Cocaine consumption in Austria is increasing, cannabis remains dominant – this is the result of the European drug monitoring report. In Austria, wastewater from 16 sewage treatment plants in approximately 160 communities was evaluated by the Institute for Forensic Medicine in Innsbruck (GMI).
Austria is in the middle of Europe when it comes to drug use. According to the annual wastewater analysis, none of the sixteen regions of the country surveyed were among the ten regions in Europe with the highest turnover last year.
Peak values on weekends
Higher values during the weekend indicate the consumption of substances such as ‘party drugs’, the Medical University of Innsbruck announced on Wednesday. On average, a resident of the studied regions drinks a little more than a glass of wine every day, smokes three to four cigarettes and consumes 0.07 joints and about 1.5 milligrams of stimulant drugs, said study leader Herbert Oberacher, head of forensic toxicology at the GMI . laboratory, the results together.
Alcohol and nicotine are consumed approximately equally in all regions. The picture for illicit substances is less homogeneous: cannabis (THC) was dominant in all regions, but was used more often in urban areas than in more rural areas. On average, 11 grams of THC were smoked per 1,000 inhabitants per day.
Cocaine: highest consumption per capita in Kufstein
Cocaine was the drug with the highest turnover among stimulants, with 1.3 grams of daily consumption per 1,000 inhabitants. “A development that we have been observing in Austrian wastewater for years is the increase in the amount of cocaine residues,” Oberacher explains. However, in the west of the country, consumption of the drug was higher than in the east of Austria. Tyrol’s second largest city, Kufstein, again recorded the highest consumption per capita.
Speed and ecstasy are most common in Graz
The highest per capita consumption of the active substance amphetamine (speed) was found in Graz, while Wiener Neustadt and Steyr led the way in the consumption of methamphetamine (crystal meth). MDMA (ecstasy) was more popular in urban areas than in rural areas, with peak levels also seen here in Graz. The West-East distribution of stimulants and synthetic drugs was not limited to Austria, but was reflected throughout Europe.
The SCORE drug report is published annually by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). Since 2016, the forensic toxicology laboratory of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the Medical University of Innsbruck has been providing the analysis for Austria.
In 2023, 112 cities and regions across Europe participated
In 2023, 112 cities and regions across Europe participated. For the annual survey, samples were taken every day for a week in the spring and early summer from the inflow of the sewage treatment plants and analyzed using analytical chemical methods.
Source: Krone
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