The man behind a current chocolate-snorting craze says the powder must be cut, or it will feel like a "chocolate jellyfish" in your nose. NAIVI MARGARITA COC MARTÍNEZ / EYEEM
Americans are free to enjoy chocolate either the old-fashioned way or up their noses, as federal drug enforcement and consumer safety regulators are unable to take action against the potential import of a reported fad from Europe.
Spokespeople say neither the Drug Enforcement Administration nor the Food and Drug Administration are statutorily empowered to regulate or restrict the marketing of cacao or cocoa powder for snorting, or devices crafted for that purpose.
Though it's yet to make a huge splash in the U.S., chocolate reportedly is becoming a party drug elsewhere.
The Independent this week noted a monthly Berlin dance and music party called Lucid where raw cacao is used for its drug-like effects.
The report, itself an aggregation of
an OZY report from last month, launched a wave of coverage in other publications, along with a rare three-line splash on the news-driving Drudge Report.
"Proponents say that raw, virgin cacao is far more potent than you ever imagined," OZY reported. "First comes a surge of endorphins into your bloodstream, which increases acuity and fuels you with feelings of euphoria. Then there's the flood of magnesium, which relaxes your muscles and de-tenses your body."
But U.S. law doesn't say feeling good – or drugged – is itself illegal.
"DEA has no authority over things used to get high that aren't controlled substances," says Barbara Carreno, a spokeswoman for the DEA.
Chocolate and cacao are not
regulated under the Controlled Substances Act, which restricts access to substances based on their potential for abuse and whether they have medical value. Alcohol, tobacco and caffeine also are not controlled substances, though marijuana controversially is
a Schedule I substance, the most restrictive designation.
Carreno notes "there is a whole class of household products called inhalants in which people get high by sniffing things that are not drugs."
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The DEA conceivably would have authority to block the sale of chocolate-snorting paraphernalia. But that would only be the case if the products also are used for illegal drugs or meet the legal definition of being "primarily intended or designed for" illegal drug use, Carreno says.
Credit for recent interest in snorting chocolate goes to Belgian chocolatier Dominique Persoone, who won press coverage for designing a "Chocolate Shooter" for a Rolling Stones party in 2007, and then sold thousands of the devices through his company The Chocolate Line.They're available for about $50 alongside snortable chocolate blends.
It's unclear if Lucid clubbers do indeed snort chocolatey powder – OZY only directly referenced drinks, with a party-organizing company also offering pills – but reports on the German partiers often are paired with mention of Persoone's device. A Lucid associate did not respond to an email Friday.
Curious Americans would be well-advised to avoid cutting a line from cocoa powder in their pantry, however. Persoone said in a video posted to YouTube by the International Business Times last year that snorting the chocolate itself works poorly.
"If you just sniff chocolate it's too dry," he said. "It's like a chocolate jellyfish in your nose."
Persoone said his company settled on using mint and ginger to cut the powder. "The mint and ginger really open your nose and the chocolate goes to your brain and stays there about 15 minutes," he said.
At least some medical professionals
say it's not a wise health decision to snort chocolate powder – at least not often.
But like the DEA, the FDA – which oversees the safety of food, medicine and more recently tobacco – won't be taking action, either.
That's because the agency regulates drugs used for medical use or dietary supplements, or those being marketed for such purposes. It doesn't regulate recreational drugs, though the term "drug" can include "a product other than food that is intended to affect the structure or function of the human body," says FDA press officer Lauren Sucher.
So, chocolate being a food makes its regulation as a drug unlikely.
And food is defined by the FDA-empowering Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act as "articles used for food or drink for man or other animals ... chewing gum ... and articles used for components for any such article" – a definition that includes chocolate for eating or drinking, but which may not cover chocolate for snorting.
"The FDA regulates food as it is used in its customary manner," Sucher says, "primarily for taste, aroma or nutritive value."
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The Chocolate Line's website currently does not offer a shipping option to the U.S., and it's unclear if it provides wholesale offerings directly to any American retailer. Persoone did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though Reuters
reported last year the company had exported the shooters to the U.S. In Vancouver, Canada,
at least one shop was carrying Persoone's products – and offering $2 sniffs.
The Belgian may not be the only chef in the kitchen for long.
The late-May Los Angeles festival Lightning in a Bottle, Maxim reported, offered attendees access to a ceremony where they could "inhale/snort/drink/take a dust bath in as much cocoa powder as they want."
U.S. News contacted the offices of several members of Congress who have been leaders against relaxing marijuana prohibition laws and in favor of restricting tobacco products, but they were unable or uninterested in commenting on whether marketing restrictions are needed for chocolate powder.
For all the talk of chocolate as a drug, however, OZY reported the rave reviews may amount to a placebo effect. A leading scientist affiliated with the Mars candy company, Dr. Catherine Kwik-Uribe, told the publication the compounds anandamide and phenylethylamine exist in amounts too small in cacao to directly influence mood
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