Claudia Calleja, Lisbon
Malta heroin shock
Drug dealers bring in purest in EU
Heroin reaching Malta is among the purest in Europe and the rate of addicts seeking their next high on smack has remained consistently one of the highest in the EU, according to the latest research.
The average purity of brown heroin tested in 2009 ranged between 16 and 32 per cent but in Malta it hit 36 per cent, according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction’s annual report for 2011, launched in Lisbon yesterday.
The report is based on information provided by EU member states, candidate countries Croatia and Turkey and by Norway.
Romania has the same purity percentage as Malta and the two countries were topped by Turkey, where the purity was 37 per cent. The lowest purity levels were registered in France at14 per cent, and Austria at 13 per cent.
In its pure form, heroin is a white powder with a bitter taste. Street heroin samples are frequently cut with other substances so dealers can maximise their profits. Because of these impurities and additives, street heroin may appear in various hues ranging from white to dark brown, according to medical websites on the drug.
The presence of impurities and additives limits heroin absorption through mucous membranes, restricting its “rush” and “high” when it is sniffed or snorted. In patients who are dependent on the drug, intravenous injection becomes the only effective method of heroin use.
Fresh threats due to synthetic drugs
EMCDDA director Wolfgang Götz described this year’s report as “one of contrasts” because, although the drug situation remained rather stable, new threats were emerging due to the increasing types of synthetic drugs.
Following last year’s record year, when 41 new drugs were detected, so far this year the number had already reached 39, he told a press conference.
Synthetic drugs, including ecstasy, are usually manufactured illegally in Europe from imported precursor chemicals. Producers are now using sophisticated techniques to bypass importation regulations by masking illegal precursor chemicals as non-controlled ones.
The report shows Malta remains one of the few countries where ecstasy only contains the prohibited chemicals and not the new versions of them.
It also emerges that the drug situation in Malta remained consistent with previous years. The island continues to rank low on the Europe drug-use table for the abuse of cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis and amphetamines. However, it is one of the countries where the use of opioids, mainly heroin, are among the most prevalent.
The highest estimates of opioid abuse were reported in Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg and Malta. Malta reported 5.4 cases per 1,000 population, when the average for the EU and Norway ranged between 3.6 and 4.4. cases. This is particularly worrying since heroin is the most lethal of the drugs. Over 7,600 fatal overdoses were reported in the EU and Norway in 2009, most due to opioids.
In Malta, that year, 83.4 per cent of people seeking drug treatment reported that heroin was their primary drug, followed by cocaine (10 per cent) and cannabis (5.5 per cent).
Malta is also flagged for the prevalence of the Hepatitis C virus in injecting drug users. The viral disease leads to inflammation of the liver that can become chronic.
The presence of the virus in inmates was reported by eight countries where it ranged between 11.5 per cent in Hungary and 90.7 per cent in Luxembourg.
In the Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Malta this virus appeared to be more prevalent among injectors tested in prison compared to those in other settings.
Data showed 30.8 per cent out of 121 injecting drug users (not necessary inmates) tested in prison and hospital’s rehabilitation centre tested positive for Hepatitis C.
Drug facts
Cannabis is the most common illicit drug in Malta. In 2009, about 100 seizures involved cannabis and 102 cocaine, followed by amphetamine.
The police’s drug squad made 623 arrests for drug-related offences: 74.2 per cent were for possession and 25.8 per cent for trafficking. Most of the arrests related to cocaine and heroin.
1,792 people started treatment for drug addiction, including 250 first time treatment clients.
Six people died of a drug overdose in 2009. The number of deaths per year ranges between one and nine. The majority are caused by opioid abuse.
In 2009, there were 1,099 clients on opioid substitution treatment, 977 of them receiving met-hadone and 42 buprenorphine.
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21 Comments
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John M Grima
Nov 16th 2011, 23:28
So many soldiers. So long in Afganistan. And so many killed. And the Heroin ?........... Still there
Robert Callus
Nov 16th 2011, 21:39
"The police’s drug squad made 623 arrests for drug-related offences: 74.2 per cent were for possession and 25.8 per cent for trafficking"
Says it all, doesn't it?
The war on drugs has failed. Of course it doesn't mean we should go out and legalize left, right and center. However it does mean looking at what went wrong and not persist in error.
Government (and opposition) is doing nothing more than the drug addicts themselves on this issue. Playing the deadly game of denial:
http://maltagreenyouth.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/drugs-and-denial/
E. Azzopardi
Nov 16th 2011, 16:45
So where is this coming from? Supervising the airport is not good enough. The whole perimeter should be supervised and spot checks made. Those who understand what I am saying, are obliged to take urgent action.
Kristina Cassar
Nov 16th 2011, 14:12
nahseb habba f'hekk ghadna ma dhalnix fil-krizi ekonomika :P
Wilfred Camilleri
Nov 16th 2011, 13:11
Malta is really gone to the dogs as the saying goes! Drugs, animal cruelty, minors dancing in lingerie in clubs, drunk driving, muggings, robberies, broken families, illegal hunting, etc., etc, etc. Does anyone else see where this trend is leading? At this rate Maltese society will disintegrate into lawlessness or anarchy. Laws must be toughened and sentencing must become commensurate with the crime. No more lenient sentences and slaps on the hands.
C Demanuele
Nov 16th 2011, 13:32
whatever you mentioned has been here on the island ever since i was a child and much back . . . so no news
Gustav Svensson
Nov 16th 2011, 14:34
Well said
Dennis Quaid
Nov 16th 2011, 12:32
I'm still thinking whether it is a good thing or a bad thing for Malta, having the purest.
It might sounds sarcastic, but if I would be a junkie, I would appreciate that in Malta I get better stuff than somewhere else in Europe. Does someone knows what this impurities are? Heard that dealers put in flour, dust from the street or even rat poison. Therefore I would prefer to get purer stuff.
In my view, such an article should not have been make public!! Having that headline might encourage young ones trying out H or other stuff.
C Demanuele
Nov 16th 2011, 13:35
young ones don't read much newspapers i guess . . . better on facebook. and whatever the circumstance they come to know the drugs from the street and not from an article.
Joe Xuereb
Nov 16th 2011, 12:21
This is worrying.
We often read that hard drugs should be legalised. This to reduce or eliminate trafficking. Good move. The problem is that this would mean 'purer' drugs (because regulated) but a pure drug is still a killer. Also, with drugs readily available, people who would never consider drugs would become vulnerable as drug-taking would become 'respectable' and punishment-free until it is too late. I suspect that many who are in favour of legalising drug-taking are drug-
users themselves. For obvious reasons.
Statistics are all very well (and very worrying that Malta is up there among the countries worst affected). More useful would be to research WHY (young, and older) people resort to drugs. Find out what is so unbearable about life. Why the prevalent use of disco-drugs to enhance the fun when just being in a discotheque is, I imagine/I know, fun in itself. I still go to discotheques after forty years when the phenomenon started. I go to follow the trends and observe. I do not take drugs and do not do alcohol because it is bad for me. But then I have worked and worked on the importance of self-esteem, the meaning of taking responsibility for my actions, worked for some semblance of security in my old age. Maybe these concepts are alien to many people nowadays, the young in particular. In other words, catching the rioters/looter in London this Summer and sending them to prison is all very well. It would be more useful to find out why they rioted/looted (some with less than honourable intent, to be sure) and not forgetting to look into the reasons why so many (again, with the usual rogues there for the ride) are living in tents outside St. Paul's Cathedral, protesting over the inequalities brought about by a rampant failed, and failing, Capitalism. A cathedral, I should add, that is more concerned about the loss of revenue from tourists (when the tourist attraction had to be closed for 'safety reasons' - and a tourist attraction is all it is apart from the occasional 'pomp and cermenony' and this applies to Westminster Abbey too. In other words, Mammon over God wins hands down). It would have been interesting to see what different reactions this protest would have brough about had the tents gone up near Westminster Roman Catholic Cathedral. The problem with this RC Institution is that it is in a side street miles away from the demonised Financial Centre, and, protesters identify more with a Protestant Institution if they identify with anything at all. To the British mindset, protesting outside the temple of a reviled religion would have alienated any sympathies, or minimised them.
Nathalie Frendo
Nov 16th 2011, 11:16
Are we sure that we do not know the big sharks behind this? Do we simply catch the goldfish ?
John Azzopoardi
Nov 16th 2011, 11:16
Due to the fact that Malta has no border controls, this is the result of such lack of security in our homeland. People can come and go and bring anything into Malta without getting caught.
Daniel Gauci
Nov 16th 2011, 10:58
Pure heroin would be almost impossible to come across on the streets of Europe. Due to every dealer taking their slice and magically making 1Kg to 2Kg the only way would be to go to the source. As Malta is probably the closest and easiest to smuggle into for where it is made it is logical that it would be of a higher purity here before it is taken on to mainland Europe.
More support and education should be made available to addicts, both those who want to quit and those that dont.
Daniel Gauci
Nov 16th 2011, 10:48
Pure heroin would be almost impossible to come across on the streets of Europe. Due to every dealer taking their slice and magically making 1Kg to 2Kg the only way would be to go to the source. As Malta is probably the closest and easiest to smuggle into for where it is made it is logical that it would be of a higher purity here before it is taken on to mainland Europe.
More support and education should be made available to addicts, both those who want to quit and those that dont.
Alfred Fenech
Nov 16th 2011, 10:44
Its very good business,
Pavlaki Pano Aroditis
Nov 16th 2011, 09:43
Interesting data here. Among them is the following:
If "Maltese Heroin" is among the purest in the EU, then -all things being equal- this suggests that there are much less middlemen/users/addicts taking cuts or adulterating this material - in short, that the pattern of distribution is more like "clusters" rather than "chains". And it makes perfect sense because sociologically the island is small, people know each other, information is readily available or accessible, and it is not too hard to obtain access to drugs.
It thus suggests that it should be theoretically much easier to trace the supply from users/addicts to the mega importers - for make no mistake about this: this is too big an industry to be left to small operators. And another sociological rule is the following:
The longer a person indulges in illicit activity, the greater is the protection afforded to him.
joseph debattista
Nov 16th 2011, 09:36
majafx bija gonzi ax jamel taxxa fuqa ukol
C. Sammut
Nov 16th 2011, 09:08
Does pure heroin cost more? If yes, could this be a problem amongst those who can really afford it?
Mike Lee Torres
Nov 16th 2011, 09:41
C. I'm not sure we're on the same page. "those who can really afford it" are not H. gourmets... they are people who plan to "cut" it and resell it to users. Purity determines how far up the distribution chain we are...
Which in a way is a lesser evil, as it indicates we host rich and powerful procurers and not just thuggish pushers...
Sera Dalli
Nov 16th 2011, 10:34
Everyone knows that the problem IS amongst those who can really afford it and everyone knows who they are. Having money and important friends helps. We insignificant beings just shake our heads and shout injustice but in reality we can't do anything about it.
P Borg
Nov 16th 2011, 12:23
Does pure gold cost more than gold with detergent mixed into it? It seems pretty obvious to me