Rolling a cigarette or a joint appeals less and less to French teenagers, while raising a glass or puffing on a vape continues to be popular. This is what EnCLASS 2024 shows, a major survey carried out by the French Observatory on Drugs and Addictive Tendencies among more than 11,000 middle and high school students in mainland France.
Almost all indicators of psychoactive substance use decline between 2022 and 2024, sometimes after more than a decade of continuous decline. Tobacco, cannabis and other illegal drugs are declining significantly, while alcohol and electronic cigarettes are on the rise. This silent shift is changing the face of adolescent consumption.
Tobacco and cannabis in sharp decline among middle and high school students
In 2024, only 7.7% of middle school students And
30.6% of high school students say they have already smoked a cigarette, compared to 11.4% and 34% two years earlier. Daily smoking is limited to 0.9% of middle school students and 5.6% of high school students. “In nearly fifteen years, tobacco experimentation has been divided by four among middle school students and by two among high school students, while daily smoking among the latter has been divided by five“, summarizes the OFDT in the EnCLASS 2024 note.
Other smoking products follow the same movement. The use of shisha among high school students plunges, with experimentation going from 28.2% to 17.8% between 2022 and 2024, and snuff or sucking tobacco only concerns 7.8% of students. THE
cannabis declines even more clearly: among high school students, experimentation falls from 22.5% to 16.1%and usage over the year from 17.6% to 11.4%. For the OFDT, “The consumption of cigarettes and cannabis are more perceived as dangerous for health, including occasional consumption“, which accompanies this decline.
Illegal drugs in sharp decline, alcohol in the spotlight
Other illicit drugs remain in the minority. In 2024, only 4.9% of high school students say they have tried at least one substance other than cannabis, compared to 12.6% in 2011. Cocaine and MDMA hover around 2% of experimentation, amphetamines and methamphetamine around 1 to 1.6%. Low levels, even though the survey estimates that around 60,000 high school students still present a high risk of problematic cannabis use.
The major exception concerns thealcohol. After a continuous decline between 2010 and 2022, experimentation is starting again: 54% of middle school students and 72.7% of high school students have already drunk. In high school, 45.2% drank during the month and regular consumption increases from 5.3% to 8.8% between 2022 and 2024. Heavy one-off drinking is decreasing a little, as is reported drunkenness, but a core of heavy drinkers remains.
Vaping, accessibility of alcohol and the decisive role of friends
The electronic cigarette occupies a central place: 19% of middle school students and 46% of high school students have already tested it, and daily use reaches 6.8% in high school, now above smoked tobacco. For many, these products remain easy to access, with alcohol coming first, while the perception of the risks of daily vaping or occasional smoking remains limited.