Melina Facchin
The CHRU, regional and university hospital center, of Nancy has set up a new protocol to help people who have been drugged without their knowledge, for example in a nightclub. From now on, they will be able to take samples which will be kept for several days, the time they decide if they wish to file a complaint.
In recent weeks, more and more people claim to be victims of strange bites in bars or nightclubs. To detect these drugs and many others, the Nancy CHRU has implemented a new detection protocol, a first in France. Samples are now offered to alleged victims and frozen for five days, while they decide whether or not to file a complaint. Samples that can be used as evidence in court.
Blood and urine samples kept for 5 days
In the emergency room of the Nancy hospital, it is a phenomenon which is gaining momentum. For several months – since the reopening of the nightclubs more precisely – Lionel Nace, the head of the service, has seen more and more people convinced of having been drugged without their knowledge. Hence this new protocol: “In addition to the traditional examination, there are simply blood and urine samples” he explains. “The elements will be kept for five days. If the victim does not file a complaint during this period, the samples will be destroyed. If there is a complaint, it will take its course and it could potentially be used as evidence”, continues the doctor.
“I may have an interest in going to file a complaint”
And keeping the samples is very valuable for the victims. “The interest is to stop the frantic race against time, because every minute counts” explains Emmanuel Puskarczyk, head of the poison control center at Nancy hospital. “Each hour that passes leaves less and less chance of finding traces of the psychoactive substances that have been administered”, recalls the doctor, who encourages potential victims to be detected as soon as possible after having been possibly drugged, at the latest within 48 hours. “And this new protocol leaves time to say to yourself: yes, it may be in my interest to file a complaint.”
This examination is free and can be carried out in different departments of the hospital: in the emergency room, by calling the SAMU or at the poison control center in particular. And these samples can also identify traces of strange bites reported all over France in recent weeks. Two new complaints were also filed, Monday again, in Nancy.