Éric Piolle proposes anonymous drug tests for politicians

Green mayor of Grenoble, Éric Piolle, in the tradition of his proposal for a referendum on the decriminalization of cannabis, has proposed anonymous drug testing for MPs and ministers.

In an interview with Dauphiné Libéré, quoted by’AFP, he asked that saliva, hair and urine tests are carried out within the’National Assembly and Senate. The aim, according to Piolle, is to determine whether drug use is widespread among those responsible for developing and applying anti-drug policies.

«We have to get away from hypocrisy,» he said on RMC, by insisting on the fact that it's not a question of targeting individuals, but of approaching the issue with openness and honesty.

Drug use in politics

Politicians being only men, they obviously use drugs. In January 2023, the MP for the Renaissance Emmanuel Pellerin was forced to withdraw from his party after the Mediapart revealed allegations of’use of drugs. Similarly, in October 2024, Rep. LFI Andy Kerbrat was arrested in the Paris metro while buying illegal substances.

The senator from’Horizons Joël Guerriau is currently under investigation for attempted sexual assault under chemical submission. While in police custody, he was checked for positive for amphetamines, opiates, cannabis, cocaine and MDMA.

In this context, Piolle's call for a drug testing in political circles is above all a call to denounce the hypocrisy of drug treatment within the political sphere.

«There have already been drug cases in Parliament,» noted M. Piolle in Le Dauphiné Libéré, It's time to bring the extent of this consumption out into the open.

M. Piolle also linked his proposal for drug testing to his more general position on the cannabis legalization. At january 2025, he requested the organization of a referendum on this issue, believing that the’punitive approach current drug policy was ineffective.

«We're putting more and more people in prison, yet drug trafficking is still as big as ever,» he said, criticizing the lack of strategic vision in the fight of France against illegal substances.

Politics aside, illegal drug use in France is on the rise. According to the’French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT)), the cannabis remains the most widely used drug, The number of users is expected to rise to 5 million by 2023. At the same time, cocaine use has exploded, with 1.1 million people admitting to having used it at least once in the past year.