The Parliament definitively adopted, Tuesday, May 25, a bill aimed at combating the misuse, in particular among young people, of nitrous oxide, a ” laughing gas “ heavy health consequences. The text thus provides for a fine of 15,000 euros. “The act of provoking a minor to misuse a product of current consumption to obtain psychoactive effects”.
A bill emanating from the Senate was adopted unanimously at second reading by the Upper House, after a vote also unanimous by the National Assembly. The text, voted in identical terms by the two chambers, is thus validated by the Parliament. The Secretary of State for Children and Families, Adrien Taquet, welcomed this adoption which, according to him, brings “A powerful message of prevention and protection of minors”.
Many potential harmful effects
If the law speaks, in general, of ” misuse of an everyday consumer product ‘, it targets, in reality, precisely nitrous oxide. Used in the medical field for its anesthetic and analgesic properties, the latter is also used as an aerosol pressurization gas, in particular for food. It can thus be found in shops and on the Internet in the form of cartridges or canisters.
But the misuse of these cartridges by young people continues to increase: the gas is poured into a balloon and then inhaled, for a euphoric effect. At the origin of this text, Senator Valérie Létard (Centrist Union) underlined the urgency of legislating against this phenomenon. “Which has further increased during containment”. The potential harmful effects are, in fact, numerous: dizziness or loss of consciousness but also respiratory, cardiac or neurological disorders.
This text thus prohibits “To sell or offer a miner nitrous oxide, whatever the packaging”. E-commerce sites must, for their part, specify the prohibition on the sale of this product to minors. Other provisions aim to prohibit the sale to any person, minor or not, of this gas in drinking and tobacco shops. It also prohibits the sale of products that can be used to manufacture it for “To obtain psychoactive effects”.