Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Sunday that anyone driving under narcotics would automatically have their 12 points withdrawn from their driving licence, a week after the accident caused by comedian Pierre Palmade under the influence of the cocaine.

He then added on Twitter to want to apply the same measure to “those who drive under alcohol”. A “reflection is underway to do the same” for people driving with a high blood alcohol level, said the minister’s entourage, interviewed by AFP. A “threshold” will be “to be defined, for example greater than 0.8 g / liter of blood. All this must still be discussed”, added the entourage.

“I propose the withdrawal of the twelve points of the driving license for anyone who drives while they have consumed drugs”, had declared the minister earlier in an interview with the Sunday newspaper, specifying that “the loss of the license n It is automatic only in recidivism today”.

Currently, driving under the use of narcotics is punishable by the loss of six points. Additional penalties may also lead to a suspension of the permit for a maximum of three years and a cancellation of the permit with a maximum of three years of prohibition from applying for a new permit.

Gérald Darmanin also wants “to make the medical examination compulsory for any proven drug user so that he is authorized to drive if he is taking treatment”.

“There are no recreational drugs: there are only deadly drugs. Around 600 people die each year in narcotics-related road accidents,” he added.

Based on the proposal of associations, he also says he is working “with Eric Dupond-Moretti to rename fatal accidents due to drugs and alcohol as road homicides”.

A total of 800,000 “drug” roadside checks took place in 2022, “double the number of previous years”. “I gave the instruction to make a million this year”, he still declared in the interview, assuring that “16% of controls for the use of narcotics while driving turned out to be positive against 3 % of those concerning alcohol”.

Pierre Palmade tested positive for cocaine following a road accident which, in addition to the actor, left three seriously injured – a man, his son and his pregnant sister-in-law who lost her baby – occupants of the car struck on February 10 in Seine-et-Marne.

The comedian was indicted Friday for homicide and involuntary injuries and assigned to the hospital with an electronic bracelet.

02/19/2023 14:49:59 –         Paris (AFP) –         © 2023 AFP