Alcohol, cannabis, but also cocaine, MDMA or even crack or heroin… French prisons are far from being spared from the consumption (and therefore trafficking) of drugs and prohibited products. However, they are not areas where drugs are used freely. These are the main lessons from an unprecedented survey carried out by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT) and of which The worlde reveals the results.
The observation of prisons under the influence of drugs is regularly illustrated by the testimonies of prisoners, the alerts issued by prison guards, or even the figures of seizures. The work of the OFDT now offers a statistical, precise and up-to-date translation of this reality which still seems to be perceived as stifled behind the doors of penitentiary establishments.
OFDT researchers interviewed, by self-administered questionnaire, a panel of 1094 male prisoners, to carry out the first “Survey on health and substances in prison” (named with the acronym Esspri), published this Monday 6 may. “It was necessary to objectify a permanent debate”underlines Stanislas Spilka, scientific head of the study at the OFDT, in order to produce the clearest photograph possible. “Since the 1970s, he continues, the debates focused a lot on risky uses, linked to injections, or the AIDS virus, but today, and the data prove it, we are in another context. »
“Major public health issue”
The first scents emanating from these responses, like from the windows of cells, are those of a legal product, certainly, but extremely harmful. According to the survey, 73% of prisoners are regular tobacco smokers (i.e. 2.5 times more than in the general population), jeopardizing their health as much as their meager savings, since the price of a pack (around 11 euros) is the same in prison while prisoners have, on average, 250 euros per month for canteen. “This very significant tobacco consumption, the first salient point of the study, constitutes a major public health issue”, underlines Melchior Simioni, sociologist and study manager at the OFDT.
Among the prohibited products consumed, the preponderance of cannabis is beyond doubt. The proportion of prisoners using this drug daily is 26%. Data eight times more important than that concerning the general population. As with the majority of substances identified by the study, it is those under 35 who consume more than their elders, with 35% daily smokers, compared to 15% for those over 35.
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