These Are Europe’s Top Cities For Taking Drugs

Europe’s cocaine capital is the Belgian port of Antwerp, Gävle in Sweden is the hotspot for speed, and Ostrava in Czechia is big on meth, according to the latest analysis of drugs in wastewater in 104 European cities. 

The annual study, which tests for metabolites of illegal drugs in sewage wastewater from toilets, reveals in 2022 there was a rise in cocaine and methamphetamine detections in the EU and big differences between drug use across the continent. 

Cocaine use is highest in cities in western and southern parts of Europe, while the use of much cheaper speed (amphetamines) is highest in the north and east of Europe. The use of meth is concentrated in central Europe, near its production base in Czechia. 

The top five cities for cocaine are Antwerp – a major port for the drug to arrive in Europe which has way higher levels of the drug in wastewater than anywhere else – Tarragona in Spain, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Brussels in Belgium and Zurich in Switzerland. 

The biggest zones for speed use were detected in Sweden: Gävle, the country’s third largest container port, and Sandviken, a municipality 23km to the west of Gävle.

The two places, alongside Sweden’s capital Stockholm, have had the highest rates of speed use in Europe for the last three years. These areas were followed by Antwerp, and the two German cities of Saarbrücken and Dülmen.

Ostrava, the Czechian city near the border with Poland, is the biggest methamphetamine user in Europe, the study suggested, followed by the country’s capital Prague, Larlovy Vary, a small spa town also in Czechia and Chemnitz, a city in Germany.

Although traditionally concentrated in central Europe, the study said in recent years meth use has increasingly been detected in Belgium, Cyprus, Spain, Turkey and several northern European countries such as Denmark, Finland, Lithuania and Norway.

Amphetamines are unusually high in Nordic cities because of “drug availability and consumer preferences”, João Pedro Matias, a scientific analyst on drug use at the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction (EMCDDA)  told VICE World News. In other words, speed is a lot easier and cheaper to buy than other stimulants such as cocaine and MDMA, and some Scandinavians appear to prefer speed.

Matias said speed and meth are more popular drugs in smaller cities and towns, while in big cities, where supply is more extensive, he said cocaine and MDMA are used more.

Cannabis is prevalent throughout the wastewater supplies tested, but the biggest evidence of use was found in Geneva in Switzerland. Amsterdam is the capital for MDMA, while ketamine use, which would probably show up highest in the UK if it took part in the study, is highest in Barcelona, Lisbon, Copenhagen and Milan

The use of ketamine, cocaine and MDMA shoots up at weekends, while use of cannabis stays the same throughout the week, according to the study, published by the wastewater testing company SCORE Group alongside the EMCDDA. 

The lowest of the 104 areas tested for cocaine use is Kemi, a small harbour town in Lapland, Finland, which has the largest snow castle in the world. Kemi did however show signs of regular MDMA and amphetamine use. 

The place with the lowest MDMA use in Europe is Paphos, a small coastal city in Cyprus which perhaps ironically has several sites linked to the cult of the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite.    

Wastewater analysis, originally used to monitor the environmental impact of liquid household waste, has been used to measure levels of drug use since 2001. 

“The results provide a valuable snapshot of the drug flow through the cities involved, revealing marked geographical variations,” said the report.

Amended 23/3/23 to change Zurich (as the top cannabis city) to Geneva