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On Friday, driving his car, comedian Pierre Palmade – then under the influence of cocaine – hit another vehicle head-on in Seine-et-Marne. What are the effects of this drug on driving? When do you become an “addict”? The answers of an addictologist.
It is a tragic car accident, which currently makes the headlines. Friday, February 10, in the early evening, the actor Pierre Palmade hit a car, containing three passengers on board. According to initial analyses, the comedian was driving under the influence of cocaine.
Four people were injured in the accident
According to Franceinfo, the accident, which occurred on a secondary road near Melun (Seine-et-Marne), allegedly injured four people: the comedian, a 40-year-old man, a young pregnant woman of 27 (who lost the baby she was carrying) and a 6-year-old child.
If the actor, seriously injured, and the pregnant passenger are now out of danger, the vital prognosis of the child (victim of a head trauma) is still engaged.
Finally, an 80-year-old man, who was driving a third vehicle, was slightly injured.
Pierre Palmade allegedly used cocaine
According to information from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, relayed by France Télévisions, the actor’s blood alcohol and toxicology samples turned out to be positive.
“Toxicological analyzes revealed that Pierre Palmade was driving under the influence of narcotics (cocaine)“, confirmed the public prosecutor of Melun in a press release, late Saturday afternoon.
Pierre Palmade, who had already been sentenced in 1995 for taking cocaine, risks this time being charged for cause “homicide and unintentional injuries“.
The effects of cocaine on driving
They are multiple, as explained to us by Pr Laurent Karila, psychiatrist, addictologist (Paul Brousse Hospital, Paris Saclay University) and author of the “ADDIKTION” podcast:
“Consuming a substance, such as cocaine, doubles the risk of a fatal accident. Consuming more alcohol multiplies the risk by 29. Cocaine is a stimulant drug, it excites mentally and physically. We feel euphoric, powerful, above everything, with impaired judgment, reasoning, reaction time… There is attention that is biased, possible visual disturbances, poor decision-making and loss of control.”
To get out of this addiction, considered as such from the moment the individual cannot help consuming the drug in question (irrepressible urge to consume, compulsive use, loss of control, etc.) and has physical consequences (cardiotoxic, neurotoxic, etc.), psychological (acute delirium, suicide attempts, etc.) and social, the care program must be multidisciplinary.
“We must consider a multimodal care program involving medical monitoring (psychiatrist, addictologist), psychological, nurse, general practitioner, social worker, physical activity. It is necessary to combine symptomatic pharmacological treatments, psychotherapy (motivational interviews, cognitive and behavioral therapy, psychoanalysis, etc.), a neuropsychological evaluation in order to detect cognitive disorders and rehabilitate them, work on maintaining abstinence, use measures of reduction of risks and damages. Finally, you have to spot the missteps and work on the relapses”, reveals the professor.