According to the research, at least 2.1 million people aged 15 to 34 had used ecstasy in the past year – 300,000 higher than the 2015 estimate.
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According to the European Union drug agency, ecstasy usage is reviving and is becoming the preferred drug among youngsters across the United Kingdom and Europe.
“The creative and sometimes aggressive marketing of products” is highlighted as a key feature of the contemporary MDMA market by European drug experts. This spur in electronic dance music industry has resulted in a new generation of young people getting familiar to MDMA, which these youngsters would not even have heard of since its prime period existed during the 1990s house, rave and techno events.
MDMA has been a “common stimulant of choice for young people”, according to the report, which is based on survey data collected by the EMCDDA.
Well, it’s that time of year again: time for the annual European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction report on the drug habits of the continent.
The 2016 European Drug Report found clear indications that ecstasy – commonly known as MDMA – is making a comeback with established users and a new generation of young users, and powders, crystals and tablets containing high doses of the drug are more widely available than ever before. Additionally, it has been noted the MDMA/Ecstasy use is making its way out of its traditional haunts of nightclubs and, instead, used in “in a wide range of nightlife settings”, per the report.
The use of MDMA – the drug of choice for many ravers and one frequently blamed for the spate of deaths now plaguing the dance music scene – is on the rise in Europe, reflecting a resurgence in popularity for a drug whose prevalence had previously been on the decline from peak levels in the early-to-mid-2000s.
Analysis by the EU’s drug monitoring agency showed the average daily concentration of cocaine in London’s wastewater was 909mg per 1,000 people past year – up from 737mg in 2014.
Over the last 12 months, Netherlands had the highest amount of ecstasy users (5.5 per cent of young adults), closely followed by the United Kingdom (3.5 per cent). That remains the EU’s biggest-selling drug in money terms with an estimated annual retail value of 9.3 billion euros ($10.3 billion) in 2013, the past year for which full figures are available.
Cannabis offenses, mostly involving use or possession for personal use, account for close to three-fourths of all drug-related offenses in the EU.
The report examined illicit drug use across the European Union, and touched on the costs – both economical and social – of drugs including opioids, amphetamines, and hallucinogens.
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The agency said online drug sales appear to be growing, representing an “important new challenge for drug policy”.
