Over 2 million drug users in EU, over one million probably drug injectors

There are up to 2.1 million problem drug users in the EU today, of whom over a million are likely to be drug injectors. Around 9 million Europeans (3% of all adults) have used cocaine at some stage in their lives. Some 2.6 million adults in the EU(0,8 %) have used ecstasy recently. Over 62 million Europeans (or over 20% of all adults) have ever tried cannabis and around 20 million (over 6% of all adults) have used it in the last 12 Months. These striking figures come from 2005 report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe published by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction (EMCDDA) annualreport.emcdda.eu.int which was presented to the press today.


Vice-President Franco Frattini, Commissioner responsible for freedom, security and justice said today: "Although the drugs situation varies from one country to another there can be no doubt that the problem is one that cannot be solved by individual Member States working alone. This is why the Commission has a role to play in proposing and supporting a coherent approach across the EU." The Vice-President added that "even if drugs are a sensitive issue, ideological debates should be avoided, and our actions to be based on objective and reliable data. This is why the EMCDDA and its annual reports in my view play such a crucial role in obtaining the evidence base for European Drug policies."


Since the 1990's the EU has been developing a European model to deal with the drugs problem. The cornerstone of this approach is the balance between prevention, education and treatment on the one hand, and the enforcement of laws against drugs manufacturing and trafficking on the other. This European model is developed through the EU's Drugs Strategies and Action Plans which are agreed by the 25 Member States. (Cfr IP/05/791)


The EMCDDA is a Community agency created in 1993 to provide the Community and its Members States with objective, reliable and comparable information at European level concerning drugs and drug addiction and their consequences.


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