Post – Revue Psychotropes

English

The authors trace 150 years of history of Addictions France and its challenges since the creation in 1872 of the French Association against Alcohol Abuse, driven by the hygienist and social movement in response to the health and social consequences of alcohol consumption in the context of the Industrial Revolution, the defeat of 1870 and the Paris Commune, and the scientific evolution of medicine. Renamed the French Temperance Society and recognized as a public utility in 1880, its pragmatic approach based on science and “temperance” made it possible to avoid the failures of prohibitionism. Forming the National League Against Alcoholism (LNCA) in 1905 with anti-alcohol movements, its information campaigns and advocacy for various measures were met with resistance from the alcohol lobby. Remobilized after the Second World War in the context of a gradual return to alcohol consumption in France, it became the National Committee for the Defense Against Alcoholism (CNDCA) in 1949, established its departmental committees, professionalized its prevention activities with the support of the Social Security system, and then began caring for people with alcohol problems in 1970. Renamed the National Association for the Prevention of Alcoholism in 1985, then the National Association for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Addiction with the extension of its missions to all addictions from the 2000s onward, it is now, under its new name, a leading association in the field of addiction. With unrivaled experience that enables it to tackle new challenges, faithful to the spirit and commitment of its founders, “close to science” and non-prohibitionist, a player in prevention, risk and harm reduction, and public health, Addictions France is now a leading association in the field of addiction, contributing to the construction of a fairer and more sustainable society where addiction is neither taboo nor inevitable.