It is "business as usual" in drug smuggling, the European Union’s European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said in its latest report on counter-narcotics efforts on the continent. The report released at a press conference in Lisbon on Tuesday also indicates that Turkey, a transit route for drug smugglers operating between Europe and Asia, increased drug seizures but has also seen increased use of drugs.

The report presents an overview of the drug situation in Europe and says the continent’s drug problems continue to evolve due to "innovation" on the part of producers and smugglers. It also points out that drug availability remains at high levels across the continent despite a perceived disruption of the lucrative illegal trade due to the coronavirus pandemic. Indeed, it points out that cocaine availability even surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

As for Turkey, the report highlights increased use and seizures of methamphetamines, including in liquid form. "It may indicate the drug is already being imported from Afghanistan," it says, adding that there was still little evidence of significant trafficking from the Asian country into the European Union. "Reports indicate that methamphetamine manufacturing is continuing in the main production centre in Farah province. Enforcing a ban on the harvesting of ephedra, used for methamphetamine production, is likely to be challenging, as the plant grows wild across large areas of Afghanistan. In recent years, record amounts of methamphetamine thought to originate in Afghanistan have been seized along the main heroin trafficking routes towards Europe. In 2020, for example, Turkey reported seizing over 4 tonnes of methamphetamine, up from 1 tonne seized in 2019," it says.

On cannabis resin, Turkey reported 8,300 separate seizures of the substance amounting to 37.5 tons and 46,900 seizures of herbal cannabis amounting to 56.3 tons in 2020.

As for amphetamine, Turkey seized 0.7 tons in 2020, including 2.9 million Captagon pills. Across the continent, 21.2 tons of amphetamine were seized in 2020. Also in 2020, Turkey seized 4.1 tons of methamphetamine, a significant number compared to just 1 ton seized in 2019, according to the EMCDDA report. Methamphetamine, however, remained a major problem in terms of efforts to curb drug use, according to the report, which says the problem is concentrated in Czechia, Germany, Slovakia and Turkey, "which together account for 93% of the 9 400 methamphetamine clients reported in 2020, 4 200 of whom were first-time clients."

Turkey also led the efforts in the seizure of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in Europe. It seized a record 11.1 million MDMA tablets in 2020, compared to 8.7 million in 2019, far more than the MDMA tablets and powder seized in EU countries, which amounted to a total of 1 ton and 4.7 million tablets.

In heroin seizures, the country also led with seizures totaling 13.4 tons in 2020, compared to 5.1 tons in EU member states, although the heroin seizure of the country was lower than the 20 tons captured in 2019. "Indicators of heroin use and reductions in the quantity of heroin seized by Turkey and Bulgaria in 2020 together with large seizures reported in other transit countries are suggestive that COVID-19 transport restrictions may have disrupted the trafficking of this drug along the Balkan route into the European Union. This could also help explain the shortages of heroin in 2020 reported by some countries," the report says.

Yet, it also voiced concerns about the durability of this trend, noting that preliminary data from 2021 shows heroin seizures returning to pre-pandemic levels.

The EU drug agency warned of the proliferation of new psychoactive substances being sold and consumed on the continent in its report, noting that illegal laboratories in Europe churn out huge amounts of amphetamine, methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs for local consumption and for export outside Europe. Drugs and the chemicals needed to produce them are still largely imported into Europe from other parts of the world including South America and Asia, but European criminal organizations are tightening their ties with cartels outside the continent in a bid to cut costs for drugs production and trafficking, said the report, which is based on information from European law enforcement agencies.

More than 350 labs for synthetic drugs were detected and dismantled in 2020 in Europe, the latest year for which data is available, the EU agency said, adding that law enforcement agencies also discovered more cocaine labs and production sites for new drugs, such as cathinone. Cathinone is a chemical similar to amphetamine believed to be the main active substance in khat, a plant traditionally used in Eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula for its stimulant effects.

The EU drugs agency reported record trafficking of cathinone in Europe, as part of the growing use of new narcotics, which "continue to appear in Europe at the rate of one per week," the report said. Most dismantled labs of illicit drugs were found in Belgium and the Netherlands. Production facilities were also detected in the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany and other EU countries.

EMCDDA director Alexis Goosdeel said at the launch that the report can be "summarized in three words: everywhere, everything, everyone."

"Established drugs have never been so accessible and potent new substances continue to emerge. Today, almost anything with psychoactive properties can be a drug, as the lines blur between licit and illicit substances. And everyone can be affected, whether directly or indirectly, as drug problems exacerbate most of the other important health and social challenges we face today," Goosdeel said in remarks published on EMCDDA's website.