One French mayor is really eager to boost the population in his town, so much so that he is willing to seek the help of some chemical intervention to get the job done.
Montereau Mayor Jean Debouzy is handing out free Viagra, an erectile dysfunction drug, according to People Magazine , in order to reverse the decline in population and keep the town’s schools open. And Debouzy isn’t limiting this offer to locals, because if you are willing to move to town and have a partner, you too can have free Viagra.
The mayor has made this offer official by issuing a decree.
“A village without children is a village that dies.”
Any couple from ages 18 to 40 can have the drug for free to “give them the chance of conception and thus preserve the schools of the two villages.” He oversees Montereau and La Cour-Marigny, which are both 80 miles south of Paris.
Nobody has taken the mayor up on the offer yet, which might be a positive thing because he has not stocked up on the little blue pills as of yet, but he says if it’s requested, he’ll make sure to get some.
“If needs be, I’ll get the agreement of the council and we’ll get a stock in.”
Residents of French village being offered free Viagra https://t.co/XO3TYaWuqG
— The Independent (@Independent) May 22, 2019
Critics of the offer are at the very least puzzled because it’s illegal to obtain Viagra in France without a prescription. However, the point of Debouzy’s bold offer is to bring attention to his town’s shrinking population and the lengths he will go to in order to save the schools and to preserve jobs.
The Telegraph is reporting that the mayor is also willing to negotiate what he calls one-off “bonuses for any new babies born in a particular time period.”
This is not the first statement or stunt made by a French mayor to draw attention to social problems in their town. The mayor of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (in the same area) recently issued a tongue in cheek decree making it illegal for residents to get sick in an effort to highlight the lack of medical care in the area.
Another mayor enrolled a flock of sheep at one of his local elementary schools by name in order to boost the student numbers to demonstrate the desperation for the replenishment of the population. The mayor even constructed a pen at the school so that nobody could say the “students” weren’t attending.
