Subj: Britain is drugs capital of Europe 



Source: The Independent (UK)



Pubdate: 18 Dec 1998





Britain is drugs capital of Europe 

By Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent 



MORE PEOPLE in the United Kingdom take

drugs than any other country in Europe, an

international survey has found. 



Drug users in the UK are the biggest consumers

of cannabis, ecstasy and amphetamines. In

addition, British youngsters were the highest

abusers of solvents, with 20 per cent of 15- and

16-year-olds having sniffed dangerous

substances. 



The study of all 15 members of the European

Union, makes depressing reading for law

enforcers and drugs agencies in the UK. 



It also highlights a number of European trends that

include a rise in amphetamine and cocaine abuse,

as ecstasy falls in popularity, as well as the spread

of heroin from large urban areas to rural ones and

smaller towns. 



On the positive side, the incidence of new Aids

cases is falling sharply, although the number of

people contracting the liver disease hepatitis C

from sharing equipment used to inject drugs is

rising. 



The 1998 Annual Report on the State of the

Drugs Problem in the European Union, which was

carried out by the European Commission, shows

that the war against drugs is being lost. It says the

availability of heroin, although only used by about

1 per cent of the population, is increasing in some

EU countries, including the UK, and warns that

"several countries report heroin smoking by new

groups of young people, both from socially

integrated populations and from minority groups."

The study estimated that between 0.2 and 0.3 per

cent of the EU population is addicted to heroin -

about 900,000 people. 



Seizures of cannabis while increasing fourfold

from 1985 to 1994 have stabilised and it remains

the number one drug of choice. 



The popularity of the dance drug ecstasy may

have peaked. It has been tried by as few as 0.5

per cent of the population in Belgium to 3 per

cent in Britain. Deaths from ecstasy are relatively

rare, says the report. 



The use of amphetamines (speed) and cocaine

appears to be on the increase. Speed has been

used by 9 per cent of the UK population - the

highest level in the EU. The report says: "Despite

rising concern about ecstasy in recent years, it is

amphetamines that may increasingly dominate the

market in synthetic drugs in the future." 



British teenagers aged 15 and 16 are top of the

league for cannabis use - with 40 per cent having

tried the drug - compared with Finland and

Portugal where about 4 per cent have indulged.

Britons are also among the highest users of

amphetamines, hallucinogens and ecstasy. 



Crack, a highly addictive cocaine derivative, is

found in only a small number of countries -

Britain, the Netherlands and France. 



On the law enforcement side, seizures of cocaine,

heroin and amphetamines have continued to

increase in the past year while the amount of

cannabis has tailed off slightly. The UK accounted

for more than a fifth of cannabis seizures. 



Trafficking routes remain unchanged. The Balkan

route from Asia is used primarily to supply

Europe with heroin, whilst the route across the

North Atlantic from South and Central America

remains the most popular for transporting

cocaine. 



There has been an increase in the production and

trade in synthetic drugs, such as ecstasy,

especially in eastern Europe. 



Morocco and Pakistan are major suppliers of

cannabis resin along with Colombia, South Africa,

Nigeria, Thailand and most recently Albania.