Drugs and addictions, 2025 key data

For three decades, the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), an independent public organisation, has been providing valuable insights to public authorities, field professionals, and the general public on drugs, behavioural addictions, and gambling.

This publication brings together the most recent data on the state of addictions and the use of psychoactive substances. Updated on a regular basis, it provides an up-to-date estimate of the number of users, tracks trends and presents key figures for each product - in relation to use, supply and public responses. Each product section is accompanied by a QR-code to access additional information on the OFDT website.

Cocaine: year-round use now concerns more than a million French people

Whether it's cocaine or ecstasy/MDMA, the widespread use of psychostimulants is one of the major trends of recent years: use in the year (at least once in the last 12 months) now concerns 1.1 million French people (aged 11-75) for cocaine and 750 000 for ecstasy/MDMA. With 24 million gamblers during the year, compared with 21 million previously, gambling is also growing in popularity among the French. Cannabis remains the most widely used illegal drug, with 900 000 users every day.

Tobacco and alcohol: high social cost despite falling consumption

Daily consumption of alcohol (-2.3 points since 2014) and tobacco (-5.4 points over the same period) is falling among the French. This decline is even more marked among 17-year-olds (-3.3 points for regular alcohol use and -15.9 points for daily smoking compared to 2011), despite the growing popularity of vaping (56.9 points of 17-year-olds have already tried it). This general downward trend contrasts with the social cost of using these two substances, which are responsible for more than 115 000 deaths a year. In 2023, 246 000 hospital admissions were due to alcohol-related diagnoses. The social cost of tobacco is estimated at 156 billion euros and that of alcohol at 102 billion euros.

Illicit drugs: expanding supply and market

With the exception of heroin, all indicators point to an increase in the supply of illicit drugs due to the sharp rise in production levels worldwide. This increased supply is accompanied by a higher concentration of active ingredients and product diversification. Since 2008, 450 NPS (New Psychoactive Substance) have been registered in France, including 17 in 2023.