In France in 2020, cannabis remained, by far, the most experienced illicit product. This is the finding of the Public Health France organization, which unveiled the first results of the 2020 Health Barometer (Source 1). This was carried out during the first half of 2020, with a representative sample of the French population of 10,879 people aged 18 to 64, who answered a series of questions about cannabis by telephone.
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Almost half of adults (46%) report having already used cannabis, a figure that has remained stable since 2017 (45% in 2017). As for the proportion of cannabis users during the year (11%, i.e. one in ten adults), it has not changed since 2014, where that of regular users (at least 10 times a month) appears slightly decline from 3.6% in 2017 to 3.2% in 2020.
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In terms of consumer profile, the predominance of men remains marked, notes Santé Publique France. In 2020, more than 5 in 10 men have used cannabis in their lifetime (55%) compared to less than 4 in 10 women (38%). However, since the first editions of its Health Barometers in 1992, Santé Publique France has noticed on the one hand an increase in the proportion of women who have already consumed cannabis, and on the other hand an aging of users, with more and more people in their thirties and forties.
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On consumption patterns, the data confirms a predominance of weed over cannabis resin (or “shit”), since the last time they consumed cannabis, most users in the year reported the having smoked as a joint (94%), far ahead of vaping or vaporization (2.3%), the food ingestion of products derived from cannabis (“space cake” in particular) or in infusion (2.2%) or the use of hookah or bong (less than 1%). And among those who smoked a joint the last time they used it, while 61% took weed and 37% resin, almost all mixed it with tobacco (95%).
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Note that Public Health France is currently broadcasting and until December 17 a digital campaign called “Joint stories”, the aim of which is to increase the knowledge of consumers and healthcare professionals on the harms associated with the consumption of cannabis. She takes the form real user testimonials and short videos from healthcare professionals (Laurent Karila, psychiatrist and addictologist at AP-HP, and Jean-Michel Delile, psychiatrist and president of the Addiction Federation) answering the major questions around this drug. These include the following questions: “Can cannabis make you schizophrenic?”, “Does smoking cannabis help you sleep better?” or “is it safer than smoking cigarettes?”. They can be found on YouTube with the hashtag #Hstoiresdejoint.
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