On the occasion of the international day Support Don’t Punish on June 26, 2023, the collective for a new drug policy (CNPD) invites people to sign a petition for the adoption of a law abolishing criminal penalties for drug use in France. Its objective is to collect, by 2027, 100,000 signatures in order to request the examination by the National Assembly of a new law.
Marie Ongün-Rombaldi, general delegate of the Addiction Federation and member of the CNPD, believes that “priority must be given to health over repression”. According to this official, the sanctions aimed at consumers constitute “an obstacle to access to care, prevention and risk reduction” and symbolize France’s failure in terms of drug policy.
“We are one of the most repressive countries in the world and one of the biggest consumers of cocaine and cannabis”, adds Marie Ongün-Rombaldi, appealing to “pragmatism” in the face of a “moral and ideological” position.
Considering therefore that repression is ineffective, costly and has no real impact on trafficking, the CNPD would like to see a new law putting an end to criminal penalties for the simple use of drugs (consumption and possession). More specifically, the collective asks that the public health code be reformed to allow:
- consumers to fearlessly seek support from associations and professionals in risk reduction and care
- to develop information, prevention and risk reduction actions which would then no longer be in contradiction with the law: it is a question of protecting people’s health and reducing the health and social cost of drugs which weighs on the community
- to reinvest the public money thus saved, for example in actions of prevention, reduction of risks and damages and care
- to free up resources and time for the police and justice services in order to refocus their mission on the protection of people, in particular the most socially vulnerable.
If this petition collects at least 100,000 signatures, it will first be posted on the National Assembly website. One of the eight standing committees of the National Assembly could then take it up, either to decide to examine the text during a debate that is the subject of a parliamentary report, or to file the petition – probably alongside reports from the Mission for Information on the Use of Cannabis and from the ESEC.
The CNPD brings together around twenty organizations representing players in the medico-social field (Addiction Federation, Aides, Médecins du monde, Safe, SOS Addictions), users (Asud), the Collectif Police contre prohibition, the Syndicat de la magistrature , the League for Human Rights, the International Observatory of Prisons, etc.
