The European Drug Report 2019 was announced in Brussels. The overdose death rate in Turkey was pointed out in the report increased over the last decade.

According to the Ministry of Justice data, 105 people lost their lives in 2011, while this number increased to 920 in 2016.

According to the latest official statistics, the number of deaths caused by drugs in Turkey in 2017 was 941.

In Turkey, cannabis is the most used in the age group between 15-64 years, followed by synthetic stimulants and cocaine.

Drug use is higher among males while men between the ages of 15-34 are using drugs the most in Turkey according to the report.

Most of the cannabis seized in Turkey comes from the Western Balkan countries or Morocco, while cocaine is transferred from South America.

Most of the synthetic stimulants seized in Turkey are shipped from the Netherlands and Belgium the report said added that the synthetic cannabinoids originate from China, Europe, and the United States.

A period of reduced heroin availability was observed in a number of European countries around 2010/11, accompanied by an overall drop in both numbers of seizures and quantities of heroin seized. Since then, seizures in the European Union have largely stabilized, with 37 000 seizures amounting to 5.4 tones reported in 2017.

Turkey continues to seize more heroin than all other European countries combined.

Following a steep drop in seizures in the period 2014-16, from 12.8 to 5.6 tones, in 2017 Turkey seized 17.4 tones of heroin, the largest quantity for a decade.

Overall, few people currently enter treatment in Europe for problems associated with the use of new psychoactive substances. For some countries, however, these substances are significant.

In the most recent data, the use of synthetic cannabinoids was reported as the main reason for entering specialized drug treatment for 19 % of clients in Turkey and for 6 % in Hungary.

ILKHA