French legislators divided over a lawmaker caught buying drugs

PARIS — French politicians are deeply divided over the fate of lawmaker Andy Kerbrat, caught last week buying synthetic drugs, and whether his breaking the law should push him to resign.

Kerbrat, of the far-left France Unbowed party, acknowledged the facts via a statement on X on Tuesday, asking his electors for forgiveness and blaming his personal drug consumption on “personal problems and psychological fragilities.”

The 34 year-old also said he “will fight against his addiction” and “follow a treatment protocol” before resuming his parliamentary activity.

Kerbrat was not arrested and was heard at the police station where he went freely the following day.

Leftist lawmakers came to the rescue, embracing Kerbrat's argument that his personal use is, before all else, the symptom of a greater public health issue.

France Unbowed party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon on X expressed his “very friendly support" to the fight against addiction.

Sen. Melanie Vogel of the Greens party wished the congressman “good luck” for his treatment, stressing that “drug use and addictions have always been public health issues." She also criticized the nation's tendency to “always go for repression instead of what matters most: care.”

Sandrine Rousseau, also a Greens lawmaker, told reporters that she didn't think Kerbrat should resign. People who use synthetic drugs, she said, are often “fragile” and "sometimes with psychological problems.”

Others strongly disagree.

France's conservative Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau called on Kerbrat to “draw the consequences of his actions”.

“A deputy has a duty to set an example,” Retailleau wrote on X. "While drug crimes take hold in France, with its procession of violence, it is not tolerable to see a lawmaker buying synthetic drugs from a street dealer.”

Laurent Jacobelli, another lawmaker from The Republicans party, said that while Kerbrat might be in need of treatment, “he is above all guilty, he violated the law, and for someone who is supposed to write it, it is rather embarrassing.”

Opinion pieces in several media outlets also criticized what they see as an inappropriate defense strategy.

French magazine Marianne recalled Kerbrat's recent stance in the media on drug trafficking and its consequences.

A few days before the incident, Kerbrat had signed an online petition calling for the new government “to take urgent and specific measures” and address a “growing phenomenon.”