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A report expresses an official position of the National Academy of Medicine/France. The Academy in its session of Tuesday, October 1, 2019, reported an alarming situation that requires early prevention, because The consumption of licit and illicit drugs is responsible for the annual loss of 130,000 human lives in France and a considerable health and social cost. The direct expenditure of public finances amounts to 22.1 billion euros, i.e. almost 1% of GDP. The high level of use of these substances in adulthood can be explained by a very early start in their use, followed by regular increases, as shown by the three series of prevalence surveys carried out between 2010 and 2017 among adolescents aged 11 to 17. This type of consumption is therefore a major public health problem to which it seems important to provide priority responses. Among 35 countries, in terms of consumption by 16-year-olds in the last 30 days, France ranks 1st for cannabis, 3rd for other illicit drugs, 11th for tobacco and 15th for alcohol. Adolescence is a period of particular vulnerability to addiction because of the lack of neuropsychological maturity.
