The National Council of the Order of Physicians wants tests to detect chemical submission to be reimbursed by social security.
- The National Council of the Order of Physicians is calling on the public authorities to ensure that chemical submission screening tests are reimbursed by social security.
- These can cost up to 1,000 euros and are currently only reimbursed if the victim files a complaint.
- Many victims report substance-related amnesia, which hinders them from filing a complaint.
Better care for victims and reimbursement for tests to detect substances: these are the two requests that the National Council of the Order of Physicians (Cnom) is addressing to the public authorities. In a press releasethe authority insists on “lhe seriousness and urgency of the question of chemical submission, a phenomenon on the rise”.
Chemical submission: screening tests that cost up to 1,000 euros
Chemical submission is “the administration for criminal purposes (rape, acts of pedophilia) or misdemeanor (intentional violence, theft) of psychoactive substances (SPA) without the victim’s knowledge or under threat”, according to the latest national chemical submission survey.
This recorded, in 2022, 1,229 attacks facilitated by substances, an increase of just over 69% in one year. This increase was also linked, at the time, to two factors: the reopening of nightclubs in February 2022 and the European freedom of speech movement. #balancetonbar #MetooGHBlaunched in fall 2021.
However, since then, the phenomenon has still been present. The doctors who see the victims are on the front line and highlight an additional difficulty for the latter. Tests to detect all substances “can reach 1,000 euros and can only be carried out in expert toxicology laboratories” according to the Cnom. Furthermore, these are currently only reimbursed if the victim files a complaint, which is far from always being the case.
Assaults: better detection of chemical submission thanks to reimbursement
One in two victims reports amnesia of the facts according to the national chemical submission survey. Often, this substance-related memory loss discourages the victim from taking legal action. “Many factors considerably complicate the process of filing a complaint and make it all the more necessary for early detection intervention accessible to all patients, without resource conditions”indicates the Cnom.
For the Cnom, reimbursing the tests and medical monitoring of victims would make it possible to establish better conditions to encourage victims to be tested more quickly and therefore be able to receive better care and, if necessary, be able to file a complaint.
Still according to the national survey on chemical submission, it is mainly used to commit sexual assault with 62.9% of cases. Then come theft/burglary (8 cases), chemical abuse (7 cases), physical violence (5 cases), kidnapping (2 cases), human trafficking (1 case), attempted homicide (1 case). ) and verbal violence (1 case). These serious incidents have been on the increase in recent years.
