Drug trafficking: Is Saint Martin unaffected?
Today, drug trafficking is everywhere, at every level of society. It destroys neighbourhoods, lives and futures. To raise awareness of its impact and support the fight against this scourge, the government is launching a major communication campaign, involving all government departments. It is being rolled out everywhere, except in the Pacific territories and the Northern Islands. Could Saint Martin therefore be one of the few regions spared by drug trafficking?
This decision does indeed raise questions, given that the Caribbean regional security conference began yesterday in Fort-de-France, an event taking place as part of the French G7 presidency. The aim is to mobilise a broad network of partners in the face of the unprecedented rise in illicit trafficking in the Caribbean and French Guiana region. On 2 and 3 July, heads of state and government, along with ministers for foreign affairs, the interior and justice, are invited to an international conference to express their shared determination to combat the growth of illicit trafficking at a regional level. “On the high seas, drug seizures carried out by the French authorities have risen by 30 per cent in one year, reaching 35.7 tonnes in 2025 compared with 28 tonnes in 2024. ‘This reality on the ground highlights the need for a collective response,’ states the Ministry of the Interior’s website. It also notes that at the heart of the discussions is ‘the official presentation of the ANTI Plan (emergency plan to combat drug trafficking in the Antilles and French Guiana)’. A study by the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction states that Saint Martin, due to its geographical location and dual nationality status, has become a strategic hub for organised crime networks, situated at the crossroads of export routes to Europe.
So, is Saint-Martin not affected by drug trafficking? How can the government generate such a media hype across all territories on the theme ‘We all pay the price for drugs’, whilst deliberately excluding Saint-Martin? Does information on seizures carried out in the Caribbean region, and on the deaths linked to this trafficking which continue to cast a shadow of grief over the territory, not reach the highest levels of government? Attempting to tackle these realities by taking a top-down approach, without taking into account the specific circumstances of the territories most at risk, amounts to sending a contradictory message. If the fight against drug trafficking is to be a national and coordinated effort, it cannot leave out Saint Martin, where the consequences of this scourge are very real. The island’s exclusion from this awareness-raising campaign is as puzzling as it is worrying.
