Decryption. “A public health emergency”: ways to combat chemical submission

After the electroshock, it's time for action. The Mazan rape trial highlighted the scourge of chemical submission , the drugging of a victim for criminal or delinquent purposes. A phenomenon already denounced since 2021 by the #MeToo GHB and “Balance ton bar” movements. But as the case of Gisèle Pelicot , drugged without her knowledge by her own husband, showed, "the threat is in our private sphere: in 82% of cases, it happens in the sphere of friends or family," explained MP Sandrine Josso (MoDem) this Monday morning on France Inter .

The elected official, who herself denounced acts of chemical submission on the part of Senator Joël Guerriau (Horizons) in order to sexually assault her ( a trial was requested in April ), submitted a report to the government this Monday with Senator Véronique Guillotin .

Through this text, which proposes around 50 measures, the two elected officials aim to "implement a genuine state policy with the resources that go with it." Faced with what is both "a public health emergency" and a growing scourge, 15 recommendations are to be implemented this year. They are based around prevention, with an annual awareness campaign and more resources for education on emotional and sexual life (Evars) in schools .

But above all, on the question of support for victims. "The particularity is that one in two victims no longer remembers anything. For them, it's the hell of doubt," recalled Sandrine Josso in an interview with Libération . The two elected officials are therefore calling for the establishment of a reference framework, by the High Authority for Health (HAS), on screening, guidance and support. In short, so that victims of chemical submission and their loved ones know what to do in the hours following the events: who to consult? Where to take biological samples, irrefutable proof in court? In the absence of an approved laboratory nearby, where can they find suitable sampling kits?

In this sense, the text pushes for general reimbursement of these samples, even without filing a complaint. "Not only have the victims suffered trauma, but it also costs them to get treatment. This raises the question of access to care," acknowledged the Minister for Equality and the Fight against Discrimination, Aurore Bergé , to Libération . And aims to expand the lifting of medical confidentiality to include cases of chemical submission and vulnerability, of which more than 1,200 were officially recorded in 2022 (+69% in one year).

At the legal level, the report advocates an update of the Penal Code to include the notion of chemical submission or vulnerability as an aggravating circumstance in cases of rape or sexual assault. These are all measures for "a more vigilant and supportive society" (according to Aurore Bergé) in the face of a scourge whose true extent is still unknown.