Pusher power: France to use illegal drug sales to boost economic growth by billions

France will include sales of illegal drugs in its gross domestic product (GDP) calculations.

The Insee statistics agency made the announcement as part of a pan-European effort for nation states to include the sales of drugs in their economic growth figures.

Eurostat is trying to bring European nations on to the same page in determining GDP and one measure is for all members of the bloc to include the drug stats.

The organisation has said that illegal drugs sales as well as a prostitution audit should be part of each nation's economic figures.

The Netherlands has been one of the frontrunners of this policy. Prostitution, which was legalised in the Netherlands in 2000, is now included in the country's financial growth statistics along with the legal sales of marijuana.

Several other nations including Spain, Britain and Italy have taken similar steps since the Eurostat policy was announced in 2013.

The head of Insee's national accounts, Ronan Mahieu, downplayed the impact that the new calculations could have on French GDP figures.

He told the Local that France's current GDP of €2.2tn (£1.9tn) would only increase by "a few billion euros".

French revenues for illegal drug use will be based upon figures that are provided to Insee's economics department by specialists.

Unlike the Dutch, France has ruled out including prostitution in the figures, saying that it cannot always be verified whether a sex worker has provided consent.