Alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, hard drugs … young people aged 16 to 30 show “Very alarming levels of consumption”, says a survey published Tuesday, July 6, carried out in March 2021 by Ipsos for the Macif insurance group among 3,500 people. A sad photograph taken in the context of the health crisis: for more than a year, with the exception of a few interludes, young people have been deprived of independence, of social life, with undoubtedly a strong desire to catch up and d ‘evasion.
One in five young people say they have lost control “at least ten times a year” by drinking
What is striking, among the many data from the survey, is the proportion of young people who consume until they lose control. Half of the young people surveyed (52%) say they have been in this state during the last twelve months, “To the point of no longer knowing what they were doing”. Alcohol is the most used substance to achieve this: one in five young people say they have lost control “At least ten times a year” having drunk.
These losses of control are part of a more general context of anxiety. Half of the users of substances (alcohol, drugs, etc.) have experienced negative emotions during the year, bad trip (malaise), episodes of school failure (30%), social isolation (27%). Two in ten consumers also admit having encountered sexual problems (20%) or faced suicidal thoughts (20%).
Another interesting element: smoking among young people is far from having disappeared. A quarter of them say they are regular consumers. In 2015, a survey by the student mutual insurance company Emevia noted that 6.1% of students were daily smokers. Even if the two studies do not focus on the same population, we see that tobacco does not decline for this age group.
Addictions tend to be cumulative
In addition, 36% of 16 to 30 year olds say they have smoked cannabis. A figure equivalent to that of Emevia’s study. The increase in hard drug users is significant compared to 2018, when only 2% of students admitted to using cocaine. This year, 14% of young people say they have tried ecstasy, MDMA, GHB, poppers, nitrous oxide or LSD; 11% say they have taken cocaine; 8%, heroin. ” The consumption [de drogues dures] can appear as a social strategy, a desire to belong to a group ”, note the authors. It is also the desire for experimentation, for transgression and the search for a loss of control.
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