Use of all types of synthetic drugs is on the rise across Europe, including Cyprus, according to the European Drug Report 2023, which was presented on Monday by the Cyprus Addiction Treatment Authority (Aaek).

In Cyprus the most used drug was cannabis, which for people aged 15-34 reached 8.1 per cent the findings showed.

The report, presented on the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, focuses on illicit drug use, related harm and drug supply, while providing a comprehensive set of national data on these issues.

“June 26 has been designated as the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and aims to strengthen cooperation and collective action to create a society as free as possible from illegal substances,” said the Aaek president Dr Christos Mina.

This year’s campaign, Mina said, is focused on combating stigma, discrimination and marginalisation of both people who use illegal substances and their families by promoting language and attitudes that are respectful and non-judgemental.

He underlined that Aaek’s vision is that all residents can access prevention, treatment, harm reduction and social support services.

Ioanna Yiasemi, head of the authority’s monitoring department, stated that the data show the availability of drugs remains high for all types of substances, while the scale and complexity of their production in Europe continued to show an increasing trend.

She added that the report highlights the need for effective strategies to inform users about the health risks associated with new substances and high-potency products.

A key message from the report’s analysis is that the impact of illicit substance use is now seen almost everywhere in society and almost anything with psychoactive properties has the potential to be used as a drug.

She said that relevant harm reduction measures, such as opioid treatment and providing sterile equipment to people who inject drugs, are now widely accepted as making an important contribution to the health care work.

However, she continued, coverage and access to these types of interventions remain insufficient in some EU member states compared to estimated needs.

According to Yiasemi, the European Drug Report 2023 highlights the growing importance of synthetic drugs, the emergence of new substances, new production practices in the drug market, as well as much of the harm associated with substance use is exacerbated by interactions between substances consumed together knowingly or unknowingly by users.

She said the continued detection of synthetic cannabinoids alongside natural cannabinoids in plant material raises similar concerns.

Cannabis, Yiasemi said, remains the most commonly consumed illicit substance and, in 2021, the quantities of cannabis seized reached their highest level during the decade, noting that for 2021, 816 tonnes of cannabis resin were seized in the European Union and 256 tons of herbal cannabis.

The report pointed out that 15.1 per cent of young European adults aged 15-34 had used cannabis in the last year.

She stated that the percentage for Cyprus amounts to 8.1 per cent.

She pointed out that in May 2022, HHC, which is chemically similar to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-THC), the main psychoactive substance in cannabis, appeared on the market.