Psychoactive drugs used in chemical submission are frequently devoid of odor and color. The Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) urges laboratories to remedy this.
To combat chemical submission, the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) has urged laboratories to modify certain drugs by changing “smell, texture, aroma or color”. These measures must be implemented under “less than six months”despite the many challenges they involve, recalls theHuffPost.
Leïla Chaouachi, founder of the Reference Center on Substance Facilitated Aggression, observes that “attackers use odorless, colorless, tasteless, water-soluble substances to trap the victim”. Its annual report on chemical submission, presented after the trial verdict, reveals that psychoactive drugs remain the main agents of these attacks, surpassing certain illegal drugs.
She pleads for “systematic measurements, for the major classes of drugs which have always been identified as chemical subjugation agents”.
Among the substances considered to be at risk, we find benzodiazepines (sedative and anxiolytic effects), antihistamines and opioids, used for their sedative properties. Bromazepam, known as Lexomil, ranks first, followed by tramadol, codeine, zopiclone and hydroxyzine.
The ANSM asks laboratories to “put in place measures to limit their diversion”. According to the Leem union, they have “less than six months” to propose solutions.
-Several tracks
Several avenues are being considered, according to our colleagues: addition of colorings (such as the blue coloring integrated into drinkable Rivotril to limit its criminal use), incorporation of bittering agents (to make the taste bitter), or even use of gelling agents and tracers. However, “not everything will work out”warns Leem.
Altering the dissolution of drugs to form visible deposits is “much more complicated” only add a dye, and the use of bittering agents remains limited to prevent patients from abandoning their treatment. Any modification of the formula must preserve the effectiveness and tolerance of the drug, as shown by the example of Levothyrox, a reformulation of which caused undesirable effects.
Leïla Chaouachi underlines the scale of this project, which could “engage Europe” and concern both existing drugs and those in development. If the reflection is collective, each laboratory will have to assume responsibility for clinical trials for new formulas.
The ANSM cannot impose these changes but can encourage them, recalling that there is a “public health interest” and reputation for laboratories to take up the issue.
However, “It’s not a dye or a bittering agent that will stop crime”shade Leïla Chaouachi. Attackers can disguise the color in an opaque drink or mask the bitter taste in grapefruit juice. These modifications therefore fall under “risk reduction measures”even if “the medicine, however regulated it may be, remains within reach in the family medicine cabinet”.
