The fathers and mothers of the country in France do not escape hypocrisy. During the same week, Parliament has offered two incongruous news. A Senate investigative commission began hearings on “the impact of drug trafficking and the measures to be taken to remedy it.” The directors of the National Police, the Gendarmerie and the Anti-Narcotics Office (Ofast) had to swear that they would tell “the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” Three days later, Paris Match magazine revealed, through MP Caroline Janvier, that drug use is a reality among parliamentarians and even among ministers.
Janvier, 41 years old and belonging to Renacimiento – Emmanuel Macron's centrist party – decided to break the law of silence a few weeks after the scandal involving senator Joël Guerriau, who was arrested and later charged with the alleged crime of having drugged a friend. deputy, Sandrine Josso, whom he invited to his house and served a drink to which he added ecstasy, with the apparent objective of facilitating a sexual relationship. The case had a strong impact inside and outside the country. Guerriau, 66, denied attempting the chemical submission of Josso, 48, but did admit to going through personal problems – including the recent death of her cat – and turning to drugs.
Already then the senator's hypocritical behavior emerged. His past statements against drugs and his presence in a delegation from the Upper House that visited French Guiana, an overseas department in South America, with an endemic drug trafficking problem, were dusted off.
“Yes, there are soirées [night parties] in which drugs circulate, just as there are dinners or the end of parliamentary sessions in which excessive alcohol consumption occurs,” said Janvier, who represents the Loiret department in the National Assembly. since June 2017.
The sincerity of the representative has caused surprise, media impact and discomfort among some of her colleagues, although she insisted that she did not intend to generalize but rather to recognize the existence of a problem. Janvier praised the bravery of Josso, who fled the senator's apartment despite feeling very bad – the analysis at the hospital confirmed ecstasy in his body – and then recounted the events in a television interview.
“We must analyze this phenomenon as a system, without excusing anything,” said Janvier. “Politics manufactures deviant behavior.” The deputy recalled that a request to prohibit the sale of alcohol in the cafeteria during night sessions came to the Assembly table, but that the initiative has not been successful. It is not a question of giving parliamentarians a breathalyzer test, although some have sometimes shown symptoms of drunkenness.
According to Janvier, there are no more addictions in Parliament than in the rest of French society, but it is not an oasis either and one must be honest and talk about it so that no one is misled. “Addictive practices also exist in ministers – the deputy continued in her unusual confession to Paris Match – but whoever throws the first stone should put himself in her place for a week. They have an unimaginable level of pressure. “I talk to some of them and I don't judge them but I have empathy.” The deputy herself admitted that, for a time, due to so many cocktail parties, inaugurations and other social events, she also drank and smoked a lot, until she decided to stop altogether. For Janvier, one of the problems is the long legislative sessions at night, “which make no sense,” and a stressful pace of life. “Either you have excellent lifestyle hygiene or you have to take something to resist,” she said. “Some will say that I sow discredit, but I have met incredible women and men, committed to their country,” the parliamentarian concluded. Drifts are a symptom of overcommitment.”
Another female parliamentarian who preferred to remain anonymous also revealed to Paris Match that her male colleagues had sometimes made unpleasant propositions to her in the wee hours of the morning as they left the Assembly. “At the end of the session, at three in the morning, colleagues came to see me to offer me to go to soirées clearly labeled as sex and drugs,” she said.
The link between power, sex and drugs (or medication abuse) is something known throughout history, with very famous and documented cases, for example the American president John F. Kennedy. The phenomenon has been scientifically studied by Professor John Antonakis, from the University of Lausanne, an expert in the psychology of leaders, who would have an excellent laboratory in the French Parliament.
