Drug dealers in Marseille, southern France, are offering loyalty cards to their customers.

From Thursday Cannabis dealers in the port city of Marseille will reward their customers, by offering them a loyalty plan. The cards are similar to coffee shop loyalty cards, where you get a freebie or cash discount for every ten purchases. Sales of drugs have increased since the scheme was introduced. Drug dealers and their customers have found it a popular idea, which is creating a certain buzz. The police and the locals are not very amused.

The Local reports:

When buying cannabis from the dealers, customers are given a rewards card including the product price list, opening hours (11am to midnight), and a message that says “We look forward to seeing you in the neighborhood, thanks for your loyalty”.

“I thought I was hallucinating,” one buyer told regional paper La Provence.

“I thought I was at a pizzeria or something.”

Indeed, the card seems exactly like something a pizza or coffee shop would offer, with ten unstamped squares on the opposite side and another typed message explaining that customers get a discount of €10 after all boxes were filled.

One dealer, speaking to the paper on condition of anonymity, said that the idea had created a real stir in the city.

“It went around on the internet and got a crazy buzz going,” the dealer said.

“Now everyone’s coming to the neighborhood to see it with their own eyes.”

He added that the move had landed him more customers, especially considering no one else was offering such a loyalty service in Marseille.

Local residents, however, are less than impressed.

“This isn’t funny to me at all,” said one young mother. “It just goes to show that anything goes around here.”

Organised drug dealing is a major problem in the southern city, with 300 policemen carrying out a sting operation on a gang of 20 dealers as recently as Monday, reported French channel BFM TV.