Nearly 10,000. It is the number of minors that would be involved, in France, in drug trafficking. “It is an estimate that is not extremely precise. But we know that the phenomenon would be rather increasing, “explains Doctor Nicolas Prisse, the president of the Mildca (inter -ministerial mission to combat drugs and addictive behaviors) during a press conference organized this Thursday morning. Faced with this alarming observation, the organization, placed under the authority of the Prime Minister, launched in 2020 the Limits project to help communities to set up actions aimed at “avoiding the shift in the traffic of a small part of the youth, from the districts but not only”, continues Nicolas Prisse.
The average age of these “jobbers” is around 15 or 16 years old. Sometimes they are barely ten years old children. “We have families who are in trouble, some failing, with children, rather boys, in serious school failure, explains the president of Mildeca. They are out of the circuits, and live in neighborhoods where the deal has always been present. For them, it is inevitable to be captured at one time or another by a network that they have always seen there. »»
According to Nicolas Prisse, there is “a market for minors that are exploited for criminal purposes by drug trafficking networks”. “These are the little hands of this traffic, we are not far from talking about slavery in reality given the vulnerability of these audiences. The public health doctor also observes an increase in “recruitments on social networks” and “increasingly violent” acts.
“Recover the little ones around the network”
“The criminal networks have an interest in recruiting the most vulnerable, because they are manipulable, that they may not be paid, that they can be eliminated on a deal of deal for the symbol,” adds divisional commissioner Célia Bobet, Missiona mission manager, and responsible for the development of the Limits project. “When a source dried up, like minors in a neighborhood, they have to get other types of vulnerable young people. We have cases of recruitment in homes, and even profiles of disabled children, ”explains the policewoman. The priority, she says, is to “try to recover the little ones around the network”, those who bring the dealers, against a small remuneration, “the can and the sandwich”.
Since 2020, the Mildeca has signed agreements with 33 municipalities which it supports in the launch of projects aimed at young people, their families and the inhabitants of the neighborhoods. To finance them, 6 million euros have already been paid. Money that was “seized and definitively confiscated from traffickers,” said Nicolas Prisse. Their goal? “Raising the taboo, saying what the reality of traffic is, deconstructing myths, showing alternatives. “We try to give them fairly objective information on the reality of this life, to show them that on an economic level, the hourly rate is not so interesting compared to a normal job. We also want to get them to reflect on this universe of violence. We also involve people from the same environment who have had real success. »»
Videos, theater, reconstruction of a trial
Police, justice, national education … “We try to ensure that these institutions are committed to the process” alongside associations, says Célia Bobet. First work is to “detect the most vulnerable” in the municipalities involved in this project. In the toolbox offered to mobilized communities, “video capsules, the theater of intervention, work with artists”, lists the divisional commissioner. The city of Rennes launched a communication campaign entitled “There’s nothing to expect from the deal”. In Chenôve, in the Côte d’Or, children and their parents participated in an educational project aimed at embellishing their neighborhood and occupying the land. In Lille, mothers share their fears and their difficulties in a podcast. In Loos, in the North, 4th graders and their parents attended a reconstruction of a criminal trial for a drug trafficking case.
There remains a question: does it work? The Mildca has mandated Fors-Recherche Social, a design, research and advice office specializing in the support and evaluation of public policies. “This provider will support the 14 cities selected in 2024 to measure the effectiveness of these devices,” said the president of the organization. “We cannot quantify how many young people have not joined the network,” admits Célia Bobet. “The idea is to work on the change in representations, the reappropriation of space, and also work with the inhabitants on their feelings. But having quantitative figures of this nature, I have a little doubt. »»