Three cases of poisoning were reported in a high school in the Paris region on Friday November 15. The teenagers would have, through an e-cigarette, inhaled a synthetic drug supposed to imitate the effects of cannabis.
On Friday November 15, three teenagers (two aged 16 and one aged 15) attending the Jules-Ferry high school in Versailles in Ile-de-France were taken to the emergency room after being intoxicated. This episode is unfortunately not isolated: in mid-October, seventeen students from seven high schools in Calvados found themselves in a similar state.
The high school students had presumably introduced a psychoactive substance in an electronic cigarette, known as “Buddha Blue”. This product designates a cannabinoid synthetic, easily found on the internet and accessible for a derisory sum of money (no more than ten euros).
Specially designed to be introduced into a vape, the “Buddha Blue” is sold in the form of an odorless and colorless liquid. Given its dangerous nature, this substance has been banned for sale in France since 2017.
Two fatal cases in Europe
Appeared in France in 2014, this drug, which is also called “Spice” or “PTC”, promises sensations similar to those obtained by smoking marijuana. However, the side effects of this synthetic drug can be turn out to be much more powerful: paralysis, hallucinations, tachycardia, strong migraines, attacks of paranoia, respiratory distress…
Consequences which in 2017 caused several admissions to hospital emergency services in adolescents from Brittany and Normandy. If no death has been declared in France for the moment, the Buddha Blue has however already been fatal for several people in the rest of the world: two fatal cases have been identified in Europe. In September 2018, 71 overdoses were observed on the Yale University campus in the United States, including six victims in serious condition.
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