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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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MALTA: European study on drugs, Prices in Malta among highest
Ariadne Massa in Brussels Malta Times
Friday 24 Nov 2006 Malta remains among the most expensive countries when it comes to the purchase of illicit drugs even if prices on Europe's streets become cheaper than ever before, according to a new report. The report, by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, shows that the average retail price for cannabis grass, LSD and amphetamines in Malta remains the highest in Europe when compared to its counterparts. Launched at the European Parliament yesterday, the annual report on The State Of The Drugs Problem In Europe is based on data from the 25 EU member states and Norway and, where available, from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. For the first time, the EMCDDA managed to extrapolate a trend analysis on the drug prices in Europe, which shows a remarkable drop between 1999 and 2004 - as much as 47 per cent for ecstasy, 45 per cent for heroin, 22 per cent for cocaine, 19 per cent for cannabis resin and 12 per cent for cannabis grass. The report reveals wide discrepancies in price between one country and another and while in 2004 the average retail price of cannabis grass stood at €2.30 per gram in Portugal, in Malta it was selling for €11.60 per gram. Cannabis use remains low in Malta compared to an estimated 22.5 million European adults who have used cannabis over the last year, about seven per cent of them aged 15-64. Figures range between one per cent and 11 per cent, with the lowest rates reported in Malta, Greece, and Bulgaria, and the highest in Spain, France and the UK. The average retail price for amphetamine is also the highest on Malta's streets: in 2004 it ranged from €4 per gram in Slovenia to €64 per gram in Malta. LSD does not come cheap either and the average cost to users of an LSD unit ranged from €2.50 in Portugal to €11.60 in Malta. Cocaine, while not the most costly in Europe, is still relatively high in Malta at nearly €90 per gram (in Cyprus it sells at an average retail price of €100 per gram). Ecstasy seems to be one of the few drugs that comes cheaper in Malta than in most member states, selling at an average €10.70 per tablet, when compared to €25 per tablet in Italy. The average price of brown heroin in Malta is €60 per gram, compared to €12 in Turkey and €141 in Sweden. EMCDDA director Wolfgang Götz told a press conference that the monitoring centre was studying the implications of the falling prices and how much they reflected changes in the supply or demand. "I think, though, that this analysis raises some potentially important questions and reinforces, in my mind, the relevance of the work we are doing at the moment to better understand the dynamics of the drug markets," he said. EMCDDA chairman Marcel Reiman added that price was just one of the many factors influencing people's decisions to take drugs, but at present "we see no simple relationship between general consumption levels and the price of drugs on the street". "If this means that those who have a tendency to consume drugs will use them more, then the ultimate cost of drug-taking in terms of healthcare and damage to our communities is likely to be considerable," he added. Is it interesting to note that while prices for illicit drugs have plummeted, the total quantities of heroin seized in Europe have been increasingly steadily since 1999. In 2004, a record 19 tonnes of heroin was confiscated, up by 10 per cent over the previous year. In Malta too, drug squad police made record hits last year, seizing more heroin (15.5kg), cocaine (6.4kg) and ecstasy (17,300 pills) than in the previous 10 years. They also registered the third largest haul of cannabis (21.5kg) in the past decade. Despite the encouraging amounts seized across Europe, the production of heroin is up. Afghanistan remains the world leader in the supply of illicit opium, accounting for an estimated 89 per cent of production last year (4,100 tonnes). Mr Götz said heroin use and drug injecting remain major public health issues in Europe for the foreseeable future. "Heroin is no longer a fashionable drug and overall we see an ageing population of problem drug users accessing treatment and care, with only seven per cent of clients seeking treatment for the first time being aged under 20," he said. Higher estimates of problem opioid use (mostly heroin) are reported by Malta, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg and Austria (five to eight cases per 1,000 inhabitants aged 15-64 years). On a positive note, it is estimated that in the EU more than half a million opioid users received substitution treatment in 2003, which represents one third of the currently estimated 1.5 million problem opioid users. In some countries there have been further increases in methadone treatment provision, but in eight countries, the numbers of people receiving such treatment stabilised or decreased. Four of these countries - Malta, Denmark, Spain and the Netherlands - have a profile of long-standing heroin use and highly accessible methadone substitution programmes. However, Mr Götz said the epidemic nature of drug problems had taught that society may witness a new generation of young people becoming vulnerable to heroin use. "We cannot ignore the dangers posed by a growing surplus of heroin on the global illicit market." -- Please sign these petitions: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/search?q=Cannabis+ WebBooks Amazing Amazon Store: http://astore.amazon.co.uk/webbooks05
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