Subj: Ireland's cannabis-related arrests fourth in EU 



Source: The Irish Times

Pubdate: 19 Dec 1998





Ireland's cannabis-related arrests fourth in EU 

By Catherine Cleary, Drugs and Crime Correspondent, in Vienna 



Ireland has the fourth highest rate of cannabis-related arrests in

the EU, according to the latest report by the European

Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.



In eight of the 15 member-states cannabis was the main drug

involved in drug arrests last year. Sixty-three per cent of

drugrelated arrests in Ireland related to cannabis in 1996, the

report said. Three-quarters of those cannabis arrests were

made for use, rather than trafficking. This compared to 79 per

cent of cannabis-related arrests in France, 65 per cent in

Belgium and 77 per cent in Britain.



Britain had the highest rate of arresting cannabis users, with 88

per cent of arrests relating to possession for use. Heroin and

other opiates were the main drug of arrest in Italy, Luxembourg

and Portugal.



At the publication of the European centre's third annual report

in Vienna yesterday the director, Mr Georges Estievenart, said

there were an estimated million heroin users in Europe,

accounting for between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent of the EU's

population.



He said police had become more involved in drug prevention

policies across Europe, and heroin-replacement therapy was

becoming more prevalent. In 1993 60,000 people in Europe

were on a heroin substitute, now that figure is 270,000. Mr

Estievenart said those on drugs were using more than one drug

and mixing them. Amphetamines were becoming more

common throughout Europe and appeared likely to overtake

ecstasy, he said. The increase in Hepatitis C among intravenous

drug users was "an alarming trend", he said, with an estimated

500,000 injecting drug users with the virus across Europe. The

transmission of AIDS was declining or stabilising in most

countries but new users were still at risk, he said. The report

showed that the "drug budget", including policing and

prevention costs of the member-states last year, was more than

53 million ECU. Britain, France and the Netherlands spent

between 70 and 80 per cent of their drug budgets on law

enforcement, with the remainder spent on prevention.