The man in the black Mercedes 4 × 4 targeted pharmacies in Loire-Atlantique. His modus operandi was simple: he presented a stolen or falsified prescription on the counter of the establishments demanding fentanyl, an opioid a hundred times more powerful than morphine, before leaving, his dose in his pocket. This ploy ended on May 15, 2023, when he was arrested in flagrante delicto by the La Baule police.
A year later, the investigation conducted under the aegis of the specialized jurisdiction of Rennes revealed the ramifications of this trafficking carried out throughout the Grand Ouest of France by a criminal group of Georgian origin, three members of which were indicted on June 13. Some, themselves addicted, fueled their personal consumption as much as the gang’s business. According to the Rennes prosecutor’s office, the investigations made it possible to count 723 fraudulent prescriptions for a total of 2,300 boxes of fentanyl – a particularly addictive substance, the slightest overdose of which can cause death.
“Very difficult to spot”
This first dismantling of a fentanyl distribution network in France was as much feared as expected. “Fentanyl has been in the top 10 drugs found on falsified prescriptions for three years”underlines Joëlle Micallef, president of the French addictovigilance network, which monitors psychoactive substances and their health risk. “We had also noticed its over-representation on the west coast of France, and particularly in Brittany, but without yet having an explanation. »
Absent from the nomenclature of the study published Wednesday June 26 by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies, fentanyl, mainly sold in patches, comes in various forms outside the legal circuit. “We must differentiate the drug fentanyl from its “chemical cousins”, the laboratory-made fentanyloids, which are more powerful and dangerous”says Professor Micallef.
“Fentanyloids are very difficult to detect, she emphasizes. They are undetectable in blood samples by routine techniques. » Which, according to the head of the addictovigilance network, could lead to: “figures that are undersized compared to reality”. A reality, however, incommensurate with the situation in the United States, where more than 100,000 deaths have been attributed to fentanyl in 2023.