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Economic austerity hitting European drug fight: report

10 November 2010, 16:11 CET
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(LISBON) - Economic austerity across Europe, linked with rising numbers of jobless youth, could lead to a spike in drug use and a drop in treatment for addicts, the continent's drugs agency warned Tuesday.

"As Europe enters a period of economic austerity, with rising levels of youth unemployment, there are fears that this may be accompanied by an increase in problematic forms of drug use," the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug addition (EMCDDA) warned in its annual report released here.

Budgetary restrictions were threatening drug treatment programmes, used by one million Europeans annually, the report said, warning that the cost long term would likely far exceed any short term savings.

The report shows that as Europe's population ages so is the continent's drug-using population, and meeting the needs of older drug users is a growing issue for treatment services.

"It is commonly assumed that people in their mid-30s grow out of drug use," says EMCDDA director Wolfgang Gotz, "but data from drug treatment centres in Europe show that this is not always the case."

Europe was facing new challenges posed by changes in drug supply and use, the report said, with increasingly sophisticated techniques being used to hide and smuggle cocaine.

Examples include incorporating the cocaine base into materials like beeswax, plastic, clothing, or fertiliser, then extracting it after import. Spain in 2008 uncovered 25 so-called "secondary extraction" laboratories used for this purpose.

"The report demonstrates the need for enhanced monitoring across the EU, as part of a coordinated European approach to tackling drug trafficking and organised crime," said EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem.

The overall number of drug-related deaths in Europe had been increasing steadily since 2003, the report said.

Between 6,400 and 8,500 drug-induced deaths were reported annually in Europe between 1995-2007, mostly from heroin.

The report expressed concern about the growing number of cocaine users dying in Europe, around 1,000 last year.

"Too many Europeans still regard cocaine use a relatively harmless accompaniment to a successful lifestyle," said Gotz.

The report said 14 million Europeans between the ages of 14-65 had tried cocaine, around four million in the last year. Britain and Spain are the countries with the highest usage.

While cocaine is mostly prevalent in western Europe, some countries in eastern Europe have caught up to the west in terms of cannabis use, particularly the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Estonia.

Italy, Spain and France had the highest prevalence of cannabis users in western Europe.

Around 75.5 million Europeans, one in five adults aged 15-64, have tried cannabis in their lifetime, with around 23 million new users last year.

Intravenous drug use was the most common form of drug consumption in eastern Europe, particularly Romania, Estonia and Slovakia.

Russia and Ukraine both have levels of heroin use that are "two to four times higher" than the EU average, of four cases per 1,000 people.

"And studies estimate that in both countries around 40 percent of them are reported to be HIV positive. The rate of newly reported HIV cases among injecting drug users is much higher in Russia and Ukraine than in other countries or regions of the world."

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)


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