French associations call for the abandonment of the fixed fine project

The debate on forfaitization of drug law enforcement in France continues. The measure, part of the government's plan to reform the justice system, provides for the extension of the fixed fine to the offence of drug use. The measure has already been approved by the Senate and is currently being debated by the National Assembly's Law Commission. The latter recently voted in favor of an amendment proposed by MP Eric Poulliat to lower the fine from €300 to €200. According to the words of the deputy, this amendment is based solely on a logic of profitability, to prevent the police from coming up against the insolvency of users.

Despite the senators' support for the project, more and more voices are being raised among elected representatives, law enforcement services and civil society to call for a revision of the project and a change of perspective in drug policy. At a press conference on Tuesday, representatives of eight organizations joined forces to publish an inter-associative white paper against fixed-rate fines. Among these organizations are early pro-legalization activists such as CIRC and NORML France, associations helping drug users and fighting addiction, as well as more singular voices such as the Syndicat de la Magistrature, the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme and Médecins du Monde.

A misguided policy

The White Paper recalls the contours of current drug policy, which dates back to the 1970s and comprises a complex arsenal of legislation punishing the use, transport, possession, supply and presentation in a favorable light of all narcotics, regardless of their lethal or addictive potential. The law includes some legal provisions for the therapeutic treatment of users, but these are limited. The document denounces a binary vision of the drug user «apprehended as a delinquent who must be punished or a sick person who must be treated».

According to the co-signatories, this conception of the drug user reflects a limited vision of the problems of addiction in society. These issues concern not only the consumption of illicit products, but also legal drugs such as painkillers, which are responsible for the majority of overdoses in France. As far as illegal drugs are concerned, France is the leading consumer of cannabis and the third largest consumer of cocaine in Europe. The use of psychoactive substances seems to have become widely democratized in society, yet laws continue to label consumers as delinquents. According to the associations, «the current repressive framework does not allow for calm reflection on society's relationship with these products».

The legislative arsenal of prohibition has led to increased repression of drug users and an explosion in arrests: since 1990. The number of cannabis-related cases has risen by 760%, with 83% of arrests for simple use. While repression of users is on the increase, repression of traffickers is on the decline, calling into question the argument that apprehending users enables trafficking networks to be traced. In addition to producing no convincing results in terms of solving trafficking investigations or reducing demand, this repressive policy has an exorbitant cost of 2.4 billion a year, or 0.1% of GDP.

Repression reaffirmed

Despite the evidence of its ineffectiveness, highlighted by the document's statistics, this law has never been re-evaluated by the public authorities in its 40 years of existence. Today, as part of the government's reform of the justice system, the opportunity to review this policy has resulted in the introduction of an additional repressive mechanism. The fixed fine, presented as an innovation, in fact offers nothing new. «In reality, the only purpose of the fixed-rate fine is to continue and consolidate the policy of numbers, and to facilitate repression by making the procedure more expeditious,» reads the document.

This reform does not amount to contraventionalization, as it does not effectively abolish prison sentences. Nor does it amount to decriminalization, since it does not remove drug use from the scope of criminal law. Its only contribution is that recourse to a judge will no longer be systematic. On the other hand, repression will be systematic, thanks to a simplified procedure, and this is exactly what the co-signatories of the white paper fear. In France, a cannabis user is already stopped every 3.39 minutes.

The perverse effects of this reform

The co-signatories denounce «a failure foretold», a «counter-productive» policy and, above all, a «repressive bludgeoning» that risks further aggravating relations between the police and the public. What's more, they consider that «the fine derogates from the principles of individualization and proportionality of penalties, weakens the rights of those subject to trial, (...) amplifies discriminatory and discretionary practices, and risks reinforcing »control au faciès" and the targeting of the most precarious populations".

According to these associations, This reform short-circuits any in-depth reflection on the social issues surrounding drug use. By reiterating an ineffective repressive policy, it «misses the real issues» of prevention and harm reduction. According to Katia Dubreuil, President of the Syndicat de la Magistrature, instead of helping and supporting drug users, this measure will only lead to their precarious situation. The forces of law and order will be able to «fine anyone they want, maybe three times a week to the same person», she declares.

Nathalie Latour, General Delegate of Fédération Addiction, is concerned about the indiscriminate nature of the fine, which lumps all users together. «Not all uses are problematic, and not all uses require health care,» she explains. Malik Salemkour, President of the French Human Rights League (LDH), expresses the same concerns, underlining the lack of reflection surrounding the reform: «With this fine, we're acknowledging a failure, we're saying: “Since we can't do it, we're going to slaughter”, but how will the case-by-case approach be examined?.

Another blind spot in this measure concerns minors: the fixed fine does not apply to minors, due to a legal impossibility. And yet.., some used the argument of early use to defend the reform. In France, 31% of minors said they had already used cannabis, compared with an average of 18% in Europe. This early use represents a real problem, but it is not effectively addressed by the reform. Europe 1, William Lowenstein, President of SOS Addictions, explains that the current system is catastrophic, and that we need to emphasize educational prohibition. «Prohibition hasn't protected us,» he says. He is joined in this position by the President of Fédération Addiction, who expressed himself on the subject in the same terms last year. on RTL.

After passing through committee, the reform is due to be presented to the National Assembly on November 19. The associations are calling on parliamentarians to reject Article 37, which introduces a fixed fine for drug use, and wish to encourage «a national debate on the promotion of public health and respect for human rights» in drug policies.