IntroductionConsumption of psychoactive substances among young people aged 16 to 25 is a common practice, with deleterious consequences on the development and health. Minimal counseling and motivational assessment seem to be underused levers in primary care to educate 16-25 years olds about their addictions to psychoactive substances. In order to accentuate its preventive role in this difficult-to-access population, and to test the feasibility of systematizing minimal advice, the experimentation of a week of prevention with generalization of adapted minimal counseling in adolescents was justified. ObjectivesPropose a screening action for addictions by general practitioners in adolescents aged 16 to 25 and assess the impact of its experiment on motivation to quit, according to the Prochaska stages, in patients who benefit from it. MethodA multicenter intervention study, carried out among young people aged 16-25, was carried out in France. The distribution of motivational stages of Prochaska was compared in young patients presenting to a physician's office, along with that of other young patients receiving minimal advice during their consultation. The 34 physicians recruited were trained in prevention techniques through standardized letters. ResultsThe study found experimentation with tobacco in 68% of 206 young people recruited before the intervention, with no motivation to quit in 58% of smokers. Experimenting with alcohol before 25 was the norm (91%), and the one for cannabis was extensive (43%). More alarmingly, 8% of the young people exhibited harmful use or dependence on alcohol. The experimentation stage included 38 patients. The dispensing of minimal advice by the physician allowed a change in motivation depending on the stage of Prochaska towards weaning (P<0.001), 23% of young people being at the “preparation” stage after intervention against 5% before intervention. The minimal advice appeared for the physicians to be a simple and achievable tool because it was quick and compatible with the consultation time. ConclusionThis pragmatic study showed convincing results from the minimal advice given in general medicine on the motivation of 16-25 years old to quit a psychoactive substance. This rapid approach, which can be transposed into current practice, deserves to be generalized by those involved in primary care. It would be interesting to evaluate the repeated evaluation of the motivational stage and the effectiveness of minimal counseling on a larger scale and over a longer period.