In France, where recreational drug use is illegal, the street price of cannabis has drastically risen due to the lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Newly imposed tight border controls to stop the spread of the virus have disrupted the illegal flow of drugs. Illegal cannabis resin in France typically comes from Morocco through Spain, and marijuana comes from the Netherlands.
“The price of a 100-gram bar of resin went from €280 ($309) to €500 in a week in Marseille,” said Yann Bastiere, a senior police union official who works with counter-narcotics investigators. He noted that similar trends were seen in other parts of the country as well.
Experts are concerned that the lack of drug availability could lead to serious trouble—rivalries between drug gangs and public disorder in the “deprived zones.”