Markets, products, users: recent trends (2011-2012)

Tendances n°86, OFDT, 8 p.
July 2013

The TREND (Emerging Trends and New Drugs) scheme established by the OFDT in 1999 endeavours to detect emerging phenomena and trends in illegal drug use, including trends in substances, supply, routes of administration and user profiles.

The analysis of the data from the 13th TREND survey (2011 and early 2012) and the scheme's various components (see page 8) serves to highlight a series of changes. This issue of Tendances takes stock of four aspects. The first discusses changes in the main illegal drug markets, which have experienced significant shifts in terms of purity and price for several substances (heroin, cocaine, MDMA). A rise in herbal cannabis cultivation in Europe and the emergence of NPS (New Psychoactive Substances) are also new phenomena. The next section examines questions directly linked to users: routes of administration, and especially an increase in “chasing the dragon”, and worsening social and health situations for the most socially fragile users. Finally, the last two sections are dedicated to certain products (crack, freebase, ketamine and methamphetamine), whose spread and/ or accessibility should be monitored along with their substitution treatments.

Authors:
Agnès Cadet- Taïrou, Michel Gandilhon, with Emmanuel Lahaie, Magali Martinez, Sayon Dambélé, Stéphane Saïd

Download the PDF file (720 Ko)