Brussels, 04/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - In its new annual report published on Thursday 4 June in Lisbon, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) highlighted some positive developments on the drugs market, such as the decline of heroin use.
The EMCDDA, however, was more cautious on a number of other points and concerned, for example, by the increasing number of drugs sold on the Internet, the high rate of new synthetic drugs appearing on the market (at a rate of two a week) and still very high cannabis consumption rates.
Cannabis remains the most frequently consumed drug in Europe. According to the EMCDDA, 19.3 million adults consumed cannabis last year, including 14.6 million individuals aged between 15 and 34. Consumption is highest in France, Bulgaria and four Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway) and cannabis accounts for 80% of all drugs seized in Europe.
In the area of non-controlled psychoactive substances, 101 new substances were detected in 2014 at a rate of two per week. Often sold as “legal highs”, these new drugs are experiencing an upward trend compared to the 81 substances detected in 2013. This brings the total number of substances being monitored by the agency to over 450, with more than half of that figure being identified in the last three years alone.
The Internet is playing an increasingly important role in the supply and marketing of drugs to Europeans. The EMCDDA identified 650 websites selling legal highs to Europeans. Sales of illegal drugs on “crypto markets” or “deep web” online markets (accessible through coding software) also constitutes a troubling development with these sites allowing for the anonymous trade in products and services between individuals often using “crypto currencies” such as Bitcoins to facilitate concealed sales. (Solenn Paulic)