We explain the controversy surrounding Sniffy, the “energizing” powder reminiscent of cocaine and soon to be banned

The health ministry has accused Sniffy, a white powder designed to be inhaled through the nose, of trivialising the imagery of cocaine use. A banning order is due to be issued this week.

Is Sniffy a simple product with stimulating effects, or a substance that trivializes drug use? The government has decided on the latter: Health Minister Catherine Vautrin announced that the government will publish a decree in the coming days to ban the sale of this white powder available on the internet and in some tobacconists, during a visit on Wednesday, July 24.

The government had already announced at the end of May its intention to ban this powder, which is inhaled through the nose and presented as energizing. The measure will be taken “by this weekend”specified on franceinfo the Minister Delegate in charge of Health and Prevention, Frédéric Valletoux. We explain what you need to know about this affair.

A powder presented as energizing and can be inhaled

Produced by the Power Factory company, Sniffy is a flavored powder. Officially composed of several legal substances such as L-arginine (an amino acid), caffeine, creatinine and taurine, it promises, on its website, to the consumer “boosted[r] [s]we get energy almost instantly” and during “a few dozen minutes”.

The company initially recommended consuming this powder “energizing” by breathing it in through the nose, in the same way as illegal substances like cocaine (hence the name, which is similar to the verb “to sniff”). The company openly played on this allusion: “A white powder that you inhale through your nose? Although it may evoke forbidden pleasure, it is completely within the law.”she wrote on her website.

A product accused of trivializing drug use

The government and many health professionals quickly decided that the parallel with drugs was too obvious. “It’s infuriating to see this kind of product offered to young people”denounced the Minister Delegate in charge of Health and Prevention, Frédéric Valletoux, on May 25. “My fear is that it is a very bad habit, because a white powder that you start to sniff is perfectly addictive and the link with illicit products is obvious”commented Catherine Vautrin on Wednesday from the Necker hospital in Paris, where she met with the Paris Samu teams.

“It’s the symbolism of cocaine that is sold in there.”summarized on BFMTV Amine Benyamina, psychiatrist-addictologist. “It’s not just the gesture, it’s the gesture and all the unconscious thought around the product which is in powder form, with a pipette which is the equivalent of the gesture and ritual of cocaine, it’s even more pernicious than we can imagine”he added, denouncing “a product that is not toxic in terms of its components, but which is toxic in terms of the message it conveys”.

Faced with this first outcry, the Power Factory company promises on its website that it will not have “never tried to provoke in the mind of the consumer” “an alleged incitement to cocaine consumption”The choice of administration by inhalation would only have been thought of “to accentuate the speed of the product’s energizing effect”and is abandoned in favor of oral absorption. On its site, the phrase evokes “forbidden pleasure” was changed in June to “no amalgamation, Sniffy is legal”underlines 20 Minutes.

An upcoming ban (with legal foundations that are still unclear)

As early as May, the government had announced that it was working to ban the sale of Sniffy. Speaking to franceinfo, Catherine Vautrin’s office assured that the minister signed the decree on Wednesday, July 24, before sending it to the government’s general secretariat for publication soon.

Among the steps required before the publication of this text, France had to notify the European Commission of its plan to ban a product urgently. After an initial request in June (voluntarily withdrawn by France), the authorities filed a second, slightly different request on July 2.

It is demanding a one-year ban on the sale of powdered products containing stimulant substances, which require or suggest being inhaled, and which “maintain confusion with the consumption of narcotics”. While excluding from this perimeter “medicines, medical devices and tobacco products”.

The wording therefore appears to be tailored for Sniffy, especially since the second application also includes products which present a “similarity (…) masked with the use of narcotics”thus making it possible to adapt to the company’s discourse which rejects any comparison (even humorous) with cocaine.

Following a request for clarification from the Commission and responses from France, Brussels has agreed to the urgent adoption of a ban. However, it states that this decision says nothing about the validity of the ban under European law.