Friday 16 June 2023 12.00 pm:  The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) today publishes the European drug report 2023: trends and developments. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview and summary of the European drug situation up to the end of 2022.

The Health Research Board (HRB) provides the Irish data and research for the EMCDDA report. This media brief provides an overview of the drug situation in Europe and a comparison with the Irish drug situation where possible.

The European drug report highlights:

• Availability of the commonly used illicit drugs remains high.
• There is a broader range of drugs available, and these are often at high potency or purity, presenting increased threats to public health.
• Drug treatment and other services are returning to normal after the COVID-19 restrictions.
• Cannabis products are becoming increasingly diverse and the production of synthetic drugs within Europe is on the rise.

EMCDDA Director Alexis Goosdeel says: “Almost everything with psychoactive properties can appear on the drug market, often mislabelled or in mixtures. This is why illicit drugs can affect everyone, whether directly through use, or indirectly, through their impact on families, communities, institutions and businesses. They also increasingly expose our citizens to drug-related violence and its consequences.”

New cannabis policy developments in a complex market

Cannabis policy in European countries covers not only illicit cannabis control, but also the regulation of cannabis and cannabinoids for therapeutic and other uses. Five European Union (EU) Member States (Czechia, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands) are regulating the supply of cannabis. These changes will require investment in monitoring and evaluation to fully understand their impact on public health and safety.

Latest data

• Around 83.4 million or 29% of adults (aged 15-64) in the EU are estimated to have used illegal drugs at least once in their lifetime.
• Cannabis remains by far the most commonly consumed illicit drug in Europe. National surveys of cannabis use would suggest that overall, around 8% of European adults are estimated to have used cannabis in the last year.
• Cannabis remains the most widely consumed substance, with over 22 million European adults reporting its use in the last year. Last year drug use is largely concentrated among young adults and is estimated at 15.5% among EU inhabitants aged 15–34 years.
• It is estimated that in the last year 3.5 million adults consumed cocaine, 2.6 million MDMA and 2 million amphetamines. Surveys indicate that nearly 2.2 million 15–34-year-olds (2.2% of this age group) used cocaine in the last year.
• Around one million Europeans used heroin or another illicit opioid in 2020.
• Opioids, often in combination with other substances, were found in around three quarters of fatal overdoses reported in the EU for 2020.

[Full media brief in Word document]