Cocaine prices in free fall: €37.50 per gram in the Gard, children increasingly exposed
In certain towns in southern France, cocaine now sells for less than 40 euros per gram. This dramatic drop in prices is accompanied by growing consumption that now affects young children and secondary school pupils.
Cocaine prices in free fall: €37.50 per gram in the Gard, children increasingly exposed
In Alès, in the Gard, cocaine now exchanges for 37.50 euros per gram. This derisory price results from trafficking gangs battling for market share, according to Midi Libre. A few years ago, the same product was worth double.
This collapse in prices is not an isolated case. Across Hérault, law enforcement authorities are observing a similar trend, with prices hovering around 40 euros. Henri Cazeneuve, spokesperson for the national police in this department, observes a democratisation of the product: the image of the white powder has become markedly more acceptable in the eyes of the public.
Customs officers are multiplying record seizures. In late March, agents in Perpignan intercepted 300 kilogrammes on the A9 motorway. This abundance on the market partly explains the fall in costs.
The European Drugs Agency (EUDA) published its annual report in June. The document reveals that nearly 7,600 people died from overdose in the European Union over a twelve-month period. Magnus Brunner, commissioner responsible for Interior Affairs, stressed the heavy human toll of this consumption. Furthermore, a new psychoactive substance appears on the continent each day.
Professor Bruno Mégarbane, who heads the toxicological intensive care unit at Hôpital Lariboisière, identifies several explanatory factors: social distress, loneliness, the normalisation of use, and especially home delivery, which places the customer just a click away from their order.
Isabelle Claudet, head of paediatric emergency care at Toulouse University Hospital, denounces a worrying development. Infants and small children under three years old are suffering intoxication from inhalation of crack smoke or ingestion of powder residue. "We are observing the same growth curve as for cannabis a decade ago," warns the practitioner. Symptoms range from neurological disorders to convulsions, sometimes comas.
The age of first use is dangerously decreasing. "We find secondary school pupils, especially those aged fourteen to fifteen," the doctor indicates. The merchandise circulates via delivery platforms, it is less expensive and more concentrated, with an average purity of 73 per cent. Occitania and Île-de-France, the hubs for distribution from Spain, record the highest number of cases.
Seven new synthetic opioids have been identified by the European alert system. Among them, nitazenes display a potency two to three hundred times greater than that of morphine. In the United States, fentanyl claims 100,000 victims per year. On French territory, the phenomenon remains confined. In the south, criminal networks such as the DZ Mafia hinder the establishment of this substance to preserve their cocaine trade. In return, they sell ready-to-consume crack in Marseille, which is even more addictive.
Source: Midi Libre
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)