17 million French people have already used cannabis

The French are heavy cannabis users. This is once again revealed by the results of the 2016 Health Barometer survey, conducted by the French Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT). The survey, the results of which were published this Friday, May 23 The 2017 survey was conducted among a sample of 15,000 people.

In France, 17 million people have used cannabis at some point

In fact, 11 % of French adults aged 18 to 64—or 4.1 million people—used cannabis at least once during 2016. According to the table above, cannabis experimentation is much more common among men than among women (51 % versus 34 %). Experimentation with and current use of cannabis have remained stable since 2014, affecting 11 % of 18- to 64-year-olds (15 % of men and 7 % of women).

France remains at the top of the European rankings and retains its title as Europe’s largest consumer of cannabis, ahead of Italy, the Czech Republic, and Spain. Furthermore, France has a prevalence of annual use that is «significantly higher than that observed in most countries,» according to the OFDT.

Among the population aged 11 to 64, the OFDT estimates that 17 million people have used cannabis at least once. Of those 17 million, 5 million users smoke cannabis every year, 1.4 million smoke at least ten times a month, and 700,000 French people are daily cannabis users. Half of men aged 18 to 64 (namely 51%) report having used cannabis at least once in their lives, compared to one-third of women aged 18 to 64 (34%). In the coming years, the OFDT expects similar figures regarding levels of experimentation.

Cannabis remains a drug of choice among young people

Even though consumption remains constant across all age groups (except for a slight increase among people in their 40s), young people aged 18–25 remain the biggest cannabis users in France, followed by those aged 26–34—figures that show cannabis use is becoming routine among young French people. «Current use is concentrated primarily among younger people and men. It then declines with age, reaching only 2 % of the population over the age of 55,» explains the OFDT.

These figures come one month after Gérard Collomb’s appearance on RMC. The prime minister had in fact announced that a The system for issuing traffic tickets is expected to be implemented within «3 to 4 months» for cannabis users. This «simple citation» is intended to reduce the caseload on the courts and lighten the workload of police officers. However, this measure is not expected to have any downward effect on cannabis use in France.

Mehdi Bautier