WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
NITROUS OXIDE
In October, in Vigneulles-lès-Hattonchâtel, a 15-year-old teenager was found dead near the soccer stadium. Two young people in just a few months. " The first had been using nitrous oxide in a festive context, while the second was addicted and isolated ," explains Bruno Frémont, the Verdun forensic pathologist who autopsied the two bodies.
How many victims are there? Have they been counted? As we talk, parents tell me that they too have discovered aerosols and balloons in their children's bedrooms," says the worried doctor. I think this practice is totally underestimated by the health authorities.
When contacted about this phenomenon, the Direction Générale de la Santé did not respond.
Yohan died of cardiac arrest. His parents discovered that he had been inhaling these dusting cans for three months. Several times the week of his death, and twice the same evening. This time, he fell flat on his face," says Nadine. The firemen tried to revive him for an hour and a half. Since then, the questions have gone round and round. Why and how? Their 19-year-old son, a BTS student, was a discreet boy, with no excesses. The autopsy confirmed it. There were no drugs in his blood, not even a glass of alcohol. Daniel, the father, knew all his friends who were present at the time of the tragedy: "They're a good bunch of friends," says the man who was even their soccer coach when they were kids.
So, a month ago, they decided to alert the other parents. "You know, we're a bit dead with Yohan, so if we can prevent another tragedy from happening..." they confide. And they've set up a Facebook group, Association Yohan. "One father told us he lost his son three years ago in Canada.
The success of nitrous oxide, which came over from England, is such that it has become the third most widely consumed psychoactive product among French students, after cannabis and poppers, according to a recent study by the mutual insurance company Smerep.
When contacted about this phenomenon, the Direction Générale de la Santé did not respond.
Internet sales: Europe in a global market
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction (EMCDDA) and Europol estimate that EU suppliers accounted for almost half of all drug sales on the darknet between 2011 and 2015. It should also be pointed out that while attention is often focused on the "darknet", social media and the surface web play a significant role in the sale of new psychoactive substances and drugs diverted from their original use.
In this context, EMCDDA draws attention to new substances associated with benzodiazepines. 14 new benzodiazepines have in fact been listed by the European Union's early warning system since 2015. The availability of these substances on the illicit drug market appears to be increasing in some countries. Yet these substances play a well-known role in opiate overdose deaths (as they increase the risk of respiratory depression), albeit one that is often overlooked. The EMCDDA is also concerned about a possible increase in use among young people, and recommends the implementation of more in-depth surveys, greater political consideration and more prevention efforts.
As Professor Jean Pierre Goullé points out, the imagination of poisoning chemists knows no bounds.
Sourced from wholesale markets in China and India, then imported into Europe for further processing, these products are often marketed as legal euphoriants. It's true that many of them evade the international laws in force. They are then resold in place of "banned drugs" thanks to sophisticated and aggressive marketing strategies, which do not hesitate to infiltrate social networks and target young people. Some of these new psychoactive drugs are offered on the Net as simple medicines, or even under the most fanciful names of "bath salts", "incense", "medicinal plants", "fertilizers", "ecstasy", "amphetamines" or "cocaine".
For the EMCDDA, the new psychoactive substances are still a challenge for public health.
However, the harmful consequences of their use on public health remain high. With the arrival in Europe of synthetic opiates and synthetic cannabinoids, associated with death and acute intoxication, EMCDDA has carried out risk assessments on an unprecedented number of substances.
Fentanyl derivatives, in particular, present a real challenge for health services, law enforcement agencies and public health. These substances are effective in very small doses, and are easy to transport and conceal.
