Cannabis use lower than in rest of Europe

Malta has the lowest prevalence of lifetime use of cannabis in Europe, according to the latest European report on the state of the drug problem.

The report, by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, showed that while 62 million Europeans have tried cannabis, Malta has the lowest rate - 3.5 per cent, or some 10,000 Maltese, having tried cannabis at least once.

Launched at the European Parliament yesterday, the report reveals that Europe has an average of three million young adults (aged 15 to 34), mostly males, who smoke cannabis every day.

Malta's rate of cannabis use has increased slightly among young adults (aged 18 to 24), rising to 4.9 per cent.

"Cannabis use continues to increase, yet nobody has a clear idea of the impact this has on public health," EMCDDA director Wolfgang Götz told journalists at a press conference to launch the report.

"Analysis of the public health impact of drug use today needs to take into account the complex picture of the inter-related consumption of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and tobacco," he said.

The report is based on data from the 25 EU member states, Norway and the three EU candidate countries, namely Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

The report clearly highlights the agency's growing concern that cocaine is becoming the drug of choice for many young Europeans.

It estimates that about nine million Europeans (three per cent of all adults aged 15 to 64) have ever used cocaine, with 1.5 million classified as current users.

The use is mostly concentrated among young adults, particularly young males, and those living in urban areas. Spain and the UK report the highest levels of cocaine use, with over four per cent of young adults having used the drug in the last year.

These estimates now approach US figures, said the agency, fuelling worries that cocaine was establishing itself as the stimulant drug of choice for many young people in parts of Europe.

More Europeans are now seeking treatment for cocaine-related problems, according to the report.

About 10 per cent of requests for treatment for drug problems in Europe are now linked to cocaine use, although there is considerable variation between the countries.

According to Malta's first national drug report released last year, the treatment demand for cocaine problems is four per cent, quite low when compared to 26 per cent in Spain and 38 per cent in The Netherlands.

The EMCDDA is concerned that cocaine-related death is "a serious and possibly under-reported problem", estimating that this substance plays a determining role in about 10 per cent of all drug-related deaths.

The report continues to show that there is no sign of a downturn in the use of other stimulants, with ecstasy having, on many measures, overtaken amphetamines as Europe's second most used drug after cannabis.

An estimated 2.6 million adults in the EU have admitted to using ecstasy recently. The highest rates of recent ecstasy use among young adults are reported by the UK (6.9 per cent), the Czech Republic (5.9 per cent) and Spain (3.8 per cent).

Meanwhile, the lowest levels of lifetime use of ecstasy (two per cent and under) were found in Malta, Denmark, Greece, Cyprus, Lithuania Finland, Sweden, Norway, Romania and Turkey.

Tackling the subject of heroin in Europe, the report points out that in many countries, opiates (largely heroin) remains the principal drug for which clients seek treatment.

According to this report, Malta, together with Greece, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovenia and the UK, had over 70 per cent of its client population in treatment for heroin.

To be more precise, Malta's national drug report established that in 2003 there were 1,450 persons receiving treatment for heroin. A high number of these, 925 persons, are considered to be problem users because of their daily reliance on heroin, while 625 are in substitution treatment and taking methadone.

On the issue of drug law offences, the report showed an upward trend in 20 countries over the period 1998-2003. However, there was a decline in the reports of such offences in Malta, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Slovenia.

Cannabis remains the drug most often cited in drug law offences in most EU member states and the proportion of such offences involving this substance has increased since 1998 in Malta, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Portugal.

Discussing the report, European Commission representative Carel Edwards said that the findings clearly showed member states could not deal with the drug problem alone.

"It is important to strike a balance between treatment and prevention on one hand and law and enforcement on the other. It's not a war-on-drugs approach because in practice this doesn't work. The Commission and member states believe in evidence-based policies rather than ideology," he said.