French Lawmakers Divided Over Lawmaker Caught Buying Drugs

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

Kerbrat, from the far-left France Insubmissa party, acknowledged the facts through a statement in X on Tuesday, asking forgiveness from his voters and attributing his personal drug use to “personal problems and psychological weaknesses”.

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

Kerbrat was not arrested and was interviewed at the police station, where he was released the following day.

Left-wing lawmakers came to the rescue, embracing Kerbrat’s argument that personal use is first and foremost a symptom of a larger public health problem.

The leader of the France Insubmissa party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, in X, expressed his “very friendly support” for the fight against addiction.

Senator Melanie Vogel, from the Green party, wished the congressman “good luck” in his treatment, stressing that “drug use and dependence have always been public health problems”. She also criticized the nation’s tendency to “always seek repression instead of what matters most: care.”

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

Others vehemently disagree.

Conservative French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau called on Kerbrat to “draw the consequences of his actions”.

“A deputy has the duty to set an example,” wrote Retailleau in .”

Laurent Jacobelli, another Republican lawmaker, said that while Kerbrat may need treatment, “he is above all guilty, he broke the law and for someone who should write it, it is quite embarrassing.”

Opinion articles in various media outlets have also criticized what they consider an inadequate defense strategy.

The French magazine Marianne recalled Kerbrat’s recent position in the media on drug trafficking and its consequences.

Just days before the incident, Kerbrat signed an online petition calling on the new government “to take urgent and specific action” and address a “growing phenomenon.”