Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between alcohol abstinence and illicit drug use during early adulthood, and compares abstinence to moderate drinking and binge drinking, regrouped in different frequencies.

Design/methodology/approach: A total of 5,968 young male adults who completed the questionnaires were selected for the analyses. Alcohol abstinent participants were compared to moderate drinkers (who did not experience binge drinking during the previous 12 months), and casual, monthly, weekly and daily binge drinkers in terms of prevalence of drug use during early adulthood.

Findings: Alcohol abstinence was associated with higher risks of drug use than moderate drinking (odds ratio (OR)>3) for most of drugs, especially last-stage drugs: crystal meth, solvents, spice and heroin (6.50<OR<13.50). Such findings encourage rethinking prevention among alcohol abstainers who were so far considered at low risk of drug use.

Research limitations/implications: The main limitations of the study are the fact that it is cross-sectional, gender-blind and focussing on Swiss native who are less vulnerable than migrants.

Practical implications: High-risk subjects should be identified among young people who do not drink in order to develop specific preventive interventions.

Originality/value: This study is one of the first that compare alcohol abstinence, moderate drinking and binge drinking. Separate results covering 15 different drugs are presented.