40 MILLION TRIED CANNABIS IN EU, SURVEY REVEALS

Cannabis is the most commonly consumed illegal drug in the 16 member states
of the European Union. According to the latest report of the European
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, more than 40 million people
in the EU have tried the drug.

As many as five million may have tried heroin.

Heroin continues to present major health and social problems, centre
spokesman Richard Hartnell said at the launch of the annual report in Berlin.

Researchers found up to 1.5 million people in the EU, which has a
population of 375 million, were "problem drug-users".

Most of them use heroin, which causes most of the 6,000 to 7,000 deaths
each year in Europe from drug overdoses.

People in Germany, Austria, Sweden and Finland are the least likely to take
hard drugs such as cocaine or heroin, with three in every 1,000 people
using them.

In Italy, Luxembourg and Britain it rises to eight in every 1,000.

Amphetamine use had risen dramatically, with up to 14 per cent of young
people in the EU member states saying they had tried these synthetic drugs,
including speed.

But on the positive side, as in the United States, problem drug-use has
stabilised in most EU countries with a drop in the number of drug-related
deaths in many countries, particularly the high-use countries of Britain
and the Netherlands.

The report said there was no room for complacency as abuse was spreading
from the cities to smaller towns.

Drug use varies widely across the EU.

In Britain and Ireland 40 per cent of 15 and 16-year-olds admitted to
trying drugs compared to five per cent of that age group in Portugal and
Finland.

Researchers believe the difference is in youth culture, with drug use seen
as "cool" in Britain.

In the US they believe a drop in drug use there may be associated with
changes in youth culture which no longer sees drug use - especially by pop
stars and movie stars - as hip.