EU centre calls for policies to help female drug users

Patterns of drug misuse in the European Union are changing, with a chronically ageing population among heroin addicts and a wider use of cocaine, cannabis, and combinations of amphetamines, ecstasy, and medicines.

The picture is contained in the annual report of the European Union's European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in Lisbon. It estimates that the number of drug addicts has remained stable at around 1.5 million, but within that figure lie different trends.

The numbers of people starting treatment for heroin are decreasing and users tend to be older with serious social and psychiatric problems. In contrast, new admissions for cocaine or cannabis use are rising, especially among the young.

Among schoolchildren, experience of cannabis ranges from 5-7% in Portugal and Sweden to 30-40% in the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

The centre makes a plea for more tailor-made responses to take account of female drug users who fear they may lose their children if they enrol for treatment. It also highlights the need for policies addressed at women who finance their habit through the sex industry. Although 12 EU countries have specific programmes in this area, Belgium, Finland, and Sweden do not.

The report draws attention to the drug prevention schemes in Austria, Germany, and Sweden directed at very young women and schoolgirls to prevent them from picking up the habit from older boyfriends.

Given that at least 45 million people in the European Union have tried cannabis at least once and that around 15 million have done so in the past year, it is not surprising that policymakers are targeting the phenomenon.

But the European monitoring centre's director, Georges Estievenart, criticised a zero tolerance approach. "No one really sees this as a crime to be repressed with an iron fist," he said.