Marseille, Paris, but also Grenoble, Lyon, Nantes, Rennes… Drugs are gaining ground in France.And with them comes a trail of violence, gang feuds, corruption anddeaths.
What onceseemed confined to a few neighbourhoods has become a nationwide phenomenon.
The figures are, in fact, ‘stunning’ – if you’ll pardon the pun.
According to the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, the drugs market was worth 6.8 billion euros in 2023. Nearly three times as much as in 2010!
Cocaine alone generated 3.1 billion euros. And 1.1 million French people had used it at least once that year.
Behind these billions lies a veritable criminal economy.
International networks, structured organisations, clandestine financial channels. But also, on the ground, teenagers recruited as lookouts, dealers, or even hitmen.
In Marseille, clashes between networks have left entire neighbourhoods bloodied. In Paris and its suburbs, drug trafficking networks organise themselves, shift their operations, regroup and turn entire areas into war zones.
And now, medium-sized towns are in turn experiencing the kind of violence once associated with major cities.
The victims are not just the traffickers. They also include terrorised residents, bereaved families and, all too often, innocent bystanders.
Drugs destroy lives. They ruin families, jeopardise the health of thousands of users and, in certain areas, create a dramatic power struggle between the state and criminal organisations.
The police do intervene, of course. The courts prosecute to a greater or lesser extent. And the authorities are stepping up their high-profile gestures.
Yet the market continues to thrive.
And this is where a question that is all too rarely asked arises: who really finances this criminal economy? Let us remember: without buyers, there is no drug trade!
We are quick to point the finger at dealers in the housing estates. But do we talk enough about their customers, particularly those in the upmarket neighbourhoods?
Cocaine also circulates in affluent circles, among the privileged professions, in circles of influence and even within the political world.
In 2024, MP Andy Kerbrat was arrested whilst buying a synthetic drug. In 2023, MP Emmanuel Pellerin admitted to having used cocaine.
And even more incredibly revealing: in June 2026, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu ordered unannounced and compulsory drug tests in ministerial offices and amongst certain senior civil servants. Ministers were also invited to undergo testing.
We should also mention investigative journalism, such as that by Élis Lucet, which highlights the widespread use of drugs amongst MPs and senators.
Finally, for legal prudence’s sake, we shall not mention the long-standing rumours of drug use in the upper echelons of government…
Admittedly, addiction is a condition that warrants treatment. But it does not absolve the purchaser of responsibility.
And when a public official uses drugs, it also raises the question of setting a good example.
How can we ask the French people to combat drug trafficking when certain representatives of the State are themselves helping to finance it?
For therein lies the immense contradiction.
We condemn the traffickers; we call for more police, more prisons, harsher penalties.
But a significant proportion of the clientele belongs precisely to those social classes that have the means, the influence and, at times, the power.
Drug trafficking thrives on demand as much as on supply.
And one day, we will have to face up to this economic, moral and public health responsibility borne by the elites and a certain section of the middle classes.
For those who buy drugs are not merely financing their own pleasure or addiction. They are also helping to fund the networks that are poisoning and plunging our country into bloodshed.
