Edito:
On December 16, 2025 in Marseille, Emmanuel Macron announced his intention to raise the fixed fine for drug use from €200 to €500, following a “hit them in the wallet” logic and repeating the idea that “using drugs isn’t festive”.

Let’s be honest: our position is mixed. Not because we don’t know what to think, but because this topic is a knot of contradictions that politics loves to oversimplify.

On one hand, we are fully pro harm reduction (HR). We know addiction is not a moral failing: it is a health issue, a complex condition, with highly unequal vulnerabilities depending on the person. And we don’t understand why, in France, political leaders almost always talk about drug use as something to punish, and rarely as a symptom to treat. The tone of these announcements is criminalizing and paternalistic, giving the impression that a societal issue can be solved with a bill (which will only further gentrify consumption…).

But on the other hand, we also refuse convenient blindness. Drug use isn’t “neutral”. It carries real health risks. It generates inequalities: not everyone has the same relationship to substances, the same likelihood of dependency, or the same social, judicial, or medical consequences. And above all, behind some “recreational” use, there are massive impacts: ecology, violence, and human suffering tied to production chains and drug trafficking.

So take this text for what it is: an article built from facts, studies, and concrete figures, but offering few “magical solutions”. Because there are too many uncontrolled parameters, too many hidden interests, too much political doublespeak. Our starting point isn’t morality — it’s lucidity. And our compass remains the same: reducing risks without denying the complexity of reality.

We like to talk about ecology, both on and off the dancefloor. We boycott fast fashion, congratulate festivals when they switch to reusable cups, applaud plastic reduction, criticise DJs flying private jets, and collectively see ourselves as more environmentally aware than average. And it’s true: nightlife has often been ahead of the curve on these issues.
But there is a massive blind spot: the environmental and human impact of the substances consumed at our own parties.

And this blind spot is becoming uncomfortable, because it forces us to confront a contradiction the scene would rather avoid. Or at least, not face just yet.

Cocaine: France’s number one hard drug… and a major ecological disaster

The latest reports from the UNODC (2022, 2023, 2024) and the OFDT all point in the same direction: cocaine is now the most consumed hard drug in France, ahead of heroin and amphetamines. It has never been so accessible, and seizures are reaching record levels.

This rise is far from trivial, because cocaine is one of the drugs with the heaviest ecological footprint. These figures are well known among specialists, but rarely make it into public debate:

• 1 gram consumed = roughly 4 m² of tropical rainforest destroyed.

• In certain regions of Colombia, up to 50% of deforestation is directly linked to illegal coca cultivation.

These data come from the UNODC’s 2022 and 2023 environmental reports (sources listed at the end of this article): no speculation, just a brutal reality.
Behind every line on your phone screen lies a destroyed ecosystem, displaced communities, erased biodiversity. It also directly fuels armed groups, local violence, forced displacement and police brutality.

Cocaine is not just a “dirty” drug for the user. It is a dirty drug for the world. No judgement here, as you know, we stand firmly on the side of harm reduction.

MDMA and synthetics: an invisible but massive pollution

MDMA is often perceived as “cleaner”, less environmentally problematic. That is false.

Producing one kilo of MDMA generates between 6 and 10 kilos of toxic waste, frequently dumped directly into forests, soils or waterways. In the Netherlands, Europe’s main production hub, environmental services have been sounding the alarm for years: these discharges cause long-term, sometimes irreversible pollution.

These figures come from multiple public investigations and analyses relayed by VICE (sources listed at the end), Dutch police and environmental authorities. Soils are poisoned, water contaminated, wildlife affected. MDMA production does not happen in sterile clinical labs: it leaves a toxic trail behind.

Indoor cannabis looks green, but is actually coal-grey

Cannabis is often perceived as the most “natural” substance.
But indoor cultivation, the most widespread method in Europe, is extremely energy-intensive. Lamps, ventilation systems, artificial light cycles, heating… CO₂ emissions are very high and largely rely on fossil fuels.

Studies compiled in Espèces Menacées and Yearn Magazine show that the carbon footprint of one kilo grown indoors can rival that of heavy industry. “Green” is not always ecological.

Oceans under threat: drug trafficking as maritime pollution

Few people realise this, but oceans are directly affected.
Drug trafficking organisations regularly throw bales overboard when under pursuit. These packages degrade, release substances and contaminate marine life.

This is documented by the UNODC (2024): turtles, fish and seabirds ingest these drugs, leading to mass intoxications. Pollution is not only terrestrial; it is also beneath our feet, in the waters we claim to protect.

Why do we criticise Shein (rightfully), but not our own practices?

Fast fashion is a convenient enemy: distant, corporate, easy to condemn.

But placing the environmental damage of Shein side by side with that of cocaine consumption makes one thing clear: our parties sometimes cause comparable, if not worse, harm.
And yet, strangely, this sparks no collective outrage.

Why? Because criticising Shein does not force us to change our habits, it is easy to replace. Criticising substances does, because the alternative is sobriety. And also because condemning large corporations costs us nothing. Questioning our own relationship to nightlife does. Or because acknowledging the human cost of trafficking would mean admitting our pleasure relies on a system of violence. And we are not ready to accept that.

The human cost: the part everyone prefers to ignore

This is not only an ecological issue. It is also a human one.

Illegal coca cultivation involves:

• forced labour,

• child exploitation,

• displacement of Indigenous populations,

• financing of armed groups,

• paramilitary violence,

• chemical contamination in rural areas.

• police violence

These facts are drawn from UNODC reports (2022–2024) and cross-investigations published by Drogues.gouv.fr.

When a European consumes a line, they do not see this chain of suffering. But it exists, and it is directly linked to our recreational practices.

So, what do we do?

This is not about moralising. Nightlife does not need a morality police. But it does need lucidity and real usefulness. We cannot defend the planet by day while ignoring the ecological impact of our habits at night. We cannot speak of inclusivity, justice or care without addressing the real consequences of what we consume.

Being ecological means looking at all the blind spots. Being progressive means accepting the discomfort necessary for any transformation. Being honest means recognising that some of our practices harm entire ecosystems.

Nightlife does not need to become moral. It simply needs to become conscious.

And now? Just lucidity and harm reduction.

We do not claim to have a miracle solution. Harm reduction remains today the only truly effective, concrete and applicable tool to reduce human, health, social and environmental harm.
It is imperfect, but it works.

The idea of a future where substances are produced sustainably and consumed in a reasonable way is dizzying. Can we imagine a more transparent supply chain, less violent, less destructive? Can we dream of a truly conscious, informed, non-dominant use?

Maybe. But for now, we are not there. Should we look to Portugal as an example (15% consumption rate vs 40% in France after more than 20 years of decriminalisation in Portugal)?

And we must also remember a fundamental truth, often ignored in moralising discourse: we are not all equal when it comes to consumption.

Some people are more biologically or psychologically vulnerable. Some develop dependencies quickly. Some use substances to cope, to escape, to exist, to calm themselves. Some cannot simply “consume better”.
As explained in our article “Be responsible at parties: don’t offer substances”, the notion of individual choice is not the same for everyone.

This is precisely why harm reduction exists:
to support without judging, to protect without infantilising, to make nightlife safer without denying the complexity of our relationships to substances.

We will not resolve these contradictions overnight.
But we can start by looking reality in the face, refusing denial, and building a culture where nightlife does not rely on the destruction of other worlds.

Sources

UNODC — United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

• World Drug Report 2022 – Booklet 5: Drugs and Environment

• World Drug Report 2023 – Booklet 4: Environmental Crime and Coca Cultivation in the Amazon

• World Drug Report 2024
  https://www.unodc.org/

Drogues.gouv.fr — OFDT & UNODC summaries
https://www.drogues.gouv.fr/

VICE France — MDMA production and pollution
https://www.vice.com/fr

Espèces Menacées — Environmental impact of indoor cannabis
https://www.especes-menacees.fr/

Yearn Magazine — Carbon footprint of indoor cultivation
https://yearn-magazine.com/

WillAgri — Deforestation linked to coca cultivation
https://www.willagri.com/