The European Union’s drug agency has warned that new substances may pose unknown dangers to public health. It also says austerity budget cuts and high youth unemployment are a growing challenge in the fight against drug abuse. The addiction monitoring centre informs governments about the relevant context, evolution and influences.
The observatory in Lisbon has just presented its annual report, mostly about problems but with some hopeful signs as well, our correspondent added: “… such as fewer heroin users and less being taken by injection. In some countries cocaine and cannabis use has also fallen.”
Consumption has either stabilised or dropped for more ‘traditional’ substances, and around half of Europe’s 1.4 million opiate users are getting treatment. That’s encouraging, but the centre said newly-developed and less-plant-based drugs had appeared, as Internet-selling continues to transform the market – including what people take and how they get it.
As part of the social cost, drug-users impose a heavy burden on health structures when they fall ill; as many as 80 percent of them, for example, are infected with hepatitis C, which attacks the liver.
The death rate among users is ten to twenty times higher than among people who don’t take illegal drugs.
Read more: Drug abuse in Europe under mysterious assault | euronews, world news
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