Drug Trafficking Lawyer in Paris and across France

Updated 3 November 2026

Drug trafficking cases in France move fast: arrest, search, police custody that may last up to four days, then referral to the prosecutor and an immediate trial or a judicial investigation. The penalties are among the heaviest in the French Criminal Code. Me Ramzi Ouzeri, member of the Paris Bar, defends people prosecuted for drug offences in Paris, the Île-de-France region and across France, from custody to appeal.

What the law provides

• Directing a trafficking group: life imprisonment and a €7.5 million fine (Article 222-34 of the French Criminal Code).
• Production or manufacture: 20 years; 30 years as an organised gang (Article 222-35).
• Import or export: 10 years and €7.5 million; 30 years as an organised gang (Article 222-36).
• Transport, possession, offer, sale, acquisition or use: 10 years and €7.5 million (Article 222-37).
• Sale to a person for personal use: 5 years and €75,000 (Article 222-39).
• Personal use: 1 year and €3,750 (Article L. 3421-1 of the Public Health Code).

Police custody of up to 96 hours

Drug trafficking falls under the organised-crime procedure: custody may be extended up to ninety-six hours, and the lawyer's intervention may be deferred up to seventy-two hours by a judge's decision (Article 706-88 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure). Every extension and investigative measure must meet strict conditions, which are the first source of procedural challenges.

Our defence

Assistance in custody, review of the arrest, searches, phone taps and custody, challenges to detention, requests for investigative steps, and advocacy at an immediate trial or before the criminal court, including a possible guilty plea (CRPC) and sentence adjustment.