Over 50 years ago, in 1971, Richard Nixon said that a true leader must declare war against drug trafficking. In an interview with Le Parisien on September 8, French interior minister Gérald Darmanin put a spin on the metaphor by saying he intended to lead the "battle of Stalingrad" – a reference to the Parisian district of the same name – against drug traffickers.

The victories cited by the government are expressed in terms of successful drug seizures, which are ever-increasing (150 tonnes in 2022 against 115 in 2021), and the number of "sales points" dismantled. These figures are intended to be reassuring, they obscure the true state of the drug market, which remains robust despite the continued strategy of harsh repression. Products at controlled prices are more accessible than ever, underscoring the market's resilience.

Faced with ever-regenerating trafficking, police officers and specialized judges compare the situation to the myth of Sisyphus endlessly pushing his boulder uphill. They also describe it as "emptying the ocean with a teaspoon," because even after seizing a few bars of hash and detaining a handful of choufs (lookouts), there is no shortage of either supply or personnel the following day. Furthermore, the courts are clogged with juvenile traffickers appearing at hearings governed by the laws of silence.

"Bombarding" sales points has not diminished supplies, nor has it done anything to pacify neighborhoods where turf battles have claimed more than 70 victims since the start of the calendar year. In an article published in Le Monde, on Thursday, September 21, some 50 mayors fulminated against the situation and called for a "national and European plan against drug trafficking," and in particular by "generalizing investigations into drug possession," without neglecting the health aspects in terms of prevention and care.

Calling for an ambitious, global response makes sense, whereas the deployment of CRS 8 (a special security brigade of 200 men and women) as an immediate solution to drug-traffic violence, and the announcement of the creation of a new specialist investigation unit, have done little to convince investigators in the field.

It is a constantly evolving threat: Like start-up companies, criminal groups have seized on the digital revolution to develop multi-product offerings and forge partnerships with foreign suppliers and brokers ("intermediaries"). To destabilize this sort of enemy, public policy must take into account the different levels of the criminal spectrum.

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