Chemical Submission: A parliamentary report, led by MP Sandrine Josso, makes 50 recommendations, 15 of which are priorities.

This report is due to be submitted to the government on Monday. It recommends, among other things, the organization of an annual national conference on combating violence, "incorporating the growing incidence of chemical submission and vulnerability."

The parliamentary report on chemical submission makes 50 recommendations to combat this phenomenon, France Inter and France Culture learned on Sunday, May 11, after being able to consult the summary of the text, confirming information from Libération . The report, led by MP Sandrine Josso and Senator Véronique Guillotin, is due to be submitted to the government on Monday, May 12 at 5 p.m. More than 100 people were interviewed to draft the text.

Among the recommendations made, 15 "are to be implemented as a priority from 2025, in the social security financing bill (PLFSS 2026) and the finance bill (PLF 2026)" , the text specifies. The report recommends, for example, the organization of an annual national conference on the fight against violence, "integrating the growing facts of chemical submission and vulnerability" , in order to bring together the actors and "define the means of combating the attacks on people committed" .

The mission also supports prevention in schools with "the strengthening of resources for teaching about emotional and relationship education, and sexual life in primary and secondary schools" . The report also calls for an update of the texts "on the procedure for collecting evidence without filing a complaint within hospital groups" . The aim is to "include victims of chemical submission or vulnerability" . This proposal will guarantee victims "the preservation of evidence of the offence or crime with a view to possible subsequent legal proceedings" .

Another request is "the generalization of the experiment on the reimbursement of biological samples without filing a complaint within the framework of the social security financing bill (PLFSS) 2026, as of January 1, 2026." The mission also recommends integrating into the penal code the aggravating circumstance "for the victim in the event of a state of drunkenness or under the influence of narcotics," for the offenses of rape, sexual assault and sexual assault on particularly vulnerable people.

In the French penal code, chemical submission is defined as a modus operandi of sexual violence, namely: "The act of administering to a person, without their knowledge, a substance likely to alter their discernment or the control of their actions in order to commit rape or sexual assault against them . This qualification does not, however, include the most significant dimension of this phenomenon, namely chemical vulnerability, based on the voluntary intake of psychoactive substances by the potential victim – in 90% of situations, alcohol or cannabis – weakening and then annihilating their resistance, the aggressor then exploiting the alteration of their discernment for a criminal or delinquent purpose."

In 2022, the Reference Center for Chemical Assaults (CRAFS) analyzed 1,229 likely chemical assaults and vulnerabilities facilitated by substances. While men are counted among the victims, these crimes and offenses are primarily committed by men against women, this term including girls under 18. These offenses are perpetrated at all stages of the victims' lives, within the family and in various meeting places (schools, universities, friendly circles, festive places, work, leisure places, etc.).

MP Sandrine Josso (MoDem), who filed a complaint against a senator she accuses of drugging her, has been officially tasked with a mission regarding chemical submission. She accuses Senator Joël Guerriau of attempting to drug her without her knowledge in November 2023 in order to sexually assault her. In early April, the Paris prosecutor's office requested a trial before the criminal court against the senator, for "the offenses of administering a substance likely to impair judgment or control of one's actions to the detriment of Sandrine Josso, without her knowledge, in order to commit rape or sexual assault."