“Sniffy”: the inhaled powder sold as tobacco officially banned in France according to a new decree

The decree banning Sniffy inhalant powder was published in the Official Journal on July 27, 2024. This stimulant product had been the subject of controversy when it was put on the market. In particular, the fact that it is consumed like cocaine was at issue.

The ban on Sniffy Powder was made official in the Official Gazette. This product, whose consumption method is reminiscent of cocaine, had been much talked about in the spring.

While the brand defends itself by emphasizing that all the ingredients are legal, Health Minister Frédéric Valletoux feared that it would lead to confusion with drugs.

Sniffy withdrawn from the market

Sniffy is "suspended for a period of one year". As well as all the “products in powder form containing active substances having a stimulating effect on the body and, in particular, on the nervous system” when they are “intended for intranasal consumption or which cause confusion with the consumption of narcotics”.

All products meeting these characteristics must be withdrawn from the market. They are also the subject of a consumer recall.

Frédéric Valletoux, but also Catherine Vautrin, Marc Fesneau and Olivia Grégoire relied on the Consumer Code. Article L521-17 states that in “cases of serious or immediate danger”, the government may “suspend the manufacture, import, export, placing on the market of a product".

“I promised to ban this product, and it's done”, Frédéric Valletoux told AFP. The fight against the trivialization of drug use requires it.

Sniffy is going to be taken off the market. SW.

Promise of Instant Energy

Sniffy powder contains creatine, taurine, caffeine, amino acids and todextrin, a mixture designed to produce energizing effects in consumers. Sold with a straw, it is inhaled through the nose and comes in several flavors: mint, lime, passion fruit or strawberry candy.

When it was put on the market, consumer associations and addiction observatories warned of several risks, in addition to the trivialization of this mode of consumption. They mentioned chest pain, microtraumas in the nostrils, hypertension, anxiety and even headaches.

Its sale was prohibited to minors. But for 14.90 euros per gram, it was possible to obtain it on the internet, in order to escape the control of tobacconists.

“Following the media commotion caused by the marketing of the Sniffy food supplement, whose method of consumption by inhalation would evoke an alleged incitement to the consumption of cocaine, which the company Power Factory, marketing the said product, never sought to provoke in the mind of the consumer, favoring, on the contrary, use by inhalation to accentuate the speed of the product's energizing effect”, defended the company on its website. The company stopped selling Sniffy on June 5.