Conferences: Drug markets, Violence and the City II

Sciences Po’s Urban School and the Interministerial Mission for the Fight against Drugs and Addictive Behaviours (MILDECA) are once again organising a series of lectures focusing on recent changes in the drug trade and their urban implications.

This annual series aims to examine these developments through an approach that combines academic research, criminal intelligence, specialised justice and public policy.

It ties in with research conducted as part of the Interministerial Programme for Applied Research on Drug Control (PIRALAD), launched by MILDECA in 2022. One of the programme’s objectives is to support the development of a research community, with a view to building sustainable expertise closely aligned with the needs of public sector stakeholders.

The conferences at Sciences Po thus bring together international researchers and high-level public sector representatives to discuss the key contemporary challenges in the fight against drug trafficking.
 

Programme

Session 1 — The West Indies and French Guiana: strategic territories for cocaine trafficking
Tuesday 6 October 2026 at 5.00 pm

Session 2 — Le Havre, Marseille and elsewhere: drug trafficking in port areas
Thursday 12 November 2026 at 5.00 pm

Session 3 — Developments in the retail market in France 
Thursday 10 December 2026 at 5.00 pm

Session 4 — Measuring drug markets: volumes, value and estimation methods

Session 5 — From the JIRS to the PNACO: developments in specialised criminal justice and the fight against drug trafficking. A Franco-Italian perspective

Session 6 — Transnational criminal networks in France: connections, alliances and restructuring
 

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

• Gabriel Feltran, CNRS Researcher, Sciences Po, Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics (CEE)
• Tommaso Vitale, Dean of the School of Urban Studies and Professor of Sociology, Sciences Po, Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics (CEE)
• David Weinberger, Research Officer (MILDECA) and coordinator of the PIRALAD programme funded by the Drugs Competition Fund.