The European drug landscape in 2013 – Highlights from the EMCDDA's European drug report (original) (raw)

Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy, 2013

Abstract

May 2013 saw the publication of the first European Drug Report (EDR), the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction’s (EMCDDA) comprehensive and multi-dimensional package providing information on European drug trends and developments (European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction, 2013a) alongside focused analyses and country level data. This article presents highlights from the EDR package, which can be accessed in its entirety at: www.emcdda.europa.eu. Taking a broad view of the European drug landscape, the 2013 EDR reveals a number of positive developments including record levels of treatment provision accompanied by signs of erosion in injecting, new heroin use and drug-induced deaths. It also identifies a partial move away from the historical focus on small number of plant-based substances that have been transported long distances to Europe’s consumer markets. By contrast, a range of synthetic drugs and new psychoactive substances are increasingly detected, both on the illicit drug market and in the context of non-controlled substances. Cannabis continues to be Europe’s most used illicit drug and despite some evidence of decreasing trends, especially in countries with a long and established history of high prevalence, its use remains high by historical standards. An estimated 15.4 million or 11.7% of young adults (aged 15–34 years) used the drug in the previous year in Europe, including about two million daily users. Problems among older chronic users are also becoming increasingly recognized and cannabis is now the most common drug reported by clients entering specialized drug treatment for the first time. There is also increasing diversity in the types of cannabis products available, with resin and herbal cannabis, sometimes of high potency, accompanied by the recent emergence of synthetic ‘cannabis-like’ products. Cannabis use continues to be an important focus for prevention work with young people and a growing interest in the use of environmental prevention strategies, which have shown success in addressing alcohol and tobacco use, is noted. Against the backdrop of an overall increase in treatment availability for heroin users, with over 730 000 in opioid substitution treatment, indicators now suggest downwards trajectories in both use and availability of this drug. Seizures have declined in the longer term and recent market shocks or shortages have been experienced by a number of countries (Griffiths, Mounteney, & Laniel, 2012). The number of heroin users entering specialized treatment for the first time also continues to fall, less report injection of the drug, and in many countries they constitute an ageing population. A concomitant and welcome decline in new HIV diagnoses attributed to drug injection has been observed until recently, when HIV outbreaks in Greece and Romania interrupted this positive trend (European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction and ECDC, 2012). This serves as a timely reminder of the ongoing need to consolidate effective harm reduction and drug treatment responses in this area. The current analysis notes a high degree of interchangeability and flexibility in Europe’s stimulant market. This is evident both at the level of production, where facilities have been seized that produce both amphetamines and ecstasy depending on precursor availability, and also at the user level, where stimulant drugs, such as amphetamines, cocaine, and ecstasy are often substituted for each other, depending on availability, price and perceived ‘quality’ (European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction, 2013b). Cocaine remains Europe’s most commonly used stimulant with around 2.5 million or 1.9% of last year users among young adults (aged 15–34). Overall, however, both cocaine use and supply indicators have been trending downwards in the higher-prevalence countries. A recent upturn in the popularity of ecstasy has been reported in some countries, following a period when

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