The European Medicines Agency has warned that drug consumption trends across the European Union are worrying and pose a growing impact on public health.
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The drugs situation in Europe can best be described as “anywhere, anything and anyone”, the drugs watchdog warned in a report, pointing to increasing availability of drugs and complex patterns of commercialisation.
The impact of illegal drug use is now felt in almost every sector of society and “never before have so many drugs been available or produced in the EU,” Alexis Goosdeal, director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), said in releasing the report.
The report said 22 million people in the EU used cannabis last year, four million took cocaine and around three million took MDMA.
In the 2024 report, 85.4 million people reported having used cannabis at some point in their lives, compared with 78.6 million in the 2022 report. The number of people who had used cocaine at least once jumped from 14.4 million in 2022 to 15.4 million, and the number for MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy) jumped from 10.6 million to 12.3 million.
The Therapeutic Goods Agency said almost any food product with psychoactive properties can be used and sold as a drug, often mislabelled or in the form of a compound, which has led to widespread ignorance among consumers about the nature of the drugs they consume and significantly increased health risks.
The EMCDDA director warned that there are many new substances, including veterinary medicines, “that no one can imagine being used by humans”.
The Agency concluded that the EU pharmaceutical market is now characterised by a wider range of substances, often available in higher potency or purity or in new forms, mixtures and combinations. This could have serious implications for public health, as consumer and scientific knowledge remains limited.
By the end of 2023, the EMCDDA will be monitoring more than 950 new psychoactive substances, 26 of which were reported in Europe for the first time that year.
The large availability of a variety of substances, which are often mixed, leads to “polydrug use”, the simultaneous or sequential use of two or more psychoactive substances.
Polydrug use is a common habit among drug users, whether consciously or unconsciously, but combining substances increases the risk of health problems and complicates treatment.
Additional risks with injections
The agency warns that people who inject drugs often face higher risks, including bloodstream infections and death from drug overdose, than people who use drugs in other ways.
Injecting drugs can also worsen existing health problems or cause abscesses, sepsis and nerve damage. Although use of these drugs is declining in Europe, it still accounts for a disproportionate share of the acute and chronic health consequences of drug use.
People who inject drugs are at risk of contracting infectious diseases such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV through sharing drug materials.
The agency recommended increasing the provision of sterile injecting equipment and ensuring an effective and comprehensive response to people who inject drugs across the EU.
“The focus here is on dealing with people who use drugs in a non-stigmatizing way,” it said.
The Medicines Agency stressed that the public health burden associated with drug use can be caused by many factors, including the characteristics of the drug itself but also concomitant factors such as individual vulnerability and the social context of drug use.
According to EU data, 87 million adults have used illicit drugs at least once in their lifetime.
