Cocaine is the most commonly used illegal hard drug in the EU, but several others also pose a threat to public health, including legalized alcohol, caffeine drinks like Red Bull (gives you wings), which is the number one silent killer in the western hemisphere.
Nearly one in three Europeans have sampled illegal drugs in their lifetime, but not every country is alike when it comes to their drug habits or their health impact.
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Regular drug use is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, mental health issues, accidents, and infectious diseases such as HIV when it comes to injectable drugs.
Across the European Union, 15% of the recorded young adults have used cannabis – the plant in marijuana – in 2024, while 2.5% known used cocaine, according to a recent report from the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Among all adults, cannabis use is highest in the Czech Republic, Italy, France, and Spain, and lowest in Malta, Turkey, and Hungary, EU data shows.
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Notably, how tough a country is on drugs doesn’t appear to make much of a difference in their availability – at least for young people, an epidemiologist and research director at the National Research Council of Italy who coordinates the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs.
The major penalties impact only the people who use the substance once or fewer times in a year, so not the real [heavy] dealers and users, Molinaro told Euronews Health. Her survey has tracked drug use among 16-year-olds in Europe since the 1990’s.
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She said that generational trends in drug habits are remarkably consistent over time – meaning patterns among today’s youth will show up in the adult-level data in a few years.
For example, while teenage boys have historically been more likely than girls to use cannabis, that gap has been narrowing in recent years, with girls’ use even surpassing boys’ in some countries, she said.
Cannabis and cocaine are the two most commonly used illegal drugs in the EU but other drugs, like MDMA (also called molly or ecstasy), heroin and other opioids, psychedelic substances, and synthetic drugs are growing risks – and Europe is awash with more drugs than ever, the EU monitoring agency said earlier this year.
Synthetic drugs are of particular concern because it is difficult for national authorities to identify the problematic compounds, then ban them and stop traffickers quickly enough.
They are so dangerous [because] you don’t know what you are taking and because the drugs are often made in low-quality labs with the potential for pollution.
According to the EUDA, hundreds of synthetic drug labs were dismantled in the EU in 2022, and the next year, its early warning system detected seven new synthetic opioid substances, which are highly potent. That is a very big health issue in the adult population.
Euro News / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
I read the title “Where in Europe are illegal drugs having the worst health impact?” But I like the health impact in the article, including some some consumption statistics !!!
The actual title of “worst deaths through drugs in Europe” is where I live Scotland ,there is nothing for young men except in Mac Donalds serving or other short term jobs .This is detailed in the National Records of Scotland issued by the Scottish government.
Under the Freedom of Information Act a men,s group in the UK obtained government figures that stated that 82 % of actual suicides were in the vast majority young males –this is covered up in the UK media as it isn’t Woke and shows a reverse sexism.