From tobacco to cannabis through psychotropic drugs and cocaine, the majority of working people take substances to work better, or to better support their work. A growing phenomenon which worries professionals.
Support the pressure, the rhythm, calm stress or simply sleep, for all these reasons, many active French people use psychotropic substances or drugs because of their work. According to the interministerial mission for the fight against drugs and addictive behavior (Mildeca), this would concern twenty million active workers, in post or looking for work, out of the 29 million active in France.
Several researchers and specialists are worried about the extent of this phenomenon. Monday and Tuesday, many of them will meet in Montrouge (Hauts-de-Seine) for a conference entitled: “Links between work and the use of psychotropic drugs: if we were talking about it? “.
Acting, an emergency according to professionals
“More and more working people are using different products, either to hold, or to sleep or recover, or to build a professional identity. It is not a question of consumption to put oneself on the sidelines, but to stay in the game ”, explains Gladys Lutz, president of the Addictology and Work association (Additra), which organizes the congress. “The question of the link between work organization and consumption of psychotropic drugs has not arisen”. Even though there is an urgent need to change the approach, according to her.
France is both one of the countries with the best hourly productivity in the world, and at the same time, one of the largest consumers of psychotropic drugs. According to the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products, in 2013, 740 million boxes of analgesics and 164 million boxes of psycholeptics (sleeping pills, mood regulators) were sold in French pharmacies.
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