The white march will take place in Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais) this Tuesday afternoon in memory of Mathis, the 19-year-old young man who was killed in Lille (North) on November 1 by a driver who had just fled from a police check. He was driving without a license, had committed traffic violations, and consumed nitrous oxide. The boy’s funeral took place on Monday. “After a period of reverence and contemplation, the time will come to fight for justice,” warned last week, in a press release, lawyers for Mathis’ parents, Emmanuel and Laëtitia Pollart.
This Tuesday morning, Me Antoine Régley, appeared on RMC. The circumstances of Mathis’ death demonstrate the importance of action against the consumption of nitrous oxide, a volatile gas with damaging neurological effects, which is increasingly being consumed but is currently undetectable in the body.
The boy’s parents want fuel banned anywhere in France while driving. Currently, only local regulations prohibit the resale and/or possession of the drug in the city or capital sector, while the association seeks to raise widespread awareness about the risks of consuming this abused psychotropic drug, which has become the most consumed narcotic product among young people in France, according to the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies.
“We want to act”
“We have a real problem behind the wheel because we couldn’t detect it during the inspection,” said Régley, worried. (…) We cannot demonstrate consumption, so the only way is to create a law stating that unlawful detention must be punished, by confiscation of the vehicle.” And in defense of this, the Mathis family will be received by Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin “in the coming days”, the lawyer said.
(4/4) The murder of the Renault CEO: the bloody epic of the Action Directe group
Crime story tells major criminal cases every week.
“We want to act and who better than him to act, to create a law that prohibits the possession of nitrous oxide and the penalties related to driving licenses that currently do not exist,” he argued.
The Senate voted in March to punish abuse of “proto” without specifically targeting the behavior or even completely banning its sale to individuals, as deputies did in January. The future of this law will depend on negotiations between the two chambers but, according to the Assembly’s version, misuse of nitrous oxide will be punished by a class three fine.
Mathis’ parents also want to propose to the Minister of Justice to criminalize roadkill so that drivers can be tried by the Assize Court. “Before the Court of Assize, you are tried by a popular jury and popular judges. And if we make France participate in this trial, they would like to believe through the voice of their lawyers, they will no longer be able to criticize it because they will participate in it.
