It is “taken” like cocaine: what is Sniffy, this energizing white powder sold legally by tobacco shops ?

Le créateur de Sniffy a affirmé que les jeunes n’étaient pas sa cible. CAPTURE D'ÉCRAN SNIFFY

Presented by M6 this Tuesday, May 21, 2024, this energizing white powder to sniff caused a strong reaction on social networks.

This energizing white powder to snort is sold legally in certain tobacco shops.

Presenting itself as cocaine, the product was designed by Highbuy, a Marseille CBD specialist. On its site, we can read that Sniffy "provides an instant energy boost".

This powder with fruit and vegetable aromas is inhaled (sniffed) through the nose and its effect generally lasts 20 to 30 minutes, explains the site which indicates: & quot;The bigger the sniff, the greater the effect will be".

An incentive product

This Tuesday, May 21, M6 focused on this powder in the show La grande week, evoking a  "dangerous" and whose symbolism of the mode of administration raises questions.

Interviewed by 20min, the psychiatrist specializing in addictions Alain Morel evokes the "trivialization of&rsquo ;a mode of administration which is mainly that of cocaine in the collective imagination". He adds: "Authorizing this shocks me all the more as the public authorities have experience with this type of incentive product for young people, with chocolate cigarettes or puffs" .

For his part, the boss of Sniffy told 20min that young people were not his target.

"Long-term consequences"

Presented as a "food supplement", Sniffy is nevertheless in the sights of the DGCCRF services, indicates its creator to 20min. This powder, which is composed of caffeine, creatine, L-citrulline, taurine, beta alanine, maltodextrin and L-arginine, has nothing dangerous in itself. Unless we exceed the indicated dosage of 2g per day which could "result in overdoses and have long-term consequences", explains the designer.

Concerning the mode of consumption through the nose, the creator assumes the search for "the’immediate effect" with our colleagues and the fact that this route "will almost directly bring the product into the blood circulation". However, he specifies that there may also be "a risk of injury".

However, if the product exists and is sold legally, it is quite difficult to obtain it.