The Law on Narcotics

The law is society's rule of conduct, voted for by the representatives of the people and to which everyone must adhere.

Protecting the individual and society, the law stands at the crossroads between the public good and the freedom of the individual. It defines our rights and our duties. It can also prohibit, indeed punish, such actions as are dangerous or prejudicial to ourselves or others.

Applying these principles, the narcotics laws, in accordance with international conventions ratified by France, take into account the aims of the national health policy and have three main precepts: the prohibition of drug use; rehabilitation as an alternative to punishment for drug use; the repression of drug trafficking and its profits at every level. The punishments incurred are proportional to the gravity of the offence committed.

Proposals to modify the law of 31 December 1970, which established the basis for legislation on the use of narcotics in France, are currently in progress.

Narcotics use is forbidden by clause L. 3421-1 of the Public Health Code which provides for a maximum sentence of one year's imprisonment and a fine of €3,750. Since the law of 5 March 2007 regarding the prevention of petty crime, which modified certain articles of the Public Health Code, any person having committed such an offence will also incur a further penalty: the obligation to attend a drug awareness course.

As with all criminal sanctions, these are maximum sentences and in practice, magistrates have a large "margin of appreciation" allowing them to sentence at their discretion.

Imprisonment only occurs in exceptional circumstances.

In case of arrest, the user can thus avoid criminal sanctions by accepting medical, psychological or social aid.

The justice system has a number of possible alternatives to legal proceedings or punishment at its disposal: case closed with a warning, case closed with referral to the health or social services (doctors, psychologists, social workers, associations, etc.), order to seek treatment.

The Public Prosecutor can set in motion, with the agreement of the person arrested, the procedure for criminal "composition" which avoids the case going to trial. Alternative options include community service, payment of a fine, confiscation of the driving licence, etc.

Moreover, any user can, of their own volition, ask for medical assistance (interview, consultation, hospitalisation, etc.) anonymously and free of charge.

To combat the spread of Aids, different forms of hepatitis and other diseases, needle exchange programmes, substitution maintenance therapies (using Subutex or Methadone) and drop-in centres have been set up.

Encouraging someone to use or to smuggle narcotics through publicity or incitement or favorable presentation of products classified as narcotics by whatever means - clothes, jewelry, books and so on – is punishable by 5 years of imprisonment and by a fine of €75,000, even if the incitation was unsuccessful (article L3421-4 of the Public Health code). Punishment is aggravated if the target is under 18 (7 years and €150,000). One of the goals of this law is not to get rid of the debate on drugs but to avoid the development of a "marketing" strategy to promote narcotics. Encouragement of smuggling is punished by 10 years of imprisonment and a €300,000 fine.

Possession of narcotics is punished by 10 years imprisonment and a €500,000 fine.

Effectively, tribunals consider the quantity possessed and its context – possessing a very small quantity for personal usage is generally considered as mere usage.

The seller or "dealer" who sells or offers narcotics – even in a small quantity or for free – to someone else for his personal consumption is liable to 5 years imprisonment and a €75,000 fine.

The punishment is doubled when the narcotics are sold or given to people under 18 or in the premises of teaching or education centers. A user who sells drugs or simply provides a fix free of charge, even to cover his own needs in drugs, can be punished as a dealer.

The law recognizes the look-out, the tout or the middle man (or any other type of complicity) as accomplices of the drug dealer and thus they are all susceptible to prosecution even if they do not receive any financial nor material benefit.

Large-scale narcotics smuggling is liable to very heavy punishment.

Hence the production, manufacturing, import, transportation, selling, etc of narcotics can lead to 10 or 20 years of imprisonment depending on the case and to a €7,500,000 fine:

• The transportation, supply, sale, purchase, import or export, facilitation of use or illegal exploitation of narcotics is punishable by ten years' imprisonment and a €7,500,000 fine. If any of these acts is committed by an organised gang, the punishments increase to thirty years' imprisonment and a €7,500,000 fine.
• The production or manufacture of illegal narcotics is punishable by twenty years' imprisonment and a €7,500,000 fine.

The laundering of drug trafficking money into so-called legal funds, with full knowledge of the facts, is punishable by ten years' imprisonment and a €7,500,000 fine. The sentence can be as severe as life imprisonment if the money laundering is concurrent with the direction or organisation of a group whose aim is the production or manufacture of narcotics.

Anyone profiting illegally from trafficking and unable to prove access to an income commensurate with their lifestyle (cars, travel, expenditure) and who, without direct involvement in trafficking, is in regular contact with a trafficker or users of narcotics, risks a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment and a €7,500,000 fine, unless they can justify the legality of their income (article 222-39-1, aimed at preventing "drug procuring").

The law also punishes professionals who facilitate or tolerate drug use and trafficking.

For example, doctors or pharmacists who prescribe or supply narcotics outside their legal jurisdiction (those obtaining narcotics using false prescriptions are equally liable to punishment); owners of bars or clubs who allow breaches of narcotics legislation (trafficking or consumption) to take place on their premises.

All these penalties can be accompanied by the confiscation of goods or property, an injunction restricting and monitoring freedom of movement, an order to leave the country (for foreigners), as well as other administrative bans (holding a bar licence, possession of a weapon, etc.).

The length of custody for those found using drugs is twenty-four hours, which can be extended a further twenty-four hours with the authorisation of the public prosecutor. For drug trafficking, custody can last up to four days with the authorisation of a magistrate. In both cases, a medical exam is obligatory, as is the intervention of a lawyer.

The tables below resume the main sanctions according to the type of offence (petty or serious crime).

PETTY CRIME :

SERIOUS CRIME:

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