Supply and consumption returned to high levels towards the pandemic drugswhich were slightly reduced in 2020 due to the health crisis, warns the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in its annual report.
The report warns of an increase in drug production in Europe as well as the spread of new psychoactive substances sold and consumed on the European continent.
The European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction confirms an earlier warning that the European continent is turning from a market to a global center for the production, sale and consumption of drugs.
The analysis of used water in 75 cities of 25 countries (23 countries of the European Union, Turkey and Norway) showed an increase in the consumption of cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines and methamphetamines.
“First” for cannabis
Ecstasy (and its main ingredient, MDMA) is the only drug for which samples have been reduced in most of the cities surveyed, perhaps because most nightclubs were closed until the spring of 2021, when the survey was conducted.
Cannabis is by far the most consumed substance, with more than 22 million European adults claiming to have consumed it by 2021, according to the report.
They follow cocaine (3.5 million), MDMA / ecstasy (2.6 million) and amphetamines (2 million).
Drug supply “remains high throughout the European Union” and even exceeds “pre-pandemic levels of cocaine: a record 213 tonnes” was seized in the EU in 2020, the last year for which data are available. This is despite the fact that the year was marked by restrictions on travel and the closure of nightclubs due to Covid.
In 2019, a total of 202 tons were seized cocaine. “This indicator and others lead to the conclusion that, today, there is no indication that the increase in the availability of this drug, which has been observed in recent years, has changed,” according to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
In general, “conventional drugs have never been so easily accessible, and new powerful substances continue to emerge,” the report warns.
“Almost anything that has a psychoactive effect can appear on the market today,” according to the EMCDDA. In 2021, 52 new drugs were “identified for the first time”, among them “15 new synthetic cannabis”.
These new drugs, some of which are very potent and toxic in the laboratory, mimic the effects of THC (cannabis psychotropic substance) and are often pulverized onto grass, sometimes unknowingly by consumers.
In the 2021 report, the European Office was already expressing concerns about these products.
Concern about synthetic drugs
This year’s report also raises concerns about the rise of “synthetic cathinones” (6 new ones have been identified), and are cocktails of cocaine, MDMA / ecstasy and amphetamines.
The two most common are 3-MMC and 3-CMCwhich can be legally sold and converted into drugs.
Suspicious cases in the Netherlands poisoning from 3-MMC increased from 10 in 2018 to 64 in 2020, according to the report. The European Commission proposed in March the imposition of controls on these substances, according to APE-MPE, citing Reuters and AFP.
“Synthetic drug production continues to rise in Europe,” the report warns, noting that illegal laboratories in Europe produce huge amounts of amphetamine, methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs for local consumption and export outside Europe.
The drugs and chemicals needed to produce them are mostly imported from other parts of the world, mainly from South America and Asia, but European criminal organizations are strengthening their links with cartels outside the European continent to reducing the cost of producing and trafficking drugs, according to the report, which is based on data from European law enforcement agencies.
More than 350 synthetic drug laboratories were located and destroyed in 2020 in Europe, the last year for which data are available, according to the European agency. Prosecutors have also identified more laboratories for cocaine and new drugs such as cathinone (the psychotropic substance khat popular in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula).
Most of the laboratories dismantled by law enforcement were located in Belgium and the Netherlands. Production facilities have also been located in the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany and other European Union countries.
How can the war in Ukraine affect
The Russian invasion of Ukraine can affect the situation in Europe causing a change in traffic lanes and potentially exposing more people to drugs, also warns the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, as many who suffered from severe psychological stress during the conflict, they may be more vulnerable to substance use problems in the future.
Drug trafficking is likely to be a viable option due to increased security measures due to the war, while health services in European countries, especially in countries bordering Ukraine, are likely to be under increasing pressure as drug users fleeing Ukraine will need support.
The European Union (EU) also warns that economic hardship in Afghanistan could increase the importance of local drug revenues by increasing the amount of heroin trafficked to Europe.
Source: News Beast
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