BRITAIN IS DRUGS CAPITAL OF EUROPE

MORE PEOPLE in the United Kingdom take drugs than any other country in
Europe, an international survey has found.

Drug users in the UK are the biggest consumers of cannabis, ecstasy and
amphetamines. In addition, British youngsters were the highest abusers of
solvents, with 20 per cent of 15- and 16-year-olds having sniffed dangerous
substances.

The study of all 15 members of the European Union, makes depressing reading
for law enforcers and drugs agencies in the UK.

It also highlights a number of European trends that include a rise in
amphetamine and cocaine abuse, as ecstasy falls in popularity, as well as
the spread of heroin from large urban areas to rural ones and smaller towns.

On the positive side, the incidence of new Aids cases is falling sharply,
although the number of people contracting the liver disease hepatitis C
from sharing equipment used to inject drugs is rising.

The 1998 Annual Report on the State of the Drugs Problem in the European
Union, which was carried out by the European Commission, shows that the war
against drugs is being lost. It says the availability of heroin, although
only used by about 1 per cent of the population, is increasing in some EU
countries, including the UK, and warns that "several countries report
heroin smoking by new groups of young people, both from socially integrated
populations and from minority groups." The study estimated that between 0.2
and 0.3 per cent of the EU population is addicted to heroin - about 900,000
people.

Seizures of cannabis while increasing fourfold from 1985 to 1994 have
stabilised and it remains the number one drug of choice.

The popularity of the dance drug ecstasy may have peaked. It has been tried
by as few as 0.5 per cent of the population in Belgium to 3 per cent in
Britain. Deaths from ecstasy are relatively rare, says the report.

The use of amphetamines (speed) and cocaine appears to be on the increase.
Speed has been used by 9 per cent of the UK population - the highest level
in the EU. The report says: "Despite rising concern about ecstasy in recent
years, it is amphetamines that may increasingly dominate the market in
synthetic drugs in the future."

British teenagers aged 15 and 16 are top of the league for cannabis use -
with 40 per cent having tried the drug - compared with Finland and Portugal
where about 4 per cent have indulged. Britons are also among the highest
users of amphetamines, hallucinogens and ecstasy.

Crack, a highly addictive cocaine derivative, is found in only a small
number of countries - Britain, the Netherlands and France.

On the law enforcement side, seizures of cocaine, heroin and amphetamines
have continued to increase in the past year while the amount of cannabis
has tailed off slightly. The UK accounted for more than a fifth of cannabis
seizures.

Trafficking routes remain unchanged. The Balkan route from Asia is used
primarily to supply Europe with heroin, whilst the route across the North
Atlantic from South and Central America remains the most popular for
transporting cocaine.

There has been an increase in the production and trade in synthetic drugs,
such as ecstasy, especially in eastern Europe.

Morocco and Pakistan are major suppliers of cannabis resin along with
Colombia, South Africa, Nigeria, Thailand and most recently Albania.

Checked-by: Richard Lake