An old man’s drug? The joint, the Marie-Jeanne, the doobie or even the spliff… Call it what you want, cannabis is still the most common illicit drug among the French population. However, while it has an image of a drug reserved for “breakfasts”, it is experiencing a “generational effect”: the profile of a regular user is increasingly aging, according to a study by French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT).
In France, 47.3% of the adult population declares having already used cannabis during their lifetime, i.e. nearly 18 million people. According to this survey conducted by Public health France (SpF) among 23,661 adults aged 18 to 64 on their cannabis consumption in 2021, 10.6% of the population smoked it during the year. Above all, the survey shows a very clear “generational effect”, the average age of current cannabis users having increased from 25.1 years to 32.8 years between 1992 and 2021.
Smokers are in the south
Among those under 25, all of the indicators have been falling since 2017, whether it concerns experimentation or regular use of cannabis, which is explained by the arrival in the consumption age of the generation born in the 2000s who is less of a smoker of joints than the previous ones.
Geographically, there is still a clear “North/South” divide, with higher consumption south of the Loire. It is in Occitania that the spread of cannabis is the most important, with a level of experimentation 8 points higher than the French average, followed by Brittany (+5 points), New Aquitaine (+3 points ).
Overseas, the proportion of users is lower than in mainland France but characterized by more frequent and intensive consumption. In terms of quantities, daily users smoke an average of 4.1 joints per day and mostly in the evening.