BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The production of synthetic drugs is increasing in Europe, notes the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), which is alarmed by a “proliferation of new psychoactive substances (NPS) sold and consumed in the ‘EU’.
In its annual report published on Tuesday, the EMCDDA says it has gathered new “signs of an increase in the production, trafficking and availability of drugs in Europe” supporting its previous analyzes on the transformation of the continent into a global platform. of production and distribution, and no longer just in the consumer market.
Narcotics or the chemicals used in their manufacture remain mainly imported on the continent, in particular from Asia and South America, but European criminal organizations are strengthening their links with international cartels in order to reduce production and distribution costs. , explains the EMCDDA.
“It is of particular concern that partnerships between European and international criminal networks have resulted in record availability of cocaine and the manufacture of methamphetamine on an industrial scale in Europe,” said Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs .
More than 350 illegal drug production labs were dismantled in 2020 – the latest year for which figures are available – including some large-scale cocaine, methamphetamine and cathinone production sites, according to the EU agency.
Cathinone is one of the active ingredients in the leaves of khat, a shrub grown in East Africa and on the Arabian Peninsula, which has stimulating effects close to amphetamines. It can be produced by chemical synthesis.
According to the EMCDDA, synthetic cathinones are the subject of record traffic in Europe, in the context of a sharp increase in new psychoactive substances (NPS).
These NSPs “continue to appear in Europe at the rate of one per week, posing a public health challenge,” the report notes.
“At the end of 2021, the EMCDDA was monitoring 162 synthetic cathinones, making it the second largest category of NSPs under observation after synthetic cannabinoids (224 monitored).”
Most of the dismantled laboratories were in Belgium and the Netherlands. Other production sites have been detected in the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany and other EU member countries.
(Report Francesco Guarascio, French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse)