We understand better why drinking songs no longer have the success they had in the 1980s and 1990s. Indeed, young people drink less, smoke less and use drugs less, according to data from the latest Escapad survey conducted by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Trends (OFDT) among "23,701 girls and boys aged 17.4 years on average". The study was conducted in March 2022 with young people participating in Defence and Citizenship Day. Here are the main lessons.

Cigarettes are less and less cool

In 2022, less than one in two young people (46.5%) had experimented with smoking by age 17, while nearly 3 in 5 (59%) had done so in 2017. It's simple, "tobacco consumption fell sharply between 2017 and 2022, regardless of the frequency of consumption considered," says the OFDT. Thus, daily tobacco use concerns 15.6% of respondents against 25.1% five years before. The decline is impressive. There are no significant gender differences in experimentation and recent use, but a smaller proportion of girls smoke daily (14.2%) or intensively, i.e. more than 10 cigarettes per day (2.3% compared to 5% for boys). On the other hand, young women use electronic cigarettes more with "a level of daily use multiplied by six over the period (6.3% against 0.9%)", notes the OFDT.

Alcohol no longer irrigates young people

Same topo since, according to Escapad, "alcohol use among 17-year-olds is characterized by a general decline in all indicators of use". Even better, "in 2022, nearly one in five teenagers (19.4%) reported never having drunk alcohol in their life." Similarly, heavy binge drinking (API), more commonly known as binge drinking or express binge, is falling among young people. For example, only 36.6% of youth have had an IPY in the past 30 days, compared to 44% in 2017. Again, as with cigarettes, regular alcohol consumption is more prevalent among boys than girls. Thus, they "are half as likely to report drinking 10 times or more during the month".

Since I smoke more shit

Like Stupeflip, young people have given up smoking. "In 2022, the decline in cannabis use that began in 2014 is confirmed, regardless of the frequency of use: experimentation fell by nearly 10 points compared to 2017 (29.9% against 39.1%)," says the observatory. Similarly, he notes "a male predominance all the stronger the higher the frequency of consumption". With regard to other drugs, here too, use is declining, affecting only 3.9% of young people, compared with 6.8% five years earlier. Objects of strong media attention, lean or purple drank (codeine syrup mixed with soda) and nitrous oxide are used by only a few young people out of 100.


Differences according to social status

"The Escapad 2022 data confirm higher levels of frequent use among adolescents in apprenticeship and those leaving the school system compared to students in secondary school," notes the OFDT. This is striking for tobacco. Thus, "daily use is distributed according to a gradient ranging from 10.1% among students in general and technological high schools to 22.1% among students in vocational high schools, then from 38.6% among apprentices to 43.5% among young people who have left the school system." The most socially fragile are also the most vulnerable to addictive behaviors.

  • Health
  • Alcohol
  • Youths
  • Tobacco
  • Cannabis
  • Drug