Opioids use in Malta is relatively high with 5.8-6.7 cases per 1,000 among people aged between 15 and 64, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said in its 2007 report. However, heroin and injected drugs have become less common in Europe while the use of cannabis is stabilising after a sustained period of growth, the agency said. "Nevertheless, positive messages are marred by high levels of drug-related deaths and rising cocaine use," said the EMCDDA, which estimates there are up to 8,000 overdose deaths every year - mostly linked to the consumption of opiates like heroin.

Cannabis is the world's most commonly used illicit drug, the report said, and it is estimated that "cannabis has been used at least once (lifetime prevalance)" by almost a quarter of those aged between 15 and 64. National figures vary from 2% to 37%, with the lowest figures coming from Malta, Bulgaria, and Romania.

More Europeans are consuming cocaine than ever before as its price falls, with most users concentrated in Britain and Spain, according to the European Union drug agency. "It is estimated that cocaine has been used at least once by more than 12 million Europeans, representing almost four percent of all adults," it said.

At least 4.5 million Europeans used cocaine last year, up from 3.5 million in 2005. That has coincided with record hauls of the drug in recent years, with an estimated 107 tonnes seized in 2005, the agency said in its report. "Cocaine is now, after cannabis, the second most commonly used illicit drug in many EU member states and in the EU as a whole," said the EMCDDA in its report of the 27-nation bloc plus Norway and Turkey.

Adults aged between 15 and 34 in Spain and Britain are the biggest consumers of cocaine, whose main entry point into the EU remains the Iberian peninsula, with Portugal rising in importance. Experts say growing demand for the drug and a strong euro have increased the pressure for South American drug cartels to break through Europe's tight borders.

The EMCDDA said that although cocaine prices had fallen in recent years, a gram of the white powder can still fetch up to €120 ($178) in some European countries.

The head of the EMCDDA, Wolfgang Goetz, said in an interview with Reuters in September traffickers were increasingly relying on poor West African countries like Guinea Bissau to store their cocaine before sending it to Europe's lucrative market.