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Today, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos and the Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) Alexis Goosdeel launched the European Drug Report 2019. Commissioner Avramopoulos said: "Today's report shows the complex nature of Europe's drug phenomenon. Drugs remain a constantly evolving, multi-faceted threat for our societies, affecting the life of millions of citizens around the world. We need a more coordinated approach that tackles both supply and demand. Our efforts are bearing fruit with our new rules to ban psychoactive substances and our enhanced cooperation with international partners. But we also need to look at the role of digitalisation in the drug market. We have no time to spare. We need to be coordinated at the national, European and international levels. Together with our EU drugs agency, we will continue to play a leading role in this effort." The European Drug Report provides a comprehensive analysis of recent drug use and market trends across the EU, Turkey and Norway. The 2019 Report highlights in particular an increase in cocaine availability with seizures at a record high, amounting to 140.4 tonnes, double the quantity seized in 2016 (70.9 tonnes). It also explores the challenges associated with new synthetic opioids, the latest developments in the cannabis market and synthetic drug production in Europe. The report is accompanied by the 2019 Statistical Bulletin and Country Drug Reports presenting summaries of national drug phenomena. A press conference, which took place today at 10:00 am (CET) is available on EbS.

The European Drug Report 2019 and the full press release are available online.