The EU drugs agency today presented its annual assessment of Europe’s drugs problem in its Annual report 2011.The report provides the latest data and commentary on the drug situation across the 27 EU Member States, Croatia, Turkey and Norway.

The report is available in 22 languages here.

Presenting the report in Lisbon today EMCDDA Director Walter Götz stated:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to present to you today the latest findings from the EMCDDA’s 2011 Annual report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe.

This year, our report is one of contrasts. On the one hand, drug use appears to be relatively stable, with levels of use remaining high, but not rising overall. And in some important areas, such as cannabis use by young people, recent data show positive changes. On the other hand, developments in the synthetic drugs market are worrying, and polydrug use — including the combination of illicit drugs with alcohol and medicines — has become a far too common problem.

Opioids

Let me begin with heroin and opioid use, drugs that remain at the heart of the problem. We estimate that Europe has more than 1.3 million regular opioid users. Overall, levels of use have been stable for some years now, and we observe an aging group of users and reduced levels of drug injecting. However, the illicit use of other opioids — both pain medicines and substitution drugs — has been identified as a growing problem in some areas.

Positively, levels of treatment provision for opioid users are rather impressive, with — for example — an estimated half of this group receiving substitution treatment. Coverage, however, varies greatly and is still very low in some countries, particularly in some of the eastern Member States.

The heroin market has recently shown signs of instability, with some countries experiencing a heroin ‘drought’ in late 2010 and early 2011. This appears to have been a temporary shortage. Among the possible explanations proposed are an opium poppy blight in Afghanistan and diversion of heroin to markets in Asia. However, a recent review of the evidence suggests that successful cooperation between Turkish and EU police forces is likely to have played an important role here. These successes highlight the value of concerted action against drug trafficking.

Deaths

We estimate that between 10 000 and 20 000 regular opioid users die each year in Europe. The risk of dying for them is 10 to 20 times greater than for their non-drug-using peers. Most victims are male heroin users in their mid-thirties. Many of these deaths, particularly the 7 500 annual overdoses, could be prevented and action in this area remains a key challenge for our drug services. Other causes of death are suicide, trauma and violence and disease.

Over the last decade, we have made good progress in addressing HIV infection among drug users. But we should not forget that each year more than 2 000 HIV/AIDS-related deaths result from injecting drug use in Europe — and here our report presents some worrying conclusions.

Across Europe drug services are under pressure, and HIV prevention is not always given the policy priority it once had. We know that HIV epidemics continue to pose a major public health problem for many countries bordering the EU. The increasing migration from these affected regions towards EU Member States — owing to the economic and political situation — puts pressure on already overstretched services.

In some Member States, we are witnessing an exceptional set of circumstances that create ‘a perfect storm’ for causing the rapid spread of drug-related HIV infections within vulnerable communities.
This year in July, Greece reported a local outbreak in new HIV infections and disturbing data is now emerging from a number of other countries.

Cannabis

Let me now talk about Europe’s most common illicit drug — cannabis — with an estimated 22.5 million annual users. We can be cautiously optimistic here as recent surveys show that trends in use are stable or decreasing in many countries. That said, we must remain concerned about those — mostly young males — who use this drug on a daily and long-term basis, and who are at a greater risk of experiencing problems. And I note here, that we continue to see an increase in the number of individuals seeking help for cannabis problems in some countries.

We all know that cannabis policy is a much-debated topic. One question here is the extent to which policy choices impact on levels of use. The results from our new analysis are challenging with regard to this. They find no clear evidence that either increasing or decreasing legal penalties have a direct impact on levels of cannabis use, at least in the short-term. There seem to be more complex factors at work here. Therefore, I think the time is ripe for a more sophisticated reflection on how to best respond to the use of our most common illicit drug. Let me mention one example that is largely overlooked — prevention approaches, that focus on social norms and that support community and individual resilience, look particularly promising.

Cannabis production taking place within our EU borders is also of rising policy concern. In 2009, more than 1.4 million cannabis plants were seized in Europe, and domestically grown cannabis represented a significant proportion of the nearly 100 tonnes of herbal cannabis seized each year. The advantages to drug producers of growing their product close to their market without the need to cross external borders are clear. Becoming equally clear are the costs to communities of drug production sites located within what are often residential areas.

Cocaine

Over the last decade, cocaine has established itself as the most commonly used illicit stimulant drug in Europe. We estimate that around 4 million European adults used cocaine last year — though high levels of use are only found in a few countries. New data suggests that the popularity of this drug may have peaked in some high prevalence countries and recent surveys show a decline.

Supply side data is less clear. The number of seizures continues to rise — but the volume of seizures and the purity of the drug have fallen considerably. Cocaine traffickers are continuing to adapt their practices in response to control efforts. So, for example, while the use of trafficking routes through West Africa may be on the decline, activity in the east of Europe seems to be increasing.

Ecstasy

Last year, around 2.5 million European adults used ecstasy. For a number of years we have reported an overall decline in the MDMA content of ecstasy tablets, resulting from a shortage of the main precursor PMK. And ecstasy tablets often contained other drugs such as piperazines (BZP, mCPP). However, MDMA availability may be on the rebound which could lead to a renewed interest in ecstasy.

New drugs

In 2010, a record 41 new substances were reported to the European early-warning mechanism, which we are running together with Europol. This year we have registered 39 new substances as of this morning. We see that new substances and products are continuing to be launched on the marketplace, with the Internet as one of the main sources for supply. Preliminary results from our 2011 snapshot exercise identified more than 600 online shops selling psychoactive products to clients in the EU.

Last year, the EMCDDA conducted a formal risk assessment of mephedrone (a synthetic cathinone) and this resulted in a decision by the Council to control this substance. This drug has now been controlled in most Member States. But in some countries there are indications that mephedrone is now an established product on the illicit drug market. This consequence of putting the substance under control illustrates the complexity of the issue we are dealing with. The recent and rapid emergence of many new uncontrolled psychoactive substances is a growing challenge for our current models of drug control, both in Europe and internationally.

Economic situation

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Before I conclude, I would like to say a few words about the problematic economic situation many Member States are facing. We know from past experience that in periods of economic contraction governments tend to decrease spending both on health and other social services… and this is beginning to happen in the drugs field today. So far, the areas most severely affected appear to be research, prevention and social reintegration.

In times of austerity measures, robust and reliable drug monitoring information is more important than ever. It alerts us to new threats and emerging problems. It also provides a sound basis for defining clear policy priorities and for investing in areas of proven effectiveness.

Last year, the US, Australia, Russia and the Organisation of American States all produced new drug strategies. Next year, we will come to the end of our current EU drug strategy. Evaluation is almost complete, and we are about to begin reflecting on what the future drug policy landscape should look like.

Over the last 20 years, the EU strategies have been the driving force behind the balanced and evidence-based approach that the EU has become renowned for at global level. The successive EU strategies have never been legally binding but are more and more followed by Member States — and national strategies are converging to the extent that we can talk about an EU model. I expect that the upcoming EU strategy will provide new impetus for even further convergence. This will be essential if we are to continue to respond effectively to drug use and its consequences in the 21st century.

To finish, Chair, Ladies and Gentlemen

Today I have presented to you key elements of the EU’s drug situation and how we are responding to it. There are a number of issues raised in our 2011 analysis that add to our knowledge or suggest changing trends — I want to leave you with just one of them.

The market for stimulants and synthetic drugs in Europe appears to be undergoing significant change. For example, there are indications that the cocaine bubble has burst. The tide has also turned as regards the long-term decreasing trends in ecstasy purity and we can expect an increase in the use of this drug.

Moreover, we see groups of new uncontrolled synthetic substances emerging, many of which are stimulants — and some, like mephedrone, have the potential to cross over from the so-called ‘legal highs’ market to the illicit one. I am sure that in the future we will see synthetic drugs of all types playing an increasingly important role in the drug problem we collectively face. To a large extent, our policies and our responses are still configured to the needs of the last decade. We now need to make sure that they are fit for our current and future challenges.

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