Cocaine use has increased across Europe, an EU-wide wastewater study showed on Wednesday, with the highest levels of residues found in Belgium, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.
The study, the largest to date by the Lisbon-based European drugs monitoring agency EMCDDA, analyzed daily wastewater in the catchment areas of treatment plants serving some 54 million people in 104 European cities.
It analysed samples collected over a one-week period between March and April last year for traces of cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA/ecstasy, ketamine and cannabis and found drug-use was greater than in previous studies.
Water flows out of a sewage treatment plant in Brandenburg on Sept. 10, 2021. A study analyzing wastewater found that cocaine use has risen across Europe. (Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty Images)
“Today’s findings, from a record 104 cities, paint a…
