Key Points from EMCDDA’s 2016 European Drug Report

As we welcome in the New Year it seems an ideal time to take stock and present the key points from the 2016 European Drug Report (EDR), the European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Addiction’s (EMCDDA) annual review of the European drug situation.

It includes analyses of trends, situational information, and data from individual countries.

Generally, the report conveys a robust European drug market with slight increases in the prevalence of stimulants and marijuana use. Purity/potency of most illegal substances, it also suggests, is either high or increasing.

Below you will find listed the reports key findings:

• MDMA has returned as the drug of choice for young people.
• New production techniques and online supply, amongst other things, appear to be driving the revival of a now diverse drug market.
• Identifying and responding to localised trends of stimulant use and its related harms ought to be given greater priority.
• Marijuana use remains a key challenge for European drug policy.
• Synthetic cannabinoids are the drug mostly seized of new psychoactive substances.
• There has been a rise in deaths by heroin overdose.
• The use of synthetic opioids is a cause for great concern.
• The coming years are likely to herald new pharmacological options for reducing problems related to drug use.
• The online drug market, both the ‘darknet’ and surface websites, presents a major challenge for drug policymakers.

Click here to download the full EMCDDA 2016 European Drug Report.