France Unveils New Anti-Drug Trafficking Plan as Cannabis Seizures Surge

With an estimated turnover of nearly 3.5 billion euros in 2018, drug trafficking is booming in France. According to the website Sudouest.fr, cannabis is the first drug market, with an annual consumption of resin and grass, estimated at 370 to 580 tons per year.

To stick to the figures of the Information, Intelligence and Strategic Analysis Service on Organized Crime (Sirasco), some 100 tons of cannabis were seized in 2018, an increase of 18% compared to 2017.

Morocco and Spain are two essential countries in this traffic. Indeed, the trafficking routes almost exclusively depart from the Kingdom, passing through Spain, notes the same source.

However, local production is no less developed, with the increase in the consumption of cannabis herb. In total, 137,074 plants were seized in 2017 (+8%), while the authorities are concerned about the increase in the THC content of the resin with harmful consequences on health.

For its part, cocaine is also profitable for traffickers, with an estimated "wholesale price" in France at the median price of 31,000 euros per kilo for 70 euros per gram in retail. Here, in particular, the Overseas Territories (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin, French Guiana) are important transit areas for cocaine destined for the mainland. In 2018, the law enforcement agencies seized 15 tons of "white" (17.5 in 2017).

Regarding heroin and synthetic drugs, seizures are very irregular from year to year, according to the Sirasco figures (658 kilos in 2017, 1,079 tons in 2016).

However, experts say that France is a transit country for MDMA-ecstasy produced in the Benelux destined for Spain and the United Kingdom. Proof of this, the seizures made in France are significant with 1.3 million tablets and 220 kilos of amphetamines seized in 2018.

In France, drug-related crime continues its "extension to medium-sized cities", with the corollary, the extension of score-settling which are no longer reserved for the Paris or Marseille regions, say the experts of the judicial police. For the year 2017 alone, there were 78 settlements, 104 victims and 44 deaths.