Less expensive than cocaine, 3-MMC is increasingly present on the drug market… What is this substance? Explanations.
- New synthetic drugs refer to substances that mimic the effects of known illicit drugs such as ecstasy, amphetamines, cocaine, cannabis, etc.
- The molecular structure of these new synthetic products is not identical to other drugs, which allows them, for some which do not yet have a clear legal status, to circumvent the legislation on narcotics.
Cathinones, including 3-MMC, are among the most observed substances on the drug market and, more specifically, that of new synthetic products, according to the 2022 report of theFrench Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT).
Cathinones
Cathinones are defined as “a family of synthetic substances derived from natural cathinone (a product naturally present in the khat plant) (…). There are more than fifty different cathinones. The best known are mephedrone, 4-MEC, 3-MMC, MDPV, and alpha-PVP.”, according to the site drugs-info-service.fr.
3-MMC, or 3-methylmethcathinone, is therefore a synthetic drug, present in France for about ten years. At the beginning, it was rather consumed in the homosexual environment but, from now on, it is also present among heterosexuals. “We observe a non-negligible extension of the uses of 3-MMC outside of a sexual context, showing signs of diffusion outside the gay and MSM communities (Man having sex with other man(s)“, explains a Chemsex reportpublished in March 2022 for the Ministry of Health.
Last March, theEuropean Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) considered that 3-MMC was among the products which “cause concern in Europe“. Physically, this substance resembles cocaine, that is, white powder. But 3-MMC has a specific smell of licorice and, above all, is cheaper: between five and eighteen euros per gram Since 2012, theEMCDDA categorized it as a new psychoactive substance. In France, like all illicit substances referenced as such, it is illegal.
Disinhibit and increase libido
“The main effects sought by these products, and in particular the cathinones (including 3-MMC), are the increase in libido and endurance, their disinhibiting and entactogenic effects, the multiplication of sensations of pleasure, in particular sexual. A large part of these molecules also have a stimulating power, more or less important, depending on the drugs and the dosages used.”, explains a Chemsex reportpublished in March 2022 for the Ministry of Health.
Like all drugs, taking 3-MMC is dangerous for your health. “The complications are much worse than those of cocaineexplains Laurent Karila, addictologist, in the Parisian. All organs can be affected in the long term. No one is equal before drugs, and some can have an accident on the first take.”.
