What you need to know:
- Synthetic stimulating growth like Cathinone continues in Europe
- Researchers have a lack of knowledge about long -term health risks of synthetic drug use
- Cocaine remains illegal in Europe drug of choiceAnd it is going from big cities to small cities
- The use of fentanyl and nitazene is increasing, opium drives from the ban on poppy cultivation in Afghanistan
The European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) monitored 1,000 new psychoactive substances in late 2024 and found that local drug users were rapidly consumed by new forms of synthetic drugs.
This has been a major trend in Europe in the last 5 to 10 years.
But what is new is that the increasing amounts of thesis synthetic drugs are now producing in Europe – earlier, they were smuggling to a large extent from India, China or Middle East.
“This is a result of the demand for taking synthetic [drugs]”Andrew Cunningham, Head of Policy, Lisbon in Crime and Markets, Market in Yuda in Portugal.
Cocaine, however, is still Europe’s most popular illegal stimulating drug. Imported from Latin American countries such as Ecuador and Colombia, around 4.6 million Europeans used cocaine in 2024.
The report shows more European taking several drugs at the same time. Like previous years, the use of so -called polysbustance is the major cause of drug death in Europe.
Was published in search European Drug Report 20255 June.
Why does synthetic medicine use a problem?
The use of synthetic medicine is a major public health concern. Many synthetic substances have a lot of power, and because they are relatively new and ever developed, scientists have not been made to track long -term effects.
The report shows that Europeans are rapidly using Cathinone, Ether, or instead, using amphetamine and MDMA.
Cathinones, discovery as 3-MMC, are synthetic stimulants, who have gained entertaining popularity in Europe over the last 20 years in Europe in the last 20 years.
Ramers said that the long -term health effects of Cathinone were not well known. Researchers needed to better understand the pattern of consumption between users: what is “normal”? how does this work? What is fatal?
“We need a controlled study with a 3-MMC in the thesis ‘general’ dose that focuses on health risk, but on potential health benefits,” said Ramakers.
Most Cathinone were imported from India and China, mainly through the Netherlands. But production has been continuously gone to Central Asia and Europe, “influenced by Ukraine,” Cunningham said.
Cocaine spreading from cities to small cities
A significant amount of global cocaine product ends in Europe.
For the seventh year in a row, the record volumes of cocaine were seized by the European Union countries, up to 419 tonnes in 2023, above 323 tonnes in 2022.
“This is a very important amount that considering global cocaine production is estimated at 2,600 tonnes per year,” said.
But it is not cocaine: wastewater analysis in 128 European cities led to a overall increase in cocaine, but in 2024 MDMA and Emfatemin were used.
Analysis shows that urban patterns of drug use in large cities can spread to small cities.
Cunningham, whose team tracks the effects of geopolitical conditions on Europe’s drug market, said that most of Europe’s cocaine (70%) comes from Colombia.
“global [cocaine] Production is done every year since 2016 after the Colombian government is made [peace] The deal with FARC, “he said. FARC, known as Columbia’s revolutionary armed forces, was a Marxist terrorist group, suspected to be involved in illegal pharmaceutical trade.
A major seizures in the ports of Europe show that drug smugglers have continued to smuggle the drug from the sea. In 2024, Spain reported its greatest seizure of hidden cocaine (13 tons) in a banana generated in Ecuador.
Deadly synthetic opioids on growth
The EUDA report estimates that there were 7,500 drug-induced deaths in Europe in 2023, most of which were due to opioid drugs.
In 2024, fake drugs containing synthetic opiates called nitazes in at least 12 European countries.
Some Niyamin compounds are a stronger than the fennel, which itself is 50 times stronger than heroin and has a high risk of overdosis.
Synthetic opioids have been a major issue in the US over the years, but the report shows that they are a growing problem on the European drug market.
“We are afraid of an increase in synthetic opioids, on the illegal drug market, especially as a result of the ban on poppy poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, discovered as Phantenile and Nitaz,” Daniel Dimel said drug addicts at Nurnumbburg Technical University, Germany.
In recent months, Europe has an incadose cluster, which, Dimel said, may be the result of people combining synthetic opioids with heroin.
“Tests in drug consumable rooms in Germany have shown evidence of fantanel or nitazine in heroin. If the thesis substance becomes more normal, the number of overdose and deadly overdose is likely to sun,” Dell said.
Drug seizures in Europe have found a knit in fake prescription drugs, which mimics oxycode or benzodiazepine on illegal medicine.
Thesis fake pills have a lot of power and they take a significant risk of drug poisoning and overdosis, especially people do not know that they do not know the drugs that they are noting.
The EUDA report shows that the authorities seized 10 kg Nitazes powder in 2023 – enough ability to create millions of bullets containing sufficient notes to cause an overdose.
Many experts are calling for more drug checking services to find out which substance is moving on the view of the drug. This allows public warnings to be issued when dangerous compounds are found in the substance.
Edited by: Zulfiker Ebony
Source:
The European Drug Report 2025: Trends and Developments, Yuda, June 5, 2025 https://www.euda.europa.eu/publications/european- Drug-Rart/2025_en
