularly in connection with the 73% drop in global production linked to the ban on this culture in Afghanistan by the Taliban regime. However, prices are falling, reaching 28 euros in 2023 compared to 35 euros on average in 2011, even though the active ingredient content has increased over the period from 10 to 16%.
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For cocaine, on the other hand, demand is exploding and seizures with it: we go from 4.1 tonnes seized in 2010 to 23.2 tonnes in 2023 and 47 tonnes in 2024 over the first 11 months of the year… this increase is parallel to global production increasing from 1,134 tonnes in 2010 to nearly 2,700 tonnes in 2022. Cocaine is also sold more more pure since its average purity increases from 46% in 2011 to 73% in 2023 while its price remains stable (rising from €60 to €66 over the period).
A security/justice continuum with regard to drug trafficking which is gradually being put in place:
While until now the repressive and penal response was relatively divided between the investigation services and the judicial processing of cases, a concordance between ministries seems to be taking place with the arrival within the Bayrou Government of two personalities with strong security profiles Bruno Retailleau places Beauvau, a position he already occupied in the previous Barnier government and Gerald Darmanin at the Ministry of Justice after having himself been Minister of the Interior for the previous 4 years from July 2020 to September 2024.
In particular, the Minister of Justice announced that he wanted to isolate the “100 biggest drug traffickers” in “a high security prison” by the summer. “We are going to take a French prison, we are going to empty it of the people who are there and we will put there, since we will have it totally isolated, totally secure with particularly trained, anonymized prison officers” the “100 biggest drug traffickers“, as reported by France Info[4].
For his part, the Minister of the Interior announced the creation of a port intelligence cell specially dedicated to the port of Le Havre (a CROSS (operational intelligence cell on narcotics[5]) with additional police and gendarmerie personnel and two customs analysts[6] of the DNRED (National Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigations). The city is a very important entry point for drugs in France with nearly 78% of the number of drug seizures, for volumes of nearly 13 tonnes.
Let us remember, however, that many elements are still awaited:
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On the one hand after the 2022 report on the fight against drugs published in March 2023[7]no new publication of this type has been made by the Ministry of the Interior to document its action since with regard to the public;
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On the other hand, the lines of action published by MILADECA (interministerial mission to combat addictive behavior) in its interministerial strategy to combat addictive behavior 2023-2027[8] still remain unfinished[9]. In particular a new national plan to combat narcotics, still unpublished.
Finally, it is necessary to underline the desire of the public authorities to act over the long term since the joint Retailleau/Migaud speech in Marseille last November. Indeed, during this visit, the Ministers of Justice and the Interior announced[10] :
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The desire to create a national anti-narcotics prosecutor’s office (PNAST) in the long term; firstly by strengthening the teams working with the Paris Prosecutor’s Office against organized crime by 40% (the measure is necessarily on hold pending the final decisions on the 2025 budget);
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The establishment of a national coordination unit responsible for taking stock of threats, setting an operational strategy and implementing it at the Chancellery;
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Securing the work of investigators with the installation of a safe whose contents would not be released to the investigation and which would allow investigators not to disclose their techniques to the defense;
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The establishment of a specific status for “repentants” reinforced on the Italian model;
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“Make it compulsory to open an asset investigation in drug cases”, but also “reverse the burden of proof” by creating “an injunction to justify unexplained resources”. “Are you driving a large engine? Very good, (…) give us proof of the financing of this acquisition”, explained the Minister of the Interior in November. This should involve cooperation from the justice system in order to “hit criminals in the wallet by strengthening the possibilities of seizures and judicial confiscation so that crime, and particularly organized crime, does not pay” Didier Migaud mentioned at the time “We must give prefects the power to close money laundering businesses” and “the offender who traffickers must be able to be evicted from his accommodation” added the Minister of the Interior.
Conclusion :
Statistics related to drug trafficking and consumption are constantly increasing. The security and penal response must adjust to this new situation. The profiles of the Ministers of the Interior and Justice and their first proposals suggest the possible establishment of a real police/justice continuum in the fight against organized crime and especially with regard to drug trafficking. For this to happen, the team present must have the budgetary and political room for maneuver to be able to carry out their undertaking by properly coordinating the action of the two ministries, define a common strategy to combat drug trafficking and pursue the outlined commitments. by the previous government which must gain momentum. Remember that greater selectivity of prisons is necessary[11] in order to truly isolate the biggest drug traffickers from their networks. The idea of a special high security prison in this area constitutes an excellent proposal, if moreover the environment of the prison guards working there is also secure (in order to avoid pressure and corruption). In any case, 3 points should move forward in parallel:
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A revision of the map of the location of police and gendarmerie forces as requested by the Court of Auditors, in order to have adequate forces depending on the nature of the territory (rural or urban, even rural). We know how drug trafficking is growing, particularly in rural areas.[12].
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On the justice side, it is necessary to have an agile strategy to compensate for the slow deployment of prison construction programs. In this perspective, alternative and emergency means must be deployed in order to “receive” the criminal population that the rise in the fight against drug trafficking should induce. We are thinking in particular of the development of light and modular capacities (prefabricated, adapted transformed spaces) to accommodate the least dangerous population traditionally placed in QA/MA (detention centers and remand centers) and which are currently present within the park prison with the greatest propensity for overcrowding. We have also proposed that penitentiary capacities be deployed on military grounds by bringing together the Ministry of Defense and that of Justice and their two specialized real estate operators.[13].
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Finally, it will also be necessary to develop the medical response to treat consumer addictions, in conjunction with the Ministry of Health. This is an important area if we want to fight effectively against the increase in demand for drugs at the national level.
[1] https://www.actu-juridique.fr/justice/le-narcotrafic-en-france-35-a-6-milliards-de-chiffre-daffaires/ as well as Senate report Getting France out of the drug trafficking trap7 May 2024, p.45. https://www.senat.fr/rap/r23-588-1/r23-588-1.pdf#page=45
[2]https://www.ofdt.fr/sites/ofdt/files/2025-01/dacc_2024.pdf, as well as OFDT, The social cost of drugs in 2019July 2023.
[3] In 2021 the OFDT reported 130,000 consumers per month, see https://www.ofdt.fr/heroine-et-opioides-synthese-des-connaissances-1729
[4] https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/drogue/un-record-de-47-tonnes-de-cocaine-ont-ete-saisies-sur-les-onze-premiers-mois-de-2024-annonce-bruno-retailleau_7011674.html
[5] The CROSS are supported by territorial branches of OFAST see order of December 27, 2019 creating OFAST branches and detachments https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000039683333
[6] On customs information, see the latest summary dated November 7, 2024 on the subject https://www.ccomptes.fr/sites/default/files/2025-01/20250113-S2024-1375-Fonction-renseignement-Direction-nationale-renseignement-et-des-enquetes.pdf
[7] https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/archives/actualites/dossiers-de-presse/bilan-2022-de-lutte-contre-drogues
[8] See the operational implementation circular in the prefectures https://www.drogues.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2024-01/CIRCULAIRE%20CHEF%20DE%20PROJET%20MILDECA%20-%202024.pdf
[9] https://www.drogues.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2023-03/SIMCA%202023-2027.pdf
[10] https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/drogue/lutte-contre-le-trafic-de-drogues-ce-qu-il-faut-retenir-des-annonces-de-bruno-retailleau-et-didier-migaud_6885440.html these proposals partly took up the findings made by senators DERAIN and BLANC in May 2024 see note n°1.
[11] According to the profiles of the criminals. As such, France lacks psychiatric prisons for criminals suffering from severe mental disorders.
[12] https://www.ccomptes.fr/sites/default/files/2025-01/20250113-La-repartition-des-zones-de-competence-entre-la-police-et-la-gendarmerie-nationales.pdf
[13] We have already had the opportunity to mention this in a previous note: https://www.ifrap.org/fonction-publique-et-administration/prisons-francaises-80130-detenus-pour-62357-places
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