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Frankfurt Youth Substance Use Falls to Two-Decade Low, Survey Finds

City-backed prevention built on education is cited as the main driver.

Overview

  • Annual monitoring by the Institute for Addiction Research surveyed 1,054 students from 82 classes between October 2024 and March 2025.
  • More than a quarter of 15- to 18-year-olds report never using alcohol, nicotine or other drugs, and 78% have never used cannabis with only 1% reporting regular use.
  • Alcohol use continues to decline, with 88% drinking none or only moderately, and daily smoking has dropped to 10% from about 40% in the early 2000s.
  • About one fifth have tried snus despite sales being illegal in Germany, and nitrous oxide experimentation fell to 13% from 17% in 2022.
  • E‑cigarette experimentation has decreased for a third straight year even as daily use increased, and researchers say partial cannabis legalization did not raise youth usage in this sample.