Former deputy in charge of health and addictions to the ex-mayor of Marseille Jean-Claude Gaudin, Patrick Padovani, 75, general practitioner, was found guilty on Monday of irregular prescriptions to a drug addict patient, while being exempted from punishment by the court.
The president of the court, Lola Vandermaesen, explained that this historic promoter in Marseille of a lower-risk drug injection room had to be found guilty of two offenses: having made a prescription reserved for a few specialists, and not having passed by a secure prescription to deliver drugs similar to narcotics such as Subutex.
An altruistic motive
The court ruled out the state of necessity, an exonerating circumstance, while Patrick Padovani had explained that it took eight months to obtain an appointment with a psychiatrist and one year with a neurologist, specialists authorized to prescribe these classified drugs .
The court, however, deemed it necessary
“not to discourage doctors who are called upon to intervene within structures which work in difficult conditions”
in the care of drug addicts.
Observing the absence of any search for any personal benefit, the court noted on the contrary that Patrick Padovani was
“guided by an altruistic motive”
.
“This exemption from sentence is better than an acquittal
,” said Michel Pezet, lawyer for Patrick Padovani, deploring the
“inexplicable relentlessness of the prosecution
. ”
At the hearing in December, the prosecutor requested a six-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 2,500 euros, calling for
“a strong signal in the scourge of drug trafficking”
.
In the midst of controversy over the shooting room
The judges
“took into account the personality of Patrick Padovani”
, former deputy mayor LR of Marseille (1995-2020),
“and his commitment to disadvantaged and problematic audiences”
, going so far as to salute in their judgment
“the addiction care, support and prevention centers (Csapa) and the reception and support centers for risk reduction for drug users (Caarud), which lack human and material resources
.
“This judgment brings a little balm to the heart because justice has considered the work of those involved in risk reduction
,” reacted Patrick Padovani to AFP, citing the advice of Abbé Pierre, to be
“always in the 'creative illegality'
.
This decision comes at a time when the experimental project in Marseille for an addiction treatment center (HSA) or
“shooting room”
has just collapsed with the government's refusal to approve the site chosen by the project's promoters.
“For fifteen years I have been fighting for it to succeed
,” commented Patrick Padovani, regretting the elected officials who play
“low politics by only seeing the small area of (their) electoral sector”
.