The National Assembly adopted on Thursday a text aimed at combating the misuse of common products, with the aim of nitrous oxide, a gas with euphoric effects heavy with risk to health.
Read also: In the North, alert on nitrous oxide, the new drug for teenagers
A bill to this effect from Senator Valérie Létard (Centrist Union) was unanimously adopted at first reading by the deputies, within the framework of a day reserved for the center-right opposition group UDI.
The text, already voted unanimously at the end of 2019 in the Senate, originally aimed only at nitrous oxide, or "
laughing gas
", but has been extended to "
the fight against the diverted and dangerous uses
" of products of current consumption by young people.
It plans to punish a fine of 15,000 euros "
for causing a minor to misuse a product of current consumption to obtain psychoactive effects, even not followed by effect
".
The text is more precise concerning nitrous oxide, a gas for medical use but which can also be found on the market and on the Internet in the form of cartridges or carboys, for example for whipped cream siphons.
The website of the Interministerial Mission for the Fight against Drugs and Addictive Behaviors (Mildeca) notes that its use is "
an increasingly widespread practice
" among young people in search of a rapid euphoric product.
The potential harmful effects are numerous: dizziness or loss of consciousness but also respiratory, cardiac or neurological disorders.
La Mildeca reports several dozen serious cases in recent years.
"
It is a real public health issue
", underlined Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo (Agir group), the deputy Isabelle Florennes (MoDem) adding that "
this scourge rages on the whole of the territory
" after having been initially worrying in the north of the country.
Read also: Aisne: the police seize more than 5,000 cartridges of nitrous oxide
The proposed law "
prohibits the sale or offer free of charge to a minor of nitrous oxide, whatever the packaging
".
E-commerce sites for their part must specify the prohibition on the sale of this product to minors.
Other provisions aim to prohibit the sale to any person, minor or not, of this gas in drinking establishments, or that of products that can be used to manufacture it "in
order to obtain psychoactive effects
".
The text must now go back to the Senate.
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