Clermont-Ferrand will launch a new public awareness campaign on 19 November titled La drogue tue [Drugs kill]. The city is reacting to a sharp rise in narcotraffic and increasing levels of consumption that have worried local authorities for nearly a year. About one hundred posters will appear across the city on the Decaux urban network, placed in high traffic areas such as the surroundings of place Delille. The posters will also be distributed in municipal buildings, together with leaflets and social media posts.
Mayor Olivier Bianchi describes why the city is taking this step. He says that “the issue of drugs has taken absolutely unbelievable proportions in Clermont-Ferrand”. He adds that the public debate has focused mainly on security and policing, while the city wants to remind people that there are many consumers and that this is also a matter of public health and addiction. The mayor points out that France has carried out national campaigns on alcohol for more than thirty years, which have contributed to reducing consumption, but “there has never been a campaign of this type for drugs”. The goal of the new campaign is to “raise awareness of the dangers linked to drug use and remind people that help is available”.
Local health professionals strongly support the move. Professor Georges Brousse, head of addictology at CHU Gabriel-Montpied and regional president of Addictions France, says that prevention is essential in changing behaviour, both among young people and adults. He notes that cocaine use “has exploded” during the last decade. The French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) reported in January 2025 that 1.1 million people in France used cocaine in 2023, an 83 percent increase compared with the previous report. According to Brousse, access to cocaine has become “democratised” through lower prices and greater availability, and many people now use several substances.
The city also connects this campaign to its broader preventive work in schools. Municipal health staff have increased their classroom visits in recent years, after cases involving disposable vapes were reported among very young pupils. School nurse Sandrine Lizok explains that the aim is to build psychosocial skills, teach pupils to say no, resist peer pressure and understand the link between physical and mental health. She says that many children already have surprisingly detailed knowledge about drugs. At the same time, Professor Brousse stresses the need “to sometimes step away from moral judgement” and focus on why people make certain choices and how to reduce harm. For Mayor Bianchi, this is a collective issue that concerns “students, retirees, the poor, the rich” and people in all professions, which is why the campaign is aimed at everyone in the metropolitan area.
Visit also the website of Ville de Clermont Ferrand (France, November 2025) and visit also https://www.drogues-info-service.fr/
Alcohol Awareness 