The 54-year-old actor, responsible for a very serious car accident in February 2023, had taken drugs before getting behind the wheel. Cocaine, but also another booming narcotic product, 3-MMC.
A very dangerous cocktail of drugs. Toxicological analyzes carried out after the dramatic accident caused by Pierre Palmade on February 10, 2023 revealed traces of cocaine, the intake of which was “recent”, but also of 3-MMC, a cheap drug just as dangerous and whose effects are similar.
Its full name is 3-methylmethcathinone, but it is more commonly called 3-MMC. Appearing at the beginning of the 2010s, this new queen of the night first established herself in chemsex parties and homosexual circles. Since 2017, its consumption has expanded to other festive atmospheres.
Intended to remove inhibitions or increase pleasure, the euphoric, stimulating and empathogenic substance (which amplifies the capacity for empathy), is part of the family of synthetic cathinones. Users of 3-MMC describe its effects as a combination of those of cocaine, MDMA and amphetamines.
According to the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT), the proposed forms of 3-MMC have evolved for several years. First available in powder form, then crystals, it is now also found in tablets. 3-MMC can thus be snorted, injected or even consumed rectally.
A particularly dangerous drug
Available on the Internet, for sale at home, but also in the street, its price, which can vary from 10 to 40 euros per gram, makes it particularly attractive. However, the risk of 3-MMC addiction is high. Indeed, according to Drugs Info Service “the short duration of the effects and the strong anxiety which follows the intake cause a strong craving (irrepressible desire to consume again), favoring compulsive consumption”.
In addition to the risks of stroke, heart attack, convulsion, ENT problems, kidney damage, anxiety and even paranoia, taking this “new cocaine” can be fatal.
“All organs can be affected in the long term. No one is equal when it comes to drugs, and some can have an accident the first time they take it,” warns Doctor Laurent Karila in the columns of Le Parisien.
The European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has recorded numerous deaths in Europe linked to the consumption of 3-MMC.
