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French Lawmakers Back Extension of Supervised Drug-Use Pilot to 2027

The extension still depends on passage of the social security budget that carries the amendment.

Overview

  • The National Assembly approved a cross-party amendment from Liot, Socialists and Ecologists to prolong the supervised-consumption experiment until 31 December 2027.
  • The measure has government support, with Health Minister Stéphanie Rist saying evaluations indicate public-health effectiveness and promising to deliver a government report to parliament.
  • Those evaluations identified areas to improve, including coordination among actors, patient care pathways and contributions to public health surveillance.
  • The pilot, launched in 2016 and currently limited to facilities in Paris and Strasbourg, would otherwise end in December if the broader Social Security Financing Bill fails.
  • Several left-wing deputies urged expanding the model to other cities, while a group of physicians defended the sites and critics such as François Diot questioned the evidence base and social impacts.