The information is based on the analysis of European wastewater from the year 2023. Four cities from Finland participated in the study.
Riikka Kajander,
Veikko Eromäki
The EU drug and drug use research agency EMCDDA has announced the results of their wastewater study.
The agency investigated the use of drugs in 88 cities in 23 different countries in Europe. From Finland, Tampere, Turku, Espoo and Helsinki participated.
Based on the results, the use of cocaine, ketamine and MDMA, or ecstasy, is becoming more common across Europe.
Cocaine use is most common in Western and Southern European countries, especially in Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.
The most cocaine is used in the Belgian port city of Antwerp, which is a well-known drug smuggling and transit city. The large Dutch port city of Rotterdam was also at the top of cocaine use.
In the cities of Eastern Europe, cocaine use is lower, but increasing.
Amphetamine is the most common drug in Finland
The study highlights the Nordic countries and Finland especially in terms of the use of amphetamine, which is used more in the north than in the rest of Europe. According to the report, this has happened before.
Amphetamine is used most in Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Holland and Finland.
The most common drug in Europe is cannabis. According to the EMCDDA, there were almost 23 million users last year. From this it can be concluded that about eight percent of adult Europeans used cannabis. However, the amounts vary from country to country. Cannabis is used the most in the Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia.
Ketamine, a party drug known from Europe, has become more common in Finland over the past five years, but according to research, its use is most common in Belgium, France, Holland and Spain.