News stories continued throughout the fall, against a backdrop of drug trafficking. In Poitiers, a 15-year-old boy died during a shooting. In Grenoble, a teenager was fatally shot in the head. Near Rennes, a 5-year-old child was shot and injured. In Marseille, a VTC driver was the victim of a minor hitman… The magistrates do not fail to establish the link between this bloody news and the appetite of part of the population for illegal substances.
Their reasoning is simple: without buyers, there are no dealers or traffic. Two prosecutors among the most concerned by these cases, those of Marseille and Grenoble, have also launched special hearings to confront consumers with their responsibilities. “I consider that they are accomplices of the traffickers,” even said the Grenoble prosecutor, Éric Vaillant, on the airwaves of France Bleu Isère.
“I am well aware of the cause and effect link”
These arguments, Thomas is willing to « entendre ». This 38-year-old Parisian, father of a family, is one of five million French people who smoke cannabis. Like many, he started at high school age. “I am well aware of the cause and effect link between the financial support of these networks and the tragedies that these same networks cause,” he said.
To avoid going through criminal networks, this professional cheesemaker takes advantage of his quest for picodon to source cannabis from farmers who grow “a little grass at the end of their field” in Ardèche. “I would never go to get supplies from teenagers in my neighborhood,” he assures.
But Thomas refuses to condemn in advance those who go about things differently: “Presenting drug users as delinquents, or even as gang patrons, without any questioning of the failures of the repressive policy carried out in France, is a bit easy. »
In fact, French law has penalized drug use for more than fifty years – the mere fact of having cannabis in your pocket can be worth a fine – and France remains one of the countries where the rate of drug users narcotics is the highest in Europe. Nearly half of adults have tried cannabis once in their life, according to statistics from the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT).
“Total hypocrisy”
Arthur (1), a waiter in a Parisian restaurant, puffed on a joint for the first time at the age of 11. Today, at 24, he considers himself “completely addicted” and refuses to take any responsibility for the violence of drug trafficking. To hear him say, speeches aimed at consumers are a “total hypocrisy”. The young man smokes without hiding it in the streets of the capital and talks about it without lowering his voice on the terrace of a café. “If you knew the number of times I was stopped by police officers who let me leave without any problem”he says.
The closure of deal points doesn’t make him shudder either. Like more and more lovers of illicit substances, Arthur uses delivery men contacted via messaging applications, such as Snapchat and WhatsApp, including when he is in the depths of Seine-et-Marne, where he lives .
“It’s not very difficult to find”confirms Benoît (1), another young user of cannabis, and occasionally ecstasy, who has just finished his studies in Grenoble. He also passes the buck to the authorities when he is questioned about his responsibility as a client of drug dealers, which does not prevent him from asking questions.
He is aware that the settling of scores is increasing, in Grenoble or elsewhere, nor that the sellers are sometimes children. “It hurts my heart, we can’t say that we don’t have empathy for the people we buy from,” he confides.
Benoît happened to frequent a deal point in Grenoble located in the Mistral district. Later, he returned to this same complex of buildings to voluntarily give lessons to children. “Walking around to buy pot in a place where families live, that didn’t suit me at all”he confides.
From then on, he never returned to the deal point, without ” pick up “ however. “I wish I never started and have tried to quit many times, but it’s hard when your friends smoke around youhe continues. I would prefer that all of this be legal, that would allow us to have cleaner sectors. »
“It seems so far away”
Julien (1), too, uses delivery men to consume cannabis and hash in his apartment, in the Paris region. “We don’t leave home, it’s simplerhe notes. Of course, whether we are a dealer or a consumer, we all participate in the trafficking and the settling of scores that go with it, we cannot deny it. But that seems so far from us… There is little contact with the sellers. We don’t see the effect at the moment, we don’t always think about it. Then there is the addiction, it is very complicated to get rid of it. Consumption also has a self-centered side. We only think about ourselves and we don’t care about the rest. »
For his part, in Lyon, Oscar (1) managed to do without traditional networks. This 23-year-old student gets his supplies from “knowledge of knowledge” which operate in « circuit court » for its use “recreational-therapeutic”. This young adult, who suffers from hyperactivity and anxiety, finds quality hemp flowers without fear of being scammed. “We can draw a parallel with clothes, he elaborates. When you have a minimum of critical thinking, you can choose where your money goes. Afterwards, we can also not give it any importance. This form of denial is very comfortable. »
But Oscar also wants to reaffirm that the responsibility of individuals is “mega-diluted” facing a social problem that goes beyond them. Rayan (1) thinks so too. “Yes, consumers have a share of responsibility, and I help drive traffic, he begins by saying. But this responsibility is shared between consumers, those who make a living from trafficking and the State which gives us no other solution. I would really rather not participate in anything illegal. »
This 24-year-old Parisian, employed in a large company, makes the comparison with buying a pair of sneakers. “We can also say that we are participating in the exploitation of the Uighurs in China. But, in this case, we have another option, we can change brands. For cannabis, we don’t necessarily have this choice. »
Give up ?
What if the alternative was simply to give it up? “I smoke less and I know that I will not always smoke, replies Rayan. Afterwards, I don’t know when I’m going to stop. I’ve had a lot of complicated moments in my life. Cannabis really lets me breathe. »
Antoine (1), a 28-year-old from Marseille, summarizes the intimate contradictions of consumers on this subject. He smokes cannabis recreationally and does not intend to deprive himself of this pleasure.
“When we see the news on the settling of scores in a city like Marseille, it certainly raises questions, he admits. But if everything depended on the will of individuals, this would be known, it is not that simple. There is also a whole system of crime which is based on enormous precariousness in completely ghettoized neighborhoods. With my three joints per week, I’m not going to take the weight of all this on my shoulders. »
(1) The first name has been changed.