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Both countries are outliers .. but why so much difference?

France
9 Overdose or drug-related deaths rate per 1 million population (unadjusted), 2022

Drug supply is punished by up to 10 years imprisonment. Leading or organising a criminal group trafficking drugs is punished by up to life imprisonment. Sale of drugs to a person for their use is punished by up to 5 years imprisonment. Penal Code, arts. 222-34 - 222-39.


US

324 Overdose or drug-related deaths rate per 1 million population (unadjusted), 2022

First Offense: Not less than
10 yrs, and not more than life.
If death or serious injury, not
less than 20 or more than life.
Fine of not more than $10 million if an individual, $50 million
if not an individual.

Drug related deaths .. source-
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/20...he%20world.

Almost anything that European countries fret over -- from debt to crime to substance abuse -- is at a cupcake and sugar-cookies level with respect to the amounts that the US deals with. France's drug suppliers in North Africa are a minor menace compared to Latin America and China's drug influx via the latter's easy entry. ("Drug trafficking violence soars in France as Algerian kingpins remain out of reach")

Whereas the US has Latin America right next door as a source (and previously porous borders facilitating delivery), Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids haven't massively invaded Western Europe yet. Eastern Europe seems to be the current hot spot for continental production and dispensing of such, but even that amount pales to the situation across the pond.

In contrast to the US, France was ahead of the curb in terms of treating the older and more traditional opioid crisis, but it has not robustly experienced the new wave yet. And may never encounter it to the same degree -- because again, foreign drug cartels are not (at the same intensity) spooning and grinding against it under the covers at night.

And France or Western Europe in general lacks the 16th & 17th century standards of archaic Ulster-Scots culture -- whose crab mentality still infects both poor white crackers and impoverished Blacks in the US -- which serves as a homegrown network for distribution and addiction. The similarly contingent gang-riddled neighborhoods of the US Hispanic community have their own running imitation of that culture, but differs in their being able to potentially escape it or grow out of it after a generation or two.     

Drug overdose mortality by state (map)
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/dea...rdose.html