Cocaine Use Nearly Doubles in France: Study

By comparison, the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) earlier estimated annual cocaine consumption in the country at 600,000 users when it released its previous report in 2022.

France now ranks 7th in Europe in terms of cocaine consumption.

A number of factors are behind the explosive consumption growth, including record levels of global cocaine production and the drug's changing image.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, the world's three biggest cocaine cultivators, produced 2,700 tons of the rug in 2022, compared with 1,134 tons in 2010.

Another factor behind the growing use is "the evolution of working conditions," with people using cocaine to cope with intense workloads (for example, in the catering industry) or tough working conditions (in the fishing industry), Ivana Obradovic, deputy director at OFDT, told AFP.

Finally, experts point to the "diversification of forms of consumption."

The use of crack, a solid form of cocaine, is spreading and cocaine is now increasingly perceived as "less dangerous" as opposed to 20 years ago, said Obradovic.

A drug that stimulates the central nervous system, cocaine is made from the leaves of the coca plant in South America.

Source: HDN