Cocaine consumption in Europe is continuing to rise, despite evidence that overall drug use throughout the continent is beginning to stabilise.
The latest annual report from the Lisbon based European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, giving data for 2005, says that an estimated 4.5 million Europeans between the ages of 15 and 64 years had taken cocaine in the previous 12 months, whereas the number in 2004 was 3.5 million.
The percentage of cocaine users ranged from 0.1% of the population in Greece to 2% in Italy and the United Kingdom and 3% in Spain. However, the report warns that national averages do not reflect behaviour among young people, mainly males, in urban areas.
It estimates that in 2005 around 13% of people in the UK aged 16 to 29 years who often visit pubs or wine bars used cocaine in the previous 12 months, whereas the percentage among less frequent visitors was 3.7%.
The effect of cocaine use—now the second most widely used illicit drug, after cannabis and ahead of ecstasy and amphetamines—is increasingly being felt in health systems. Almost a quarter (22%) of all new demands for drug treatment in Europe in 2005 were related to cocaine, and the numbers involved (33 027) were nearly three times the numbers seeking treatment in 1999 (12 633).
Cannabis use shows a different trend. Although in 2005 about 23 million adults in the EU reported having tried the drug in the previous 12 months, the indications are that its popularity has reached a plateau or is even falling. Recent data indicate that the percentage of people using it is falling in countries with traditionally high cannabis use, such as Spain, France, the UK, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
Among 16 to 24 year olds in the UK cannabis use fell from 28% in 1998 to 21% in 2005, suggesting that the drug has become less popular among this age group. However, around three million people (equivalent to 1% of European adults) are thought to take the drug on an almost daily basis.
The report notes that the number of drug related deaths is at an all time high, in marked contrast to the downward trend seen from 2001 to 2003. In 2005 the number of drug related deaths in the 27 EU countries and Norway was between 7000 and 8000. The deaths were mainly associated with opioid use. Marked rises in the number of deaths were seen in Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Finland, and Norway.
Wolfgang Götz, the Lisbon centre's director, described the findings as a “compelling indication” that overdose prevention policies were not working. “We have made real progress when it comes to HIV reduction among drug users. We now need to match this with equally effective actions to reduce drug related deaths,” he said.
The annual report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction is at www.emcdda.europa.eu/events/2007/annualreport.cfm.