Europe’s drug habit proves immune to covid-19

ONE MIGHTMDMAEUEMCDDA have expected that a pandemic that put a stop to parties would also reduce the use of party drugs. Indeed, wastewater samples in some European cities showed that residues of cocaine and (also known as ecstasy) fell during the covid-19 lockdowns of early 2020. But by last summer Europeans were riding high again. In many cases, consumption simply moved from club to living room.Thus concludes this year’s report by the ’s European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (). Police, aided by surveillance of messaging apps (such as the Trojan Shield sting announced this week), are confiscating more cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and crystal meth than ever. In 2020 inspectors at the port of Rotterdam seized almost 41 tonnes of cocaine, seven more than in 2019. In one week this spring they discovered 2.7 tonnes hidden among Ecuadorian bananas and Malaysian computer parts. In the port of Vlissingen divers found a crate chained underwater to a freighter.