A far-left French MP was caught buying a designer drug from a minor in Paris in the latest scandal to beset the leftist New Popular Front coalition.
Andy Kerbrat, MP for Loire-Atlantique, admitted this week that he was arrested by police in Paris last week, saying that he “takes full responsibility” and will put himself at “the disposal” of the justice system.
According to a report from Le Figaro, the leftist La France Insoumise (LFI) lawmaker was seen by police on Friday evening with another individual in Paris making what appeared to be a “drug transaction”. The paper reported that Kerbrat was then found in possession of 3-MMC, a popular designer drug in the French capital.
The drug dealer, reportedly a minor who was known to police, was also found in possession of the same designer drug as well as around 200 euros in cash.
In a statement this week, Kerbrat said that he suffers from “personal problems” and “psychological fragilities”, which led him to use drugs. However, he said that he intends to fight his “addiction” and will enrol himself in a “treatment protocol” that should “allow him to resume his activity as a parliamentarian”.
Ironically, Kerbrat had previously claimed that his top priority as a lawmaker was to “fight against drugs.”
Condemning the actions of the leftist National Assembly member, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said: “While drug gangsterism is taking hold in France with its procession of violence, it is not tolerable to see a member of parliament of the Republic buying synthetic drugs from a street dealer. A member of parliament has a duty to set an example.”
Kerbrat is just the latest La France Insoumise politician to cause controversy for the broader New Popular Front, a left-wing coalition comprising of communists, socialists, greens, and loyalists to radical LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that an LFI candidate for the National Assembly, Raphaël Arnault, was an Antifa extremist on France’s national security watchlist. Despite the revelation, the activist was still elected to the French parliament in July to represent Vaucluse’s 1st constituency.
