Overview
- The two facilities in Paris and Strasbourg were created in 2016 as a time-limited experiment that expires at the end of 2025, putting them on course to shut on 1 January 2026 unless Parliament acts.
- A cross-party group of senators filed a bill on 5 November to fold the sites into ordinary law and make the model permanent.
- The government has tabled an amendment to the Social Security budget to prolong the experiment to 2027 rather than legalize it outright.
- Official assessments by Inserm in 2021 and by state inspections in October 2024 found health benefits, calmer public spaces, and no link to increased delinquency.
- About forty doctors and health professionals published a Le Monde tribune on 6 November urging a legislative fix and warning that closure would trigger a major sanitary and social setback.