Synthetic products derived from cannabis, opioids and cathinones with effects similar to amphetamines are gaining ground in the EU, warned the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) on Thursday 5 June in its new 2025 edition on drug use in the EU.
The Agency also warns that rapid changes in the European medicines market are generating new health and safety risks and putting the region’s response capacity to the test.
It has identified 7,500 drug-related deaths in 2023, compared with 7,100 in 2022 in Europe involving opioids combined with other substances.
On the European stimulants market, the report highlights the increased availability of synthetic cathinones, “resulting in unprecedented imports and seizures”. These are synthetic stimulants, chemically similar to cathinone, the active ingredient in khat.
At least 37 tonnes of synthetic cathinones were reported in 2023 (27 tonnes in 2022 and 4.5 tonnes in 2021). Most of these imports involved a small number of bulk imports from India, mainly via the Netherlands.
The EU’s Early Warning System (EWS) for new psychoactive substances (NPS) identified seven new synthetic cathinones in 2024, bringing the total number of such substances monitored in Europe to 178, says the Agency.
In 2023, 53 synthetic cathinone production sites, some of them large-scale, had been dismantled in the EU (29 in 2022), mainly in Poland. This illustrates the significant increase in drug production in Europe. In 2023, the authorities dismantled production facilities across Europe, including 250 for methamphetamine, 93 for amphetamine, 36 for MDMA and 34 for cocaine.
With regard to the new synthetic opioids, nitazenes present a risk of fatal poisoning, the report goes on to say.
In addition, the European opioid market continues to evolve, with the appearance of various substances other than heroin. “New synthetic opioids (synthetic substances which act on the opioid receptors in the brain, with effects broadly similar to heroin), play a relatively small role in Europe’s drug market overall. However, they do feature prominently in the Baltic countries. There is also growing concern about their use in other EU Member States.”
A total of 88 new synthetic opioids have appeared on the European market since 2009. Often very powerful, they present risks of intoxication and death.
The report also highlights the growing availability in Europe of fake medicines containing nitazenes, which generally imitate legitimate prescription drugs (e.g. oxycodone and benzodiazepines).
“This raises concerns about the potential for these products to be used by a broader range of consumers, including young people. Due to the high potency of nitazenes, these fake medicines pose a significant risk of severe poisoning and overdose.”
However, cocaine remains the most widely used illicit stimulant in Europe, with around 4.6 million Europeans aged between 15 and 64 taking it in 2024. Cannabis remains the most popular drug, with 24 million users in Europe in 2024, with the risk of adulterated products being sold.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/h6u (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)