Do you know nitrous oxide? A bill will be presented Wednesday in the Senate to prohibit the sale of this chemical to minors. Teens use this substance, contained in kitchen siphon capsules, as a hilarious gas. Except that the side effects can be very serious.
An obsolete ban
"Cold burns when gas is expelled", "nausea and vomiting", or even "spinal cord injury" when used regularly: inhaling nitrous oxide is not without danger, as reminds the Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (DILA). This is why a law wants to prohibit its sale to minors. Except that a ban would be far from solving the problem.
The high school students interviewed by Europe 1 respond in fact unanimously: a ban will not prevent consumption. "There are plenty of things forbidden to minors and still sold to them like alcohol or cigarettes," says a group of students from a Paris institution.
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"In a message, I buy some"
There are already secondary circuits on social networks. "In a message, I buy," say Benjamin and Eli. "On Snapchat, I know someone who sells from 22 hours," describes one of them. And in the worst case, say these young people, there will always be opportunity to make stocks before the ban. On the wholesalers' websites, the capsules are sold by the hundreds ... at 30 cents per unit.