LFI MP Andy Kerbrat, caught buying drugs, returns to the Assembly on Tuesday

LFI MP Andy Kerbrat, who was caught buying drugs in October and then temporarily banned from the National Assembly, will return to the National Assembly on Tuesday, June 24, after six months of treatment, he said in an interview with Presse Océan on Monday. "I'm returning to my duties after a six-month break necessary for treatment : hospitalization, medical and social monitoring..." including two months of hospitalization, the 34-year-old MP told Presse Océan . " On Tuesday, I'll be returning to the National Assembly," he announced.

Decryption

In the interview, the man who was stopped while buying 3-MMC, a synthetic drug that has been booming in recent years, explains that he "started using it in November 2022, shortly after the death of [his] mother. Just after [his] election." "I was unable to deal with this event, nor with the return of the trauma caused by the rape I suffered in my childhood," confides the elected official, who regrets having been caught in denial of this addiction.

Andy Kerbrat also laments that there is "a taboo on addiction. France has a public health problem and politicians are not facing the issue head on," while LFI advocates for the legalization of certain drugs under state control. As the Nantes resident points out, his movement also advocates for the medical decriminalization of hard drugs, with medical support. The MP had also been supported by his rebellious colleagues and by Jean-Luc Mélenchon when his control was revealed. The ecologist Sandrine Rousseau had also sent him a message of support: "Drug use and addiction are an issue of care, mental health and support. You have recognized it, you are in a treatment process. Come back to us in good shape," she wrote.

Andy Kerbrat was temporarily expelled from the National Assembly in May, the most severe sanction provided for by the rules, along with another MP, former National Assembly member Christine Engrand. They were expelled from the National Assembly for fifteen days (with a ban on taking part in the proceedings) and deprived of half their parliamentary allowance for two months. At the end of 2024, Mediapart published two investigations according to which the two elected officials had used their accounts to advance office expenses, he to finance his drug use, which he denied, and she for various expenses, including a subscription to a dating site and dog sitting.

By early May, according to the ethics officer's latest report, the Pas-de-Calais representative had repaid the amounts in question. Andy Kerbrat, for his part, had reimbursed 95% of the expenses on his own initiative. Regarding the remaining portion, the ethics officer requested additional information, and the MP had committed to making any necessary reimbursements.

Following the media coverage of Andy Kerbrat's case last October, several investigations, such as those by Franceinfo and Le Figaro , revealed the worrying level of drug and alcohol consumption in the Assembly. Many respondents explained these excesses by the need to maintain the work rates imposed on MPs and their staff. In early February, the Green mayor of Grenoble, Eric Piolle, proposed "conducting saliva, hair, and urine tests in the Assembly and the Senate" to see if the drug problem "also affected decision-making circles." This is what journalist Elise Lucet filmed herself doing, before being called to order by the President of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet.