one in ten adults have already used cocaine in France, according to a study

Cocaine consumption increased tenfold between 1992 and 2023, according to the study by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies.

A real explosion. Cocaine consumption has increased considerably in France, where nearly one in ten adults (9.4%) have already taken it at least once in their life, compared to 5.6% in 2017, reveals a study by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT) published Wednesday June 26. This survey on representations, opinions and perceptions on psychotropic drugs was carried out during 2023 in France, on a representative sample of 14,984 people aged 18 to 75. “Cocaine is increasingly available. The supply has increased significantly, with record seizures, in a context of considerably increasing production, a price which is stagnating, between 60 and 70 euros per gram, while purity increases” , says Guillaume Airagnes, director of the OFDT.

“We can add to this the democratization of use with a greater variety of types of consumption: festive, but also in professions where the arduousness is high.”

Guillaume Airagnes, director of the OFDT

to AFP

The current use of cocaine, the fact of consuming it at least once during the last twelve months, is experiencing an exponential trajectory since consumption has increased tenfold between 1992 (0.3%) and 2023 (2. 7%). If consumption increases, production follows the same pace. Colombia, the world’s largest producer, broke a new record in 2022 with 1,738 tonnes of cocaine manufactured. The same year, 27.7 tonnes of white powder were intercepted in France, according to the authorities’ latest report, a figure multiplied by five in ten years.

Same observation for ecstasy: the prevalence of use over the last twelve months increased from 0.2% in 2000 to 1.8% in 2023, while experimentation jumped between 2017 (5%) and last year (8.2%). For thirty years, cannabis has remained the most consumed illicit drug in France and its distribution has continued to increase, with a price between 8 and 10 euros per gram, respectively for the resin and the herb. Its experimentation rate increased from 12.7% in 1992 to 50.4% in 2023, or one in two adults. Regular use has remained stable since 2014, affecting 3.4% of adults in France last year. Experimentation with heroin has also increased, going from 1.3% in 2017 to 2% of adults last year, with a rate of use over the last twelve months stable in recent years at 0, 3%.

The OFDT study includes for the first time the uses of ketamine, 3MMC and GHB/GBL, three synthetic products often popular in “chemsex” practices, in order to increase sexual pleasure, excitement or endurance. Experimentation with ketamine, an anesthetic misused for recreational purposes, reaches 2.6% among adults aged 18 to 64 and mainly concerns young people aged 25 to 34 (4.8%). For 3MMC (synthetic cathinone) and GHB-GBL (an anesthetic and an industrial solvent, both diverted from their original use), the testing rates are less than 1%.