For socialist deputy Dieynaba Diop, there is no doubt: “Of course there are addictions in the Assembly.” “Addiction is a reflection of your vulnerability and, as a deputy, you are constantly examined and therefore very vulnerable,” believes the elected socialist.
Several recent cases show that Parliament is not spared from the explosion in the consumption of certain narcotics such as cocaine and the still significant consumption of alcohol that is observed in France. The latest example: the arrest of rebel MP Andy Kerbrat caught in the act of purchasing 3MMC, a drug widely used to chemical sexat the end of October.
“Any stressful job, with irregular hours and heavy responsibilities is a very favorable environment for addictions,” says Amine Benyamina, head of the department of psychiatry and addictions at the Paul Brousse hospital.
“From coca to coffee to narcotics”
On the one hand, a marathon of at least two days a week in Paris, between group meetings, commissions, questions to the government and, sometimes, night sessions. On the other hand, the rest of the week, the pressure of a constituency, with sometimes dissatisfied voters and the vicissitudes of local political life… The mandate of deputy is exercised under particular conditions.
“If you want to maintain a very high pace for a long time, you consume things that can range from Coca-Cola or coffee at midnight to narcotics. This is evident in all political fields,” says PS senator and doctor Bernard Jomier.
“I smoke almost four times as much when I’m in the Assembly and my caffeine consumption skyrockets,” says Horizons MP Vincent Thiébaut.
“It is true that if you are a little fragile, a little alone in your personal life, you can easily fall a little or even a lot and, obviously, the easiest way to cheer yourself up is alcohol,” shares one of his colleagues.
Police in the office of an alcoholic deputy.
In recent years, several deputies have been arrested by the courts for offenses under the influence of alcohol. The rebel Aurélien Taché (LFI) was convicted, for example, in September 2022 for having insulted police officers who intervened after an attack of which he had been the victim. He was prosecuted for contempt and violence by a drunk.
The communist deputy Nicolás Sansu was convicted by the courts of driving while intoxicated in February 2023, after having insulted police officers. He had to submit to a duty of care.
The former president of the National Assembly, François de Rugy, for his part, remembers a drink at the end of the July 2018 parliamentary session that turned bitter, amid loud music, pouring alcohol in the deputies’ offices and calls to the neighbors.
“All this ended with the intervention of the gendarmes of the National Assembly” in the office of a deputy, the former tenant of Le Perchoir explained to BFMTV.com.
All contacted by BFMTV.com, none of these elected officials wanted to answer our questions.
“It seems like a headache if you turn down a drink.”
It must be said that, contrary to most internal company rules, alcohol consumption is not prohibited in the National Assembly. “There is always alcohol not far away,” says a former ministerial advisor. “Obviously, in politics we have many moments of conviviality, whether among colleagues or in the constituency with many drinks after the events.”
A bar, reserved for elected officials, even allows you to rest on your elbows in a modernist-inspired room to have coffee or alcohol between two breaks in the chamber. Tradition also dictates that a minister who has managed to pass a bill invites the deputies of his side to toast with champagne.
“The refreshment bar has a festive side, a bit of light. But also, there are people who also find it helps to keep going when they sometimes have to sit very late. Some people go too far, that’s all. “It’s sure,” acknowledges a former Macronist deputy.
“In Paris it is easier to refuse a drink than in the constituency when preparing a king cake,” explains an elected official from the East. “You look like a bother if they offer you a drink and you decline. And I’m not even talking about whether you get chosen in a wine region,” sighs another.
“We see that behavior changes over time”
Regarding drug use, several cases have made headlines in recent years. Former deputy Emmanuel Pellerin, for example, admitted during his term in 2023 to having possessed and consumed cocaine. He had been excluded from Renaissance and had withdrawn from its group, which he had rejoined once the courts dismissed the case.
Senator Joël Guerriau (Horizons), accused of attempted sexual assault by chemical subjugation of MP Sandrine Josso, had failed numerous drug tests while in police custody. Analysis found traces of amphetamines, opiates, cannabis, cocaine and MDMA.
“Sometimes we are surprised when we see the profile of people who have a problem in this area,” a senator tells us, referring to the case of Joël Guerriau.
“There are colleagues whose behavior we see change as their mandate progresses. We can have suspicions, of course, but it is always difficult to talk about it openly,” says an elected official.
“To say we need help is inaudible”
All the parliamentarians interviewed stated that they had never seen any of their colleagues use narcotics. “There are nights when drugs circulate,” said Macronist Caroline Janvier, then deputy in November 2023, in the columns of Paris Match. Without withdrawing her comments, the elected woman had to apologize to her group and now refuses to address the issue.
“People are afraid to talk about this because when you are a deputy nothing happens to you. There is a real taboo, everyone here knows it. However, drug addiction is a disease,” laments socialist deputy Dieynaba Diop.
It must be said that in politics the myth of the superman dominates the imagination. From Emmanuel Macron, who claims to sleep only a few hours a night – like Gabriel Attal – to Nicolas Sarkozy, who swore he ran the equivalent of a marathon every week when he was at the Elysée, “we don’t do politics by showing their weaknesses”, observes socialist senator Bernard Jomier.
“To say that you are doing it wrong is difficult, but in our world it is even more so, when you are elected everything is based on a balance of power. Saying that we are tired, that we are at the limit, that we need help is inaudible. ”, laments an environmentalist deputy.
“Everyone handles their own thing”
Enough to push some deputies to wait for the National Assembly to carry out internal prevention campaigns. “Each one manages his mandate without support,” laments the Renaissance deputy Guillaume Gouffier-Valente, who calls for “much more prevention.”
“We could imagine a meeting at the beginning of the mandate and then in the middle of the mandate with a doctor, as is done in occupational medicine,” Dieynaba Diop continues. If the deputies have a family doctor at the disposal of the Assembly, the Assembly, which did not want to answer our questions, has no particular action regarding addiction prevention.
Contacted, Yaël Braun-Pivet’s cabinet referred the matter to the quaesture, in charge of the question of the training of deputies. “We have not received any request in this regard,” says quaestor LR Michèle Tabarot.
“Everyone manages their own thing,” says a close friend of Yaël Braun-Pivet. “When there is a problem in the session, the vice president at that time asks the group president to find a solution. It’s not more complicated than that.”
The observation, however, leaves some doubts in the ranks of the Assembly.
“You know, hierarchical relationships and politics are not really easy. We can advise a deputy to go to the doctor, prevent him from being the leader of a text, but apart from that…”, breathes a collaborator of the group.
The only precedent in this area: the former deputy for Pas de Calais Gilles Cocquempot. A former figure of the left in Upper France, this elected official was convicted in 2003 of driving while intoxicated before being sentenced again in 2005 to the obligation to care. Enough to pressure the local Socialist Party federation to finally remove him after a decade in the Assembly.
Source: BFM TV
