The ANSM asks pharmaceutical firms to modify the smell, texture, aroma or color of certain treatments in “less than six months” in order to limit their diversion.
- Chemical submission is the administration of a psychoactive substance to a person, without being aware of it or under constraint, with the aim of committing an offense or a crime, such as a flight, sexual assault, rape.
- Pharmaceutical laboratories have “less than six months” to change the visual aspect (coloring or unusual texture), the taste or smell of risk medication.
- Several pharmaceutical groups have indicated, to AFP, to work on “proposals for solutions.”
The day after the verdict of the Mazan rape trial, the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) announced, in a press release published on December 20, 2024, engage “Work with laboratories that market drugs likely to be diverted for chemical submission, in order to put in place appropriate measures to alert and protect potential victims”.
Chemical submission: the consequences can be very heavy
As a reminder, chemical submission corresponds to the administration of a psychoactive substance without a person or under the threat to criminal or criminal purposes, according to the government. “According to an investigation, this substance is most often a medication (antihistamine, sedative, benzodiazepine, antidepressant, opioid, ketamine …) but it can also be a non-drug substance (MDMA, Cocaine, 3-MMC, GHB and its derivatives or alcohol). specifies the ANSM. Chemical submission has serious risks for victims. Indeed, it can cause memory loss, alteration of consciousness, theft, sexual assault or rape, or even death, due to the amnesiating, sedative and disinhibited properties of treatments.
Make drugs at risk of chemical submission in “less than six months”
To reduce the risk of the embezzlement of use of treatments, the health authority asked, from the beginning of this month of January, to pharmaceutical groups holding a marketing authorization of drugs at risk of chemical submission to return The diversion of the use of the more difficult substance or to alert potential victims by modifying the formula of the drug. These changes can focus on the visual appearance (coloring or unusual texture), or adding an identifiable taste or odor. According to the Professional Syndicate for Medicines (Leem), laboratories have “Less than 6 months” To meet the demand of the National Medicines Safety Agency. Contacted by AFP, several pharmaceutical companies have declared working on “Solutions proposals”. The reflection is intended to be collective, but “Clinical development will necessarily be individual for the laboratory which will take responsibility for the new formula” which must be as effective and tolerated, indicated, to 20 minutesa Leem expert.
“It is not a coloring or an America that will block the crime”
Although these measures can help limit risks, Leïla Chaouachi, a rapporteur of the annual investigation into chemical submission, is more nuanced. “It is not a coloring or an improvement that will block the crime. The aggressor can perfectly hide the shade in an opaque drink and the bitter loon in a grapefruit juice. These are measures to reduce the reduction of Risks. she pointed out to 20 minutes.
