Rising deaths, fake pills, gang violence: How the EU is struggling to cope with illegal drug problem

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Rising deaths, fake pills, gang violence: How the EU is struggling to cope with illegal drug problem  Europe’s emerging drug threats span everything from fake medicines, cocaine busts, and synthetic weed, according to a new report.  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/06/05/rising-deaths-fake-pills-gang-violence-how-the-eu-is-struggling-to-cope-with-illegal-drug-  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00More accessible cocaine and counterfeit painkillers.

00:06The EU's drug agency is sounding the alarm.

00:09In its annual report published on Thursday,

00:11the agency also refers to a constantly changing market,

00:15which increases the health and safety risks.

00:18Last year, cocaine was the stimulant drug

00:21most commonly used by around 4.6 million adults.

00:26What we observe is that there is an increase in the availability

00:30that we can assess, for instance, with the seizures.

00:34At the same time, using a new or recent methodology

00:39that is to waste water analysis,

00:42we see that there is a clear increase in the human consumption of cocaine.

00:48Since 2009, the European agency has also seen the arrival

00:52of 88 synthetic opioids.

00:55These substances sometimes imitate real medicines,

00:58increasing the risk of counterfeiting and therefore poisoning.

01:01One of the characteristics is that

01:03they can be up to 400 times more potent than morphine,

01:08but they may also be extremely more toxic,

01:12which means that altogether, if we put the stimulants,

01:16the stimulants, the synthetic drugs, the synthetic cantinols,

01:21and the synthetic opioids and cannabinoids.

01:24Overall, there is a broadened offer of substances on the market.

01:29Cannabis was still the drug most used by 24 million adults last year.

01:35But the agency points out that the average THC content,

01:39the psychoactive component, has doubled in a decade.

01:42That's a great deal.

01:43That's a great deal.

01:44That's great.

01:45That's great.

01:46That's great.

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