EUROPEANS TURN TO COCAINE AND ALCOHOL AS CANNABIS LOSES FAVOUR

Europeans are abandoning cannabis but turning to cocaine and drink,
new figures from French customs reveal. According to a report by the
Central Narcotics Office, after more than a decade of rapid growth,
seizures of cannabis resin in Europe dropped by a fifth last year, to
831 tonnes. At the same time, seizures of cocaine grew by 15 per cent.

The apparent trend is reinforced by British figures which show that
the popularity of cannabis in the UK has plummeted, with 600,000
fewer people smoking or eating marijuana than three years ago. The
Home Office statistics, released last week, also show that
consumption of cocaine in Britain has risen.

The figures will help the British government and other European
nations with more liberal drug laws such as Holland and Switzerland
rebut claims that their approach to cannabis leads to increased use
of the drug. The growing cocaine use will, however, worry European
anti-narcotics police and many politicians.

'Seizures in Europe have increased over the last several years,
confirming the maturing of the cocaine market in western Europe,'
said Interpol, the transnational police agency. 'Recent reports,
particularly from northern [European] countries, suggest young adults
are increasingly using cocaine rather than amphetamine-type
stimulants. This change is likely to be the result of the increased
availability and lower price of cocaine, as well as government
campaigns against amphetamines.'

Despite apparent success by police - Bernard Petit, head of France's
anti-Narcotics squad claimed last week that 90 of the 250 tonnes of
cocaine imported onto the continent were seized - the price of the
drug is lower than it has ever been.

'Drugs gangs know where the profits are and can afford to lose most
of their shipments,' said one former senior British customs officer.
'They are focusing more and more on cocaine. No one serious traffics
or deals cannabis any more.'

Possible explanations for the decrease in cannabis use include the
growing awareness that cannabis can cause mental health problems, and
the fact that in the UK and France marijuana abuse is being replaced
by binge-drinking.

In France, cannabis use has levelled out while heavy drinking
sessions have become more common, with almost half of all teenagers
in a study this summer saying that they had had more than five drinks
in one evening in the last month.

'This consumption pattern corresponds to the phenomenon of
"binge-drinking" seen in Britain and America,' said Jean-Michel
Costes, of the National Observatory of Drugs and Addicts.

Frederic Rouillon, a French drug expert, told Le Monde last week that
ideas that Americans used stimulants whereas Europeans used sedatives
were outdated. 'The fashion for cocaine has eroded that distinction,' he said.