The measure was announced at the end of July by the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, visiting Nice after violence committed in the Moulins district, the city's major drug trafficking site.
It comes into force on Tuesday.
From now on, cannabis smokers and users of other narcotics will be liable to a fixed fine of 200 euros.
If it is paid within two weeks, it is reduced to 150 euros.
Beyond 45 days, it will be increased to 450 euros.
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The executive's objective is not to target only dealers, but also to take consumers from the wallet so that they reduce their purchases and reduce traffic.
This measure is also intended, according to the head of government to
"help the police to apply a sanction without delay"
and
"
to be
effective against the points of sale which plague the neighborhoods"
.
The arrest of a cannabis smoker caught in the act is a minimum of half a day to draw up a report.
During this time we cannot do anything else.
Frédéric Lagache, representative of the Alliance-police nationale union
But the police seem above all to fear that this new measure will be accompanied by a new procedure, long and dissuasive.
“The arrest of a cannabis smoker caught in the act is a minimum of half a day to draw up a report.
During this time we cannot do anything else, ”
laments Frédéric Lagache, delegate of the Alliance-national police union, the majority among the officers and the guards.
Another objective of the government: to apply the sanctions provided for by law to offenders.
"The important thing in a sentence is not its severity, but its certainty,"
Jean Castex said in Nice, citing the 18th century philosopher Cesare Beccaria.
However, regretted the head of government,
"the State, for lack of sufficient means, allowed uncertainty to settle"
.
Indeed, in
"99% of cases, the report of a cannabis user caught in flagrante delicto is classified without action by justice, or is summed up by a simple reminder of the law
, recalls Frédéric Lagache.
This fixed fine can facilitate our work in theory, but its impact vis-à-vis the people arrested remains limited compared to the cities where it has already been tested ”
.
"70% of offenders have not paid"
Since June 16, five French cities, including Rennes, Créteil, Reims, Marseille and Lille, have experimented with this measure.
In the Breton capital, 172 tickets by fixed fine were drawn up, that is, as of August 26, nearly a third of the 545 tickets established in total in these five test cities for drug use.
According to the Rennes public prosecutor, Philippe Astruc, “
166 related to cannabis and 7 to cocaine.
70% of infringement notices were sent to offenders, 32% of whom have already paid the fine ”
.
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A relatively low coverage rate.
“
We note that 70% of offenders have not paid.
It is enormous.
This flat-rate fine did not change their behavior.
It is always the same people, in the most total impunity, who do not give a damn about the authority and the
police
,
castigates Frédéric Lagache.
If the fine is not collected, a trial can take place and that will not lighten the work of the courts or ours for that matter
.
Furthermore, this will not prevent social networks and local traffic from developing with deliveries by scooters, certain taxis or VTC. ”
Also, despite a policy that is statistically among the most coercive in Europe - 198,000 arrests took place in 2018, according to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior compiled by the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) - the French should remain the main cannabis users of the Old Continent.
They are number three for cocaine.