Continuing emergency” “

Heroin in decline, consumption of cocaine on the increase, while cannabis is “making a breakthrough” among teenagers. Less people are dying of drug overdoses, but the dangers of HIV infection are growing. And the youth sector of the population continues to be the one most at risk. These are some of the conclusions reached by the “Annual Report for 2004 on the phenomenon of drug addiction” in the 25-member Union plus Norway, presented by the European Drug Agency based in Lisbon (OEDT) in Brussels on Thursday 25 November. THE LEVEL OF VIGILANCE MUST NOT BE LOWERED. “We register some positive signals, in the sense that some of the worst consequences of drug consumption are being reduced – explained GEORGES ESTIEVENART, director of OEDT -. After many years of continuous growth, the trend of deaths due to drug use has begun to register a downturn. The consumption of heroin has been stabilized in many countries, and in some of the new States of the EU the epidemic of HIV among consumers is slowing down. At the same time measures are being stepped up to reduce the harmful effects caused by these substances. According to Estievenart, however, there is a chance that “some of these positive tendencies may be short term”. A PHENOMENON IN A PHASE OF TRANSFORMATION. The Report points out that “ever larger numbers of European citizens are asking to undergo treatment for problems correlated to cocaine consumption. In the Netherlands and in Spain it is now the second drug, after heroin, to be most frequently reported in specialized therapeutic centres, where it represents respectively over a third (35%) and a quarter (26%) of all requests for treatment”. In most countries, the therapeutic intervention is requested for the consumption of cocaine in powder rather than for crack cocaine that is smoked: in the latter case there is growing concern about the consumption of crack “in some cities of Germany, Spain, France and the UK”. On the other hand no pharmacological treatment “as a substitute for the consumption of cocaine (in contrast to the problematic consumption of opiates) has yet been identified, but the therapeutic approaches aimed at modifying addictive behaviour seem to be giving positive results”. THE VERY YOUNG AT RISK AND THE PROBLEM OF DISCOTHEQUES. “From various surveys conducted in some countries of the Union – says the Report, which runs to 120 pages full of statistics, analyses, tendencies, and social and medical responses adopted in the individual States – it emerges that a percentage comprised between 1% and 10% of European youth (aged 15–34) reports having used cocaine at some point in their life, and roughly half of them have recently made use of it”. Surveys show that “the recent consumption of cocaine over the last 12 months has somewhat increased among youth in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the UK, as well as locally in Greece, Ireland, Italy and Austria”. Recent consumption involves altogether less than 1% of all adults between the ages of 15 and 64, “whereas in Spain and the UK the values are higher than 2% and come close to the figures for the USA”. In urban areas and in specific subgroups (clients of discos) “the levels of consumption may be far higher”. NATIONAL PREVENTION MEASURES. According to the OEDT experts, “the deaths attributed to cocaine alone remain rare in Europe, but they risk increasing”. In 1994 “only two deaths were attributed to cocaine” in the Netherlands, while “in 2001 this figure had risen to 26”; in the UK the reference to cocaine on death certificates significantly increased between 1993 and 2001. New concerns regard the fact that the substances used to “cut” the cocaine “may involve further risks for health”, including liver cancer. Cannabis is confirmed as the illegal drug most consumed in the EU, “with approximately one adult out of five (20%) that has tried it at least once in his/her life. The prevalence of cannabis is generally highest among the young. According to the Agency, “roughly 5%–20% of European youth have made use of this drug over the last 12 months”. The data published by the OEDT show that ecstasy is rapidly spreading and “reaching the amphetamines” in proportions. The 2004 Report then discusses the problems linked to Aids, the availability of drugs in prisons, and the proliferation of offences connected with trafficking. Assessments are also given of premises dedicated to drug consumption (where consumers take drugs under controlled hygienic conditions), present in 39 cities in three EU countries: Spain, Germany and Holland, as well as in Switzerland.