Published on
Updated
Reading 2 mins.
Increasingly trivialized, cocaine is a drug that is causing more and more damage. According to Public Health France, emergency room visits are experiencing a strong and continuous increase over the period 2010-2022 in all regions of France.
Cocaine is a drug that is increasingly used in France, with consumer profiles that are diversifying. Faced with this increase, emergency room visits caused by this narcotic are also on the rise.
An increase described as “strong and continuous”
“The results from data on visits to the emergency room in connection with the use of cocaine highlight a strong and continuous increase over the period 2010-2022, regardless of the region. After a period of relative stabilization between 2018 and 2021 , the data shows a particularly strong increase between 2021 and 2022“reports Public Health France (SPF).
A total of 23,335 emergency room visits related to cocaine use were recorded between 2010 and 2022.
“Polyconsumers” who mix drugs and alcohol
According to the agency, the profile found in the emergency room corresponds to that of habitual users of this drug: the vast majority of men in their thirties, who present “mostly associated diagnoses related to alcohol intoxication (33%), benzodiazepines (9.6%), cannabis (9.5%) or opioids (4.8%), reflecting a polyconsumption profile” or cardiac and psychiatric manifestations.
But that’s not all. “The increase in intoxications could be explained in particular by the circulation for ten years of a cocaine whose content of active principle increases or even the emergence of new synthetic products more powerful and toxic than the molecule of which they mimic the effects“adds Public Health France
Drugs Info service, a service that is increasingly in demand
In parallel with this observation, SPF notes the increase in requests from the Drugs Info service system. “The number of calls, chats and Q&As citing cocaine increased from 2,133 to 6,447 between 2010 and 2022“.
According to the agency, “consumer solicitations are mainly linked to a state of mental and/or physical ill-being often accompanied by strong concern about the symptoms experienced, difficulties in stopping or reducing consumption, a request for information on the effects and risks of cocaine, as well as a request for treatment”.