Cannabis remains the most consumed drug in Europe, with 22.8 million people using it last year, as the picture changes with the emergence of more potent synthetic substances and new mixtures and models.
These are the findings of the “European Drug Report 2024 – Trends and Developments”, published on Tuesday in Lisbon by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and based on information from the previous year provided by member states (as well as Turkey and Norway).
According to the data, 22.8 million people (8%) aged 15 to 64 years have used cannabis, and this number rises to 85.4 million people (29.9%) in their lifetime.
Cocaine, the second most popular illicit drug, was used by four million (1.4%) people in the same age group last year, rising to 15.4 million (5.4%) in their lifetime.
For MDMA (ecstasy) tablets, figures indicate 2.9 million (1%) aged 15 to 65 years, increasing to 12.3 million (4.3%) who reported lifetime use.
Last year, 2.3 million (0.8%) adults aged 15 to 64 used amphetamines, rising to 10.3 million (3.6%) in their lifetime.
Heroin (the most commonly used illicit opioid in Europe) and other synthetic opioids were used by 860,000 high-risk users, whose age range was not specified in the report.
In 2022, 513 thousand users were receiving opioid substitution therapy, with the drug accounting for around 24% of treatment requests in the EU. The same drug is involved in 74% of overdose deaths.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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