A courageous anti-drugs activist has pledged to continue his campaign against narcotics trafficking despite losing his second brother to drugs-related violence in just five years.

Amine Kessaci, 22, wrote a defiant opinion piece in Le Monde newspaper following the funeral of his younger brother Mehdi, whose murder has been described by the French government as a turning point in the nation’s escalating drugs wars.

“Yesterday I lost my brother. Today I speak out,” the anti-drugs activist declared, refusing to be intimidated by the criminal gangs who have targeted his family.

A Family Torn Apart by Drugs Violence

Gunmen shot dead Mehdi Kessaci, 20, last Wednesday as he parked his car in central Marseille. Authorities believe the killers intended the murder as a warning to his older brother, whose advocacy work has made him a target for the city’s powerful drugs networks.

The murder marks the second devastating loss for the family. In 2020, someone killed their elder brother Brahim, then 22, leaving his body in a burnt-out car—another victim of drugs-related crime.

That tragedy prompted Amine to establish Conscience, an association that exposes the damage narcotics gangs inflict on working-class communities. The anti-drugs activist recently authored a book titled “Marseille Wipe your Tears – Life and Death in a Land of Drugs”.

Living Under Threat

In his Le Monde article, Kessaci revealed that police had recently warned him to leave Marseille due to credible threats against his life. Heavy police protection surrounded him as he attended his younger brother’s funeral wearing a bullet-proof jacket.

“[The drugs-traffickers] strike at us in order to break, to tame, to subdue. They want to wipe out any resistance, to break any free spirit, to kill in the egg any embryo of revolt,” the anti-drugs activist wrote.

He continued: “I speak because I have no choice but to fight if I don’t want to die. I speak because I know that silence is the refuge of our enemies.”

France’s Drugs Crisis Reaches Critical Point

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described Mehdi’s murder as “something totally new” following a ministerial meeting at the Elysée Palace on Tuesday.

“It’s clearly a crime of intimidation. It’s a new level of violence,” Nuñez stated, acknowledging the unprecedented nature of targeting an anti-drugs activist’s family member.

The killing has thrust France’s narcotics problem back into the national spotlight. According to Senate member Étienne Blanc, the drugs trade now generates €7 billion in turnover—equivalent to 70% of the entire justice ministry budget.

Approximately 250,000 people derive their living from the trade in France, outnumbering the combined total of police and gendarmes, which stands at 230,000. The country counts 1.1 million cocaine users.

Government Response and New Measures

President Emmanuel Macron called a special drugs summit in response to Mehdi’s murder, reviewing progress on a new anti-drugs law passed in June.

The legislation establishes a special prosecutor’s office dedicated to organised crime, similar to the terrorism office, which will eventually employ 30 specialised magistrates. Senior drugs convicts must now serve sentences in isolation in a specially converted prison, which officials hope will prevent them continuing operations from behind bars.

Nuñez reported some positive developments, with homicides in Marseille declining from 49 in 2023 to 24 in 2024. Dealing points in the city had halved from 160 to 80.

“The war is not won, but we do have results,” the Interior Minister said.

A Growing European Problem

Author Mathieu Verboud, who wrote “Narcotraffic, Europe’s Poison”, warned that France occupies a pivotal position in European drugs trafficking due to its major ports at Marseille and Le Havre.

“The growth in world production of cocaine has triggered an explosion of supply and demand. The market has gone through the roof and so have the profits,” Verboud explained.

The immense wealth of drugs organisations enables them to corrupt everyone from dock workers to local politicians—a process that countries including the Netherlands and Belgium have already experienced extensively, he cautioned.

Calls for Military Intervention

Several French politicians have suggested deploying the army to combat narcotics trafficking and the gangs that control many high-immigration city estates.

Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nice, argued: “Narcotrafficking has transformed into narcoterrorism. Its aim now is to terrorise, subjugate and rule. We have already successfully deployed the means to fight terrorism. It’s time to act with determination against narcoterrorism.”

Meanwhile, the anti-drugs activist at the centre of this tragedy remains unbowed, calling for courage from citizens and decisive action from government whilst honouring his brother’s memory through continued resistance.

Source: dbrecoveryresources