France launches Ofast, a national anti-drug office, replacing OCRTIS

On 1 January 2020, France created the Office anti-stupéfiants, known as Ofast, a national anti-drug office. It replaced the Office central pour la répression du trafic illicite des stupéfiants (OCRTIS), the long-standing police unit that handled drug trafficking investigations.

Ofast was placed within the judicial police, the branch of the national police that investigates serious crime. Its mission was broader than that of its predecessor: to coordinate the work of the different services involved in the fight against drug trafficking, rather than leaving police, gendarmerie (military police) and customs to operate largely in parallel. The new office was designed to bring together investigators from these services and to improve the sharing of intelligence on trafficking networks, both within France and abroad.

The reform was announced by the interior ministry in 2019, at a time when the government presented drug trafficking as a growing threat to public order and security. Ofast became the central body for national and international cooperation on narcotics, and it has since been the main French authority publishing and relaying figures on seizures and trafficking. Its creation marked a shift towards a more centralised, enforcement-led approach to drugs, which is the backdrop to later debates on overdoses and public health.