On Thursday 7 June, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) published its annual report, which lists the trends on drugs observed in the EU in 2018.
"This year's report shows both positive and alarming signs on the evolution of the drugs phenomenon in Europe", European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos commented at a press conference.
The main observation in the report is the increase in availability of cocaine on the European market. Nearly 2.3 million young adults, aged 15 to 34, have consumed this substance over the past year. Although the price of cocaine remains stable, the purity of the product sold on the streets reached its highest degree in the decade in 2016, the report states.
"The increase in the production of cocaine in Latin America now seems to be being felt on the European market", EMCDDA director Alexis Goosdeel stated. Although, historically, most cocaine entering European territory arrived through the Iberian Peninsula, significant seizures in other regions suggest a change of route.
In this regard, Belgium outstripped Spain in terms of the volume of cocaine seized. High traces have also been recorded in the Netherlands and United Kingdom, whilst cities in Eastern Europe remain the least affected.
Nevertheless, information on the impact of this increased availability in terms of a rise or not in cocaine consumption remains limited at this stage, the report states.
More generally, the report highlights the role of Europe as a region of illegal drugs production, recording worrying signs of increase.
Cannabis and international political developments. "Cannabis represents a more complex political challenge", Goosdeel stated. And while the prevalence of cannabis consumption remains high in Europe, it is particularly its legalisation on the American continent – and from today in Canada – that is of concern to the EMCDDA.
The EMCDDA intends to follow the international developments on this closely in order to detect any repercussion for the situation in Europe, especially the emergence of new forms of cannabis on the market or a change in the behaviour of Europeans' consumption.
The report can be consulted at: https://bit.ly/2Ls38Rs . (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)