In Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), in Périgny (Val-de-Marne) and, for a few days, in Brunoy (Essonne), in Elbeuf, (Seine-Maritime) or in Valenciennes (North) and Arras (Pas-de-Calais)… Municipal decrees aiming to prohibit the sale of nitrous oxide to minors are constantly increasing. These commonly used gases, used in cooking, are stored in whipped cream siphons. In Paris, too, this capsule breakout did not go unnoticed. We now see them in the gutters. Faced with the scale of the phenomenon, the city of Paris is currently working on a vast prevention campaign with teenagers.
First observed in “free parties” or medical evenings, this fashion has, over time, been democratized among schoolchildren, high school students and students. In 2017, many cartridges were spotted in the streets of Lille. Over the 2018-2019 period, 47 cases were reported to addictovigilance centers in France, including 37 “serious” cases, according to the general management of health. Among them, 60% had neurological complications.
The National Procrastin Assembly
If, for three years, we note “a certain resurgence of uses […], tells us the French Observatory of Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), reports have been recurrent since the beginning of deconfinement”. According to the director, Julien Morel d'Arleux: “An investigation is planned in the Hauts-de-France where these consumptions are often observed. The General Directorate of Health specifies bringing "special vigilance" in the context of confinement "which may have revealed uncontrolled uses" and deconfinement.
In December 2019, the Senate had, however, unanimously voted to ban the sale of nitrous oxide to minors. But since then, the text has still not been examined by the National Assembly. "I fight to make it a priority," says centrist senator Valérie Létard, on the initiative of this bill. The cause of this delay? The few days reserved for their examination and a calendar shaken by the coronavirus, according to the elected official. "We are waiting to know the back-to-school agenda, the bill will be presented between November and January. "
VIDEO. Laughing gas: "I prefer to test that than to drink alcohol"
