Fatal overdoses in France have more than doubled in ten years

Deaths linked to drugs or medicines in France have jumped by 171% in a decade. That is the stark finding of a note from Ofast, the national anti-drug office, seen by AFP on Monday 9 November.

What happened?

In 2024, 659 people died, against 243 in 2014. The figures come from the Drames survey, run by the addiction monitoring centre in Grenoble.

Victims were aged 14 to 71, with an average age of 39. Men made up 79% of cases. Most died at home (62%), fewer in public spaces (12%) or in hospital (7%).

Ofast says that since 2017, and especially since 2023-2024, France has seen "very high availability" of drugs.

What is behind the rise?

Substitution medicines (prescribed to treat opioid addiction) remain the leading cause of overdose, with 338 deaths, or 51% of cases. Cocaine follows with 222 deaths, then heroin (75), cannabis (65), amphetamines including MDMA (41) and new synthetic products (33).

Purity is rising too. Cocaine went from 63% in 2023 to 75% in 2025. Cannabis resin rose from 18% in 2013 to 31% in 2025. Around one adult in ten said in 2023 that they had tried cocaine.

Then there are synthetic drugs. France's drug observatory counted 450 to 500 new synthetic products in circulation last year. Some synthetic cannabinoids, popular with young users, can be up to 200 times stronger than THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis. Often taken at parties and mixed with other substances, they carry a high overdose risk, the note says.

Deaths involving amphetamines have also risen: more than 40 a year since 2023, against 17 in 2022.

What came before?

Ofast was created in 2020 to coordinate the fight against trafficking under the judicial police. In early 2025, Paris prosecutors had already warned of a sharp rise in overdoses, notably linked to cocaine and synthetic products.