It is possible to obtain one in a few minutes by contacting a supplier on the social network Snapchat. Without age verification, you only have to pay a few dozen euros to get PTC, an acronym for “blow your head”, also sometimes known as “Blue Buddha”.
This drug is a synthetic cannabinoid product. It is an odorless, colorless liquid that is vaporized in electronic cigarettes and whose effects can be 200 times greater than those of cannabis, according to Drug-info-service.
“It’s like joints, they get high,” explain the high school students. “Sometimes in three puffs there is someone who ends up on the ground hallucinating,” says another.
In France, consumption is increasing, especially among young people. According to Jérôme Langrand, department head of the Paris poison control center, between 2019 and 2022, French poison control centers recorded “a few dozen cases.” “We were approaching a hundred in 2023 and there, in 2024, we are almost at 200,” he indicates, specifying that these figures are not exhaustive but are representative of this increasing trend.
Alert in schools
In this sense, Véronique Massin, medical technical advisor to the rector of Paris, sent a message to educational establishments after receiving an alert about two young people hospitalized for suspected PTC consumption through vaping.
“It is not easy to know that young people consume it if there are no side effects because it is vaping and an odorless, colorless liquid,” specifies Véronique Massin, who recalls that vaping or smoking is still prohibited in all educational establishments.
It is, therefore, about carrying out prevention with educational personnel, so that they can identify these possible cases, and with young people. Véronique Massin explains that school health staff, doctors and nurses, work on the prevention of these issues related to psychoactive products, in particular through psychosocial skills learning sessions. The challenge is to teach young people to have self-esteem, to know how to say no, to differentiate themselves from the group, as soon as they suspect a dangerous use for their health.
According to our information, some adolescents pose challenges in which they have to forcefully consume this product.
Serious side effects and risk of addiction.
In recent years, several cases of poisoning have been recorded, sometimes with serious side effects. “It causes great agitation, sometimes to the point of self-mutilation, and possibly alterations in consciousness, which carries a significant risk of seizures with the possible consequences of seizures: we can have cardiac arrest, we can have anoxia cerebral. and have consequences,” warns Jérôme Langrand.
Paralysis, hallucinations, self-harm, tachycardia, intense migraines, attacks of paranoia or even respiratory distress… The harmful effects are numerous. According to the drug information service, synthetic cannabis is more potent, more dangerous and more addictive than natural cannabis. Therefore, the risk of overdose is especially high, something that does not exist with natural cannabis.
The French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Trends points out that the majority of synthetic cannabinoids are manufactured by companies located in China and sold on the Internet.
“These e-liquid vials and sachets are also highly marketed to make them more accessible to younger populations, being very colorful and with attractive names,” adds the observatory.
Furthermore, the consumption of PTC-type drugs leads quite quickly to a tolerance effect, which pushes the user to increase the doses consumed to obtain the same effects and dependence. Any possession of PTC is a crime punishable by one year in prison.
Source: BFM TV
