10% of young Parisians say they have already used hard drugs (ecstasy, cocaine, GHB, MDMA) and 15% of 14-17 year olds say they watch porn at least once a week, as does a fifth of 14-24 year olds ( 21%).
A extensive investigation carried out with 1,000 young people * by the Foundation for Political Innovation, the Addictions Actions Fund and the Gabriel-Péri Foundation, shows that young French people are increasingly fond of harsh relationships and pornography.
Ecstasy, cocaine, GHB and MDMA
Hard drugs first. 3% of 14-17 year olds say they have already used highly dangerous products such as ecstasy, cocaine, GHB and MDMA. The proportion climbs to 5% among 18-24 year olds. In this age group, 3% consume it at least once a week. “The increase in the consumption of festive drugs, which appears to be more than double that in the usual surveys, gives rise to particular concern”, estimates, rightly, the president of the Addictions Equity Fund, Michel Reynaud.
As for cannabis, between rural and urban areas, there are significant differences in consumption for the consumption of hard drugs: 2% of young people living in rural areas have already tested these products, while they are 4% in towns with more than 100 000 inhabitants and … 10% in the Parisian agglomeration!
“Worrisome” increase in lethal overdoses
Just for cocaine, which is particularly prevalent among young Parisians, overconsumption can lead to heart problems, respiratory depression or convulsions. In the long term, sustained cocaine use can also cause a depletion of the user’s neurotransmitter reserve, which may experience difficulty in feeling pleasure (anhedonia).
Cocaine is also the drug that causes the most deaths from overdose. More globally, the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) notes for the years 2015-2016 a “worrying” increase in lethal overdoses linked to the consumption of hard drugs in Europe, for the third consecutive year.
Weekly pornography consumption
Pornography, then. 15% of 14-17 year olds say they watch porn at least once a week, as does one fifth of 14-24 year olds (21%). More than a third (37%) say they have already watched this type of program, with a strong difference between boys (46%) and girls (28%). This gap widens with age. Among 14-17 year olds, 18% of boys watch porn at least once a week, compared to 12% of girls; from the age of 18, weekly consumption concerns 33% of men, against 16% of women.
The age of the first visit to these sites is dropping: 14 years and 5 months, or three months less than in 2013 according to an Ifop study for the Observatory of parenting and digital education. “This means that they are not ready, that it leaves small emotional and psychological consequences, explained to us in 2017 Dr. Laurent Karila, psychiatrist at Paul Brousse hospital and spokesperson for SOS Addictions. These are violent images for someone who is not mature. Some people manage to express it, they explain that this exposure was difficult for them; others do not say so, but then there is a risk that other disorders will develop. “
According to him, “pornography generates an inappropriate view of sexuality. Afterwards, it becomes biased sexual models, because young people internalize somewhat degrading stereotypes about the body, about violence in sexuality.” Then the logic of performance completely biased by the editing of X movies, can give rise to complexes in some young boys. “They also see that there is a large number of partners, that sexual practices are extremely varied … However, when we analyze people’s standard sexuality, we observe that there are very few sexual positions used, for example. “, notes the doctor.
Anxiety attacks and sleep disturbances
In short, largely enough to cause anxiety attacks, sleep disorders, feed a painful feeling of guilt and lead to a distorted or deviant representation of sexual relations and love. A German study has also shown that the brains of heavy consumers of pornographic films react less to sexual stimuli and that their right lobes are smaller than that of others.
Screen addictions are interrelated: 56% of people who watch porn at least once a day spend more than 2 hours on social networks and 46% more than 2 hours playing video games. 49% of young people who play video games at least 5 hours a day also spend more than 5 hours a day on social networks, a total of more than 10 hours daily in front of a screen.
Moreover, the more educated young people, the more alcohol they consume. For the 18-22 age group, 28% of young people who have a BEPC-BEP-CAP-CEP consume alcohol at least once a week, against 37% of those with a bac + 2.
“Worrisome” results
Regarding tobacco, the lower the household’s net monthly income, the higher the percentage of young people who smoke several times a day (21% below 1,250 euros, 17% between 1,251 and 2,000 euros, 13% between 2,001 and 3,000 euros, 12% above 3,000 euros).
The levels of consumption of hard drugs, porn, use of screens, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and video games by French young people aged 14 to 24 are all considered “worrying”, the report concludes.
* 1,000 young people aged 14 to 24 and two other representative samples were interviewed: 2,005 adults aged 18 and over, and 402 parents of children aged 14 to 24.
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