[Synthetic drugs consumed at "rave parties"]

Significant health risks result from the rising consumption of psychoactive drugs employed for festive objectives. Once alerted by this new danger, the French interministerial mission for the fight against illicit drugs and drug abuse (MILDT) set up a system of chemical and social studies in collaboration with the European Office of Drugs and Drug Abuse. The goal of the project is to discover the chemical structure of currently used drugs, and to study and predict their pharmaco-toxicaological effects. Over the last five Years, the laboratory of the Fernand Widal Hospital has analyzed more than 2,000 samples: 181 different molecules have been identified, ranging from inoffensive agents to very active drugs, including some misused licit drugs. Many of the compounds identified are amphetamine derivatives. The most widespread drug was ecstasy. Consumers and dealers seek substances with more potent psycho-stimulating effects which are not on the narcotics list and less expensive, producing effects as close to ecstasy as possible. In this extremely permissive context, other non-amphetaminic products are in circulation, including anesthesics such as ketamine and CHB, leading users to unconscious assent. The medical risks increase even more when several psychoactive substances are consumed in combination.