Codeine : the government is concerned about misuse

bhofack2/Epictura

Published the 11.07.2017 to 16.50

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codéinemédicamentOFDTpurple drank

The death on may 2, the last of Pauline Cebo, a teenager of just 16 years, have at least contributed to raising awareness on the diversion of codeine. After 10 days in a coma, she eventually died of an overdose of opiates, caused by ” purple drank “, a drink containing codeine consumed in an evening.

After the French Agency for the safety of the drug (MSNA), it is the turn of the French Observatory on drugs and drug addiction (OFDT) to pull the alarm bell. In a note published on Tuesday, warning in particular against the development of these diversions.
 

On the rise since 2013

“Identified for the first time in 2013, applications, suspicious of issuance of codéinés, abuse, or dependence among adolescents and young adults have continued to be the subject of reports with an increasing number of cases from 2015,” according to the note of the OFDT. Since the first reports in the west of France, including Aquitaine, their use would be extended to the whole territory.

The Observatory reported, in particular, a ” possible extension of these lines of concern that can be taken now in the form of consumption of non diluted substances codéinées and uses out-of-festive “.

Users are not addicts usual. They are young, built, and are not consumers of drugs, apart from cannabis, says the observatory. The purple dranks are rather consumed as alcohol.

Sprite and codeine

The ” purple drank “, also called ” lean “, ” encoded “, or “cocktail blue” on the side of Marseille, are primarily consumed in the evening, the weekends. These are mixtures of sodas with nonprescription drugs, containing codeine, cough syrup and painkillers in particular. Antihistamines are often added.

“They remove a quarter of the liquid contained in the bottle of Sprite, add 3 to 20 tablets of Phenergan (antihistamine, editor’s note) and wait for the “gas up” (sic), ” says a representative of the group as the focal health of the device, recent Trends and new drugs (TREND) of the OFDT. A bottle of Euphon (antitussive codeine, editor’s note) is added, as well as candies – Dragibus or Jelly Ranch “.