Recent trends and new drugs in France

This scheme, set up as part of the three-year plan adopted by the public authorities in 1999, aims as quickly as possible to identify and describe the emerging phenomena linked to illegal drugs.

These include new phenomena or existing ones undetected by the information systems previously in place. The information obtained should enable the various participants in the sphere of drug addiction (decision-makers, professionals, users) to contribute to the prevention or adaptation of behaviours, so as to encourage better protection of drug users and of the general population. 

This year, several of the system's recent findings have been processed using a general synthesis which combines the information collected since the system's inception. The first part of this edition of Tendances is devoted to an analysis of four Special subjects, revisiting the information collected since the system was created. 

These “special subjects” concern the practice of intravenous drug use and its projected reduction; the appearance of new and younger groups of people in low-threshold facilities and treatment structures; the development in the TREND scheme's two spheres of research in cocaine and crack taking, and finally, the current fashion for natural hallucinogens. 

The second part is devoted to a more traditional exercise highlighting the main trends of 2004.