Castaner and Old World recipes

Edito. It could be nothing more than a fable. Yet it is reality. Against the backdrop of 50 years of failed efforts to curb drug use in France, Christophe Castaner inaugurated the new Office for the Suppression of Narcotics (OFAST) yesterday.

Cleverly renamed to make people forget the OCRTIS’s shortcomings and the numerous instances of misconduct surrounding François Thierry, who was «legally» importing several metric tons of cannabis Each year, OFAST’s mission will be to fight «again and again» against drugs, without «fatalism» or «defeatism»—though evidently not without contradictions— since the very act of acknowledging that the fight must be waged «again and again» is already somewhat fatalistic.

In 2019, more than 13,000 cases of trafficking were prosecuted, 10% more than last year.
But we had to keep going, to go further.
We needed to step up our efforts, improve clarity and collaboration, and strengthen our presence in the regions.
That is the goal of the'#OFAST. pic.twitter.com/u3UsTe21F6

- Christophe Castaner (@CCastaner) February 11, 2020

And since We already know the results Regarding the new Stup’ plan, it is still worth analyzing the rhetoric surrounding its creation—aside, of course, from the deliberately combative («fight») and dramatic («riddled,» «scourge,» «death trade»):

• In France, the drug trade is estimated to generate 3.2 billion euros in revenue. The government’s conclusion is therefore to leave this revenue to the black market.
• On a global scale, drugs are said to kill «between 170,000 and 200,000 people.» Yet in France, between 120,000 and 130,000 people die each year from tobacco and alcohol. Nevertheless, these remain two entirely legal industries. Cannabis, on the other hand, has never killed anyone. Its prohibition, yes.
• In 2019, drug trafficking reportedly increased by 11% compared to 2018. Wow. So your bans are really effective, then.
• Given all this, OFAST will have a staff of 170 agents, 240 employees, and 11 regional offices. Is that enough to keep a business worth over 3 billion in check?

At best, these talking points lack seriousness and consistency. And if we were to once again acknowledge the failure of a ’war on drugs” that is really more of a war on consumers, the’cannabis fine To give just one example, we could compare the number of arrests for simple use with those for trafficking. And finally, we could consider other possibilities.