The French Observatory of Drugs and Addiction warns in a report on the consumption of cocaine which has increased significantly in France.
Cocaine seems to have an increasingly positive image. More than 1.5% of French people say they have used this hard drug during the year, according to the report of the French Observatory of drugs and drug addiction (OFDT), published this Thursday, April 18 and revealed by France Info. This major report is published every five years to follow the evolution of the consumption of legal and illegal substances in France. And the latter is alarming: cocaine is increasingly popular with the French.
Let us first recall that cocaine is a hard drug, whose the current trivialization can only worry health professionals. This stimulant produces an energizing effect, a feeling of omnipotence, an impression of lucidity and increased energy as well as indifference to fatigue and pain. But it has many side effects: an increase in body temperature, poorer coordination of movements, anxiety and irritability.
But with regular consumption, the effects become much more dangerous: delusions, intense anxiety attacks, megalomania, going as far as olfactory and tactile hallucinations. Overdose is possible from the first dose, via a sudden heart attack or heart rhythm disorders. Moreover, this drug is a vasoconstrictor: one intake can be enough to narrow the veins by about 20%, which increases blood pressure and leads to various problems.
Increased availability
What led to this increase in consumption? Two factors: the drug is more and more available, and it has a better image among young people. Indeed, the number of 18-24 year olds who have tried cocaine has quadrupled in two decades in France. But it’s not the only one: synthetic drugs and even laughing gas (nitrous oxide or “proto”) are also increasingly accessible. In all, 68 illegal substances were identified in our country between 2008 and 2017. Drugs in general benefit from increasingly simplified access thanks to the internet. Today, dealers offer to deliver by post, by ordering by SMS, or even on social networks.
Cannabis also reaches record consumption
But the most popular drug of the French remains cannabis. 45% of French people have already smoked weed and among them, 11% have consumed it during the year and 6% in the last month. “It’s a drug that is used by young people, but because of its availability and because of consumption patterns, people continue to smoke as they age”, analyzes Julien Morel d’Arleux, director of the French Observatory of drugs and drug addiction, quoted by France Info.
.
