1 in 3 Europeans have tried illegal substances. Which country is battling the worst drug problem?

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.

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 per cent of young adults have used cannabis – the plant in marijuana – in 2024, while 2.5 per cent used cocaine, according to a recent report from the European Commission and the Organisation 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.

Meanwhile, cocaine use is highest in the Netherlands, Spain, and Ireland, and lowest in Turkey, Portugal, Poland, and Hungary.

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, according to Sabrina Molinaro, 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] users," Molinaro told Euronews Health.

Her survey has tracked drug use among 16-year-olds in Europe since the 1990s.

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.

Other illegal drugs present growing risks in Europe

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 – such as lab-made cannabinoids and stimulants – are of particular concern because it is difficult for national authorities to identify the problematic compounds, then ban them and stop traffickers quickly enough, Molinaro said.

"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," Molinaro said.

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," Molinaro said.