Cannabis: soon saliva tests will be carried out by the police on anyone passing by in the street to catch smokers ?

The government could soon authorize law enforcement to carry out saliva tests in the street to detect cannabis smokers. Announcements could be made in this direction "next week".

While our German neighbors authorized the consumption and cultivation of cannabis on April 1, France seems far from reaching the milestone. Resolutely opposed to any legalization of cannabis, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin mentioned on the sidelines of a trip to Lyon, on March 21, his wish to extend saliva tests to public roads to detect smokers.

A lead that Gabriel Attal would have put back on the table during a dinner with parliamentarians in Matignon this Tuesday, April 9, indicates RMC. Concretely, the government plans to authorize the police and gendarmerie to carry out saliva tests, currently only carried out in the context of road checks, on any what a passerby in the street.

An idea that divides the majority

According to our colleagues, announcements are being prepared for next week. But the idea is already being debated among the presidential majority.

Some people doubt the feasibility of such a measure. "I don't see how a police officer stops people in the street like that& ;quot;, reacts a deputy. "Legally, that doesn't hold". Others fear the effects of the announcement a measurement "inapplicable".