Brussels, 24/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - Infringements of anti-drug legislation have risen in the majority of EU countries: this particularly applies to possession of drugs for personal use, with cannabis remaining the most widespread drug, and the increase in cocaine use becoming of real concern. This is the conclusion of the 2005 Annual Report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction (EMCDDA), which covers the EU, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey and Norway, with very complete statistics for each country. Wolfgang Götz, the director of EMCDDA, presenting the report on Thursday to the European Parliament, underlined the following trends: - drug use: cannabis remains the most common drug used, but use of cocaine is becoming a major concern (three million Europeans used it in 2004). Use of ecstasy and amphetamines is also increasing; use of heroine and other injected drugs remains lower than that of other drugs mentioned, but causes considerable physical and social damage (a large part of drug-related deaths are due to heroine); - health: EMCDDA has observed a drop in the number of drug-users, which should bring with is a drop in the number of drugs-related deaths; - infectious diseases: the main vector for the spread of AIDS is no longer intravenous drug-use (which was the case up to 2001). Developments have been less impressive in the case of hepatitis B and C, which remain the two main diseases linked with intravenous drug-use; - political reactions: 26 of the 29 countries studied have a policy on combating drug-use; - substitution treatment: almost 500 000 people benefit currently from these treatments, which nonetheless remain very uncommon in the new Member States, the candidate countries and Cyprus. Methadone is the most commonly prescribed medication, but other substitute treatments are emerging; - prison environments: all the Member States, Norway, Bulgaria and Romania now offer help to drug-users who are in prison.
According to Carel Edwards, head of the anti-drug unit at the European Commission, drugs are a global scourge (they represent the third biggest market after oil and arms, he said). The European Union has understood the urgency of the situation, and drawn up an action plan which will be the subject of regular reports. The role of the EMCDDA, which collects viable and comparable data, is essential, he pointed out. The President of the Parliamentary committee on freedoms Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, France) noted that there was a need to “move away from ideologies”, adding that in this fight “there is not enough of Europe”, and that there was a need for EU instruments and “more European” interventions, via more centralisation at institution level (9 Parliamentary committees and a dozen directorate generals are involved in the issue, he pointed out). Mr Cavada also regretted the lack of priorities among the world's major blocs, and is in favour of action at United Nations level. (The report can be downloaded in 22 different languages at http: //pt.emcdda.eu.int).