It has the color and appearance of cocaine, it is sold by the gram and it is taken in the same way, directly in the nose using a straw (provided). Inspired by a similar product, already distributed in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, “Sniffy” is a sort of cocktail of active substances presented as “energizing” and “festive”. And if the product is legal in France, the inevitable comparison of its mode of administration with that of coke raises questions.
Without naming it, the product designed by Highbuy, a Marseille CBD specialist, was presented Tuesday on M6, in the show “La grande week”. The sequence, posted on Instagram, sparked many reactions. Sometimes ironic, on the urban legends surrounding the world of audiovisual, often shocked, in the face of this “initiation to coke”. And if the product really exists, it is however not so easy to obtain it. No tobacconist in Lille offers it, for example, and none has even heard of it. Even the designer of Sniffy was surprised by 20 minutes that his product could have been purchased in a tobacco shop in Paris.
“It may shock people”
In short, the boss of Highbuy, who prefers not to see his name mentioned, expected the parallel between his product and cocaine to “come up”. HAS 20 minutes, he recognizes that “it can shock people”. And if he “can understand” that “we can make the amalgam” on the mode of administration, he denies any incitement. “A white powder that you inhale through your nose? Although this may suggest forbidden pleasure, it is completely within the law,” it was still written on the Sniffy website before our call. A statement whose second part has been replaced by another, softer one: “No confusion, Sniffy is legal. »
Because, legal, its white powder is in fact legal, duly approved by the services of the DGCCRF confirms the entrepreneur. Presented by the latter as a “food supplement”, it contains arginine, caffeine, creatine, citrulline, taurine, beta alanine and maltodextrin. Verification done, none of these substances is prohibited or even considered as a doping product. “This product seems to be a compound which is similar to the powders that athletes can use for bodybuilding, we find a lot of amino acids and muscular compounds”, analyzes Guillaume Grzych, medical biologist in biochemistry specializing at Lille University Hospital.
“Trivialization” of the method of administering coke
According to him, if none of these components is dangerous individually, “what can be dangerous are the doses and methods of consumption, which can lead to overdoses and have long-term consequences”. The boss of Sniffy himself specifies that a dose of two grams per day should not be exceeded. Regarding the mode of administration, precisely, the designer assumes the search for “immediate effect”. Indeed, the biologist recognizes that nasal administration is “a route which will almost directly bring the product into the blood circulation”. But he also sees a “secondary risk of injury”.
Our file on addictions
As you can imagine, if this product were presented in the form of a drink or a suppository, there would be no debate. “The problem is that we have here a form of trivialization of a method of administration which is mainly that of cocaine in the collective imagination,” laments Alain Morel, psychiatrist specializing in addictions. For the doctor, it is not a question of legality: “Authorizing this shocks me all the more since the public authorities have experience with this type of incentive product for young people, with chocolate cigarettes or puffs. »
The boss of Sniffy says that young people are not his target. Promising that he was not looking for “buzz”, he nevertheless welcomed the unexpected visibility.