The availability and diversity of the drug supply continues to be high and growing in the European Union, which causes “new challenges” in combat policies and in health and social care, according to a European report.
This is one of the conclusions of the European Report on Drugs 2023: Trends and Developments, of the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), presented this Friday in Brussels, which stresses that “greater diversity in the supply and consumption of drugs create new challenges for Europe”.
According to the document from the Lisbon-based agency, which saw its powers renewed on Tuesday to respond to new challenges and support Member States, it is noted that “the availability of drugs continues to be high in all types of substances” and that “The scale and complexity of illicit drug production in Europe continues to increase.”
The 2023 document, which compiles data for 2021 and 2022 from the 27 Member States, Turkey and Norway, also highlights that there is “greater diversity in supply and consumption”, which “is creating new challenges” for policy makers. on drugs and healthcare in Europe.
According to the report, users “are now exposed to a broader range of psychoactive substances, often of greater potency and purity.”
The review covers a wide range of illicit drugs, from opiates and stimulants to new cannabis products and dissociative drugs (such as ketamine, used as an anesthetic and pain reliever in medicine, especially in veterinary medicine) and an update on New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). , which continue to pose a public health challenge in Europe.
In 2022, 41 new medicines were registered for the first time through the European Union’s Early Warning System, bringing the total number of NPS monitored by the agency to 930, it adds.
The report highlights the need for improved forensic and toxicological data to better understand the threats posed by new and potent synthetic substances, drug mixtures, adulterated substances, changing drug markets and consumption patterns, and therefore , in 2024, will launch a European network of forensic and toxicological laboratories.
The scope of cannabis policy in Europe is gradually widening and now encompasses not only the control of illicit cannabis, but also the regulation of cannabis and cannabinoids for therapeutic and other (cosmetic, edible) purposes.
Currently, the Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands and Switzerland are introducing new approaches to regulate the supply of cannabis for recreational use, advances the report, which, given the changes detected, highlights “the need to invest in monitoring and evaluation to fully understand its impact on public health and safety.”
The document mentions the “record seizures” of cocaine and the growing concern about the use of synthetic stimulants as important, considering that “the traffic of large volumes through European seaports in commercial containers” justifies the availability of this drug.
“There are fears that this situation could contribute to increased cocaine use, damage to health, and drug-related crime,” reads a synopsis of the document.
In 2021, EU Member States seized a record 303 tons of cocaine and in 2022 in Antwerp (Belgium), the second largest port in Europe, 110 tons were seized, up from 91 the previous year.
Available data suggests that organized crime groups are also increasingly targeting smaller ports in other EU countries, such as Portugal, and countries bordering the EU, noting that illicit cocaine manufacturing in the EU is gaining importance, with 34 cocaine laboratories dismantled in 2021 (23 in 2020), some of them large.
The increased variety of synthetic stimulants now available on the illicit market is increasing public health risks, the study says, explaining that amphetamine has historically been the most widely used synthetic stimulant in Europe.
The report also notes that stimulants are now being injected more frequently, sometimes in combination with heroin or other opioids.
The document states that “understanding the harm associated with changes in injecting drug use patterns will be essential to define interventions that reduce the harm associated with this behavior” and also warns of the “potential health risks” of lesser-known substances. like ketamine. , “which has become the more traditional recreational drug of choice in some contexts.”
It is typically inhaled and sometimes added to other drug mixes, including MDMA powders and pills, the Observatory writes, adding that long-term ketamine users may experience health problems such as For example, bladder injuries.
Increased recreational use of nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”) in some regions of Europe, including Portugal, is leading to health concerns.
A recent EMCDDA review drew attention to the risks associated with this drug, “which now appears to be more accessible, cheaper and more popular with some young people, including poisoning, burns and lung damage and, in some cases, prolonged use, damage to the nervous system.
The EMCDDA report highlights that the problems related to opioids in Europe “are evolving”, since heroin (the most problematic opioid in the 80s and 90s of the last century) continues to be the most consumed in Europe, but also increases the concern with the use of synthetic opioids.
Currently, the availability of heroin remains high, says the EMCDDA, as the amount seized by EU Member States more than doubled in 2021, to 9.5 tons, while Turkey seized a record 22.2 tons. .
Almost all the heroin consumed in Europe comes from Afghanistan, where the Taliban announced a ban on opium poppy cultivation in April 2022. While it is too early to say how the ban will affect the European heroin market, there are fears that any scarcity in the availability of drugs could be related to an increase in the supply and demand of synthetic opioids.
“Many synthetic opioids are extremely potent and pose a risk of poisoning and death. Only small amounts are needed to produce thousands of doses, making these substances much more profitable for organized crime groups.”
New uncontrolled synthetic opioids continue to appear on the European drug market, with a total of 74 identified since 2009.
For the president of the Board of Directors of the EMCDDA, Franz Pietsch, the report published this Friday is a fundamental resource to obtain a strategic vision of the European drug situation and its implications for public health and safety, since “it arrives in a pivotal moment as EMCDDA prepares for a new mandate and a new future”.
Source: TSF
