The use of psychoactive substances has declined sharply among overseas adolescents in recent years, shows a study by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT) published Monday.
The national middle and high school survey among adolescents on health and substances (EnCLASS) presents the results concerning the use of tobacco, alcohol, cannabis and other illicit drugs in Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana and elsewhere. Reunion between 2022 and 2023.
This decline cannot be considered solely “as an effect of the Covid-19 pandemic (…) because it started previously“, warn the authors of the study, but the “confinements may have deprived adolescents of social moments during which consumption is likely to begin“.
However, overseas high school students stand out from France with significantly lower levels of substance consumption.
“The case of Guyana is the most striking: in proportion, experimenters there are 2.3 times less numerous than in France (14.9% compared to 34%) and daily users are 3.6 times less numerous ( 1.7% versus 6.2%)“, according to the study. In Guyana, the number of out-of-school children is estimated at 10,000, according to UNICEF cross-checks, with no official database being available.
Experimentation with cannabis is less widespread among high school students in Guadeloupe (16.9% in 2023 compared to 30.3% in 2015), Martinique (13.3% compared to 35.6%) than among high school students in Reunion ( 22.7% against 49.7%), which are within the French average.
Levels of alcohol consumption fell in 2023 compared to 2015 in Guadeloupe (72% compared to 95.3%), in Martinique (77.7% compared to 96.6%) and are quite close to those observed in the France in 2022 (68.3%).
Among overseas college students, alcohol use in Guadeloupe (51.7%), Martinique (56.2%) and Guyana (52.1%) is higher than in France (43.4%) .
“Our hypothesis is that students begin to experiment younger in middle school and then join the average of young French high school students.“, summarizes Guillaume Airagnes, director of the OFDT, to AFP.
Whether in overseas colleges or high schools, the use of electronic cigarettes has widely developed.
“We have a territory that stands out, it is Martinique, with both particularly high levels of use and a strong increase compared to previous years.“, explains Guillaume Airagnes.
Between 2015 and 2022-2023, experimentation increased from 5.6% to 30.7% in Martinique, from 5% to 18.8% in Guadeloupe, from 8.6% to 18% in Guyana and from 6. 4% to 18.4% in Reunion.
